Walking around my neighborhood, I noticed that quite a few of my neighbors have gone all-out decorating for Halloween – giant skeletons and spiders, fake cobwebs, plastic pumpkins, witches and ghouls. And as always, I started looking at the plants. One that I am seeing more of is Datura. Now this one IS truly scary!
Datura is a genus of 9 species of poisonous plants that belong to the Solanaceae family, the nightshades that include tomatoes and potatoes. Common names for the plant include jimsonweed, thorn-apple, devil's trumpet, devil's weed and hell's bells. Datura has been used by some Native Americans to induce visions or mystical experiences. Ingested, it is hallucinogenic. It also negatively affects many other body systems. Medical professionals have a mnemonic to remember all the havoc this plant ingestion can cause: Red as a beet (flushed skin), dry as a bone (dry mouth and can't urinate), blind as a bat (pupil dilation), mad as a Hatter (hallucinations), hot as Hades (hyperthermia). It's also common to see abnormal, fast heart rhythms. Every part of Datura is toxic, but the most commonly ingested parts are the flowers and the seeds and spiny seed capsules.
Datura wrightii is the plant most commonly seen in California fields and gardens. It is a short-lived perennial producing large, upright, mostly white, fragrant flowers that bloom from spring to frost and from late afternoon to about noon the next day. The flowers are pollinated by moths mostly and some bees. The plant capsule starts out green and spiky and then splits open to spread its seed. While the plant leaves look velvety, they are covered with tiny hairs that are a skin irritant to some, as also is the sap released when the leaves are crushed. The crushed leaves are also stinky. The plant dies with the frost, but all the dispersed seeds ensure a new life come spring.
On the plus side, this plant is hardy. It is native. It is very drought-tolerant, grows easily from seed in all kinds of soil and does just fine in part shade to full, blazing sun. Datura wrightii spreads to about 5 feet and can also grow that tall, though I have only seen it about 2 feet tall around here. It also very pest and disease-resistant. Even deer seem to leave it alone. I have even seen it grown as a large container plant.
My vote is to leave this plant alone, to let it grow by the sides of country roads and fields and not in a home garden. This plant is scary. Thinking about it, maybe, all those over-the-top, plastic Halloween decorations aren't such a bad idea.