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Jimson Weed by Michael B. Hambrick Datura stramonium is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Polemoniales, family Solanaceae, the nightshade family. It has been found all over the United States, primarily in warm-temperate and tropical regions. The plant grows in open habitats around cultivated ground or waste places. Some consider the plant rather ugly. It has rigid green leaves and horn-shaped white flowers with purple interiors. The plant produces many fruits with prickly husks that contain about one hundred seeds apiece. The plant is a native of India. It is thought to have been imported to Europe, and then to temperate parts of North America. The name Jimson weed is a corruption of Jamestown weed; Jamestown which is a town in Virginia where the plant is thought to have first been imported. There are quite a few other names that this plant is called by, including angel’s trumpet, stinkweed, mad apple, and thorn apple. Datura stramonium has been used as an ancient herbal medicine. It has been used to treat madness, epilepsy, and melancholy. The plant has been used externally to help with rheumatism and has also been put into ointments for burns. In recent times the plant has usually been considered too toxic for use in medical applications, but it has been used in some asthma medicines. Jimson weed and other members of it family contain a narcotic poison called stramonium, which is made up of several alkaloids. Because of jimson weed’s hallucinogenic properties it is sought after as a drug, primarily by teenagers. Parts of this plant can be smoked, chewed, brewed into tea, and the seeds the plant produces can be eaten. The most common effects of this drug are tachycardia, which is an elevated heart rate, dilated pupils, blurred vision, hallucinations, confusion, difficulty urinating. Comas, seizures and death can occur. The effects of this drug have been described as “Blind as a bat, mad as a hatter, red as a beet, hot as a hare, dry as a bone, the bowel and bladder lose their tone, and the heart runs alone" (HealingWell.com). The drug’s effects typically last around four hours and even up to two weeks. Jimson weed should not be experimented because of the seriousness of its effects; people have died from its use. Written Spring 2004, as a service learning project for Dr. Gary Coté's Biology 102 class at Radford University. Copyright Pathways for Radford. |
