Mother's Sacred Datura......

Mother Natures' that is! This grows wild around here...only I just knew it as "Jimson Weed" until I saw the contest and Dave's post. It is very petty, so will transplant some to the yard area. Here is what I have learned of this plant:

Sacred Datura or Jimson Weed Datura meteloides

Nightshade or Potato Family (Solanaceae)

Grows to 4 foot high, blooms April - November
Found in washes and roadside for deserts to mesas at elevations from 1,000 to 6,000'
A perennial herb. The flowers open in erly evening and close the following day when struck by the sun's rays. All parts of the plant are extremely posionous if ingested.
This was one of the most important medicinal plants to early Native Americans. The flowers and leaves are used in a bath to make an effective external analgesic for acute arthritic pain or pain from a fall, sports injuries, or overwork. (Warning: leave the bath BEFORE you become to relaxed) Also soaked in lard to make a salve to apply to inflamed hemorrhoids, as well as boils, carbuncles, and other hot, acute skin swellings. Moistened leaves are applied to temples to relieve headaches and seeds soaked in tallow or kerosene are applied to body lice. Smoke from burning leaves is used to relax bronchial spasms in asthmatic attacks and temporary relief of swelling from sinus infections.
Looks like "good medicine...and bad"!: Jo

Though the Datura (& the brugmansia) are beautiful garden plants they really are not to be messed with. I wouldn't encourage anyone to smoke, eat, or even bathe with them. The lethal dose ratio is dangerously low, and the strength of tropanes in wild plants can not be determined. I wouldn't reccommend that anyone experimant with these plants - the results could be deadly. http://www.erowid.org/plants/datura/datura_info5.shtml

There are many historical references to the uses of datura and other solonaceae. I think the flying ointments are of the most interesting.

Thanks, Poppysue...That's good info. I remember a few years ago when I lived in Florida, teenagers were using this type of Angel Trumpet to "get high", and quite a few of them died...so sad, and such a waste of a life. When I was about 5, a cousin & I were digging in my mothers flower bed and found what we thought were white radishes. Took a couple of bites and they were very bland so went in to get some salt. Mother saw them and saved our life...They were what we called "poke (polk??) root". The Doctor said an ounce of them were fatal to children. The funny thing is, they poured all kinds of stuff down us, but she, nor I, can stand the taste of coffee today! Jo

Jo,

The plant that you ate as a child is Phytolacca americana (American Pokeweed). It plagues us here on this farm.

http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/576.html

Dave

Sounds like I need to raise some of that for my hemmhroids and head lice. haha

Dave, It plauged us in WV too...but was a lot of fun for kids to make "ink" out of the ripe berries!...and Mama used to gather the first tender shoots of the leaves to add to the "Mixed Greens". Thanks for the link...will read up on it to see if our allergy to coffee could have come from this. Jo

oblambert,All you need to get rid of the head lice are an ice-pick and some lighter fluid.Shave half your head.Pour lighter fluid on the other half and light it.Use the ice-pick to stab the little buggers as they run from the fire onto the shaved side.Hope this helps with your problem.

Gone2seed...you are to funny. LOL

Gone2seed, That will surely get rid of those little buggers.
ROFL!!