What the heck is this plant??

My wife planted this in our little garden patch alongside our house and it has become huge! It is now about 5 feet tall and is starting to put out little spiky fruits. It also has white blossoms and very large dark green foliage. The leaves have a kind of nutty scent to them. The trunk is probably almost 4" in diameter at the base. I swear it was growing an inch a day at one point but appears to be spreading out now as it blooms.

Problem is...my wife doesn't know what it is. She thinks she got it from the local Asian grocery store and she thinks it is Vietnamese.

Whatever it is, it loves our climate and soil!!

Here is what the fruits or pods or whatever they are look like. This little guy is about 2" in diameter but I have no doubt it will get much larger and will eventually hatch an alien or something equally nasty.

You can also see in this picture how the branches divide. Two big branches, one slightly smaller shooting off to one side of the fork and then a little one coming out at the union of the three. It appears that everywhere the branches divide it follows this kind of 4-way symmetry...all the way down to the first divide made in the main trunk. And, wherever these evil pods occur is at the confluence of the big branches of the divide.

This message was edited Aug 6, 2008 7:55 PM

What are the blooms like? The fruit looks like that of a datura. If that's the case, don't eat anything from this plant.

You might want to plant this over on the plant identification forum.

-Joe

Thanks for the quick response! Here are the blooms.

Wow!!
Looks like we have a winner, JoeGee!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DaturaStramonium-plant-sm.jpg

Thanks a ton!

Now, should I just rip this out and put it in the garbage or is there something useful from it?

From Wikipedia:

"Most parts of the plants contain atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine. Datura has a long history of use both in S. America and Europe and is known for causing delirious states and poisonings in uninformed users."

I knew it!! My wife is trying to poison me!! ;)

Ok...unless someone says otherwise, this thing is getting torn out tomorrow. I don't want those seed pods to open in my garden.

i used to grow those! yep, poisonous beauty indeed =).

You people rock!

It is kind of sad that the mystery has been solved. It was sort of fun having this unknown plant that was thriving so well. I have been busy with our pond and haven't been paying attention and I'd only look at it every week or so. In that time there would be surprising changes. The stupid thing is almost as tall as me now and since it is in a raised bed, it IS taller than me. The fact that the growth pattern is so orderly and symmetric is eerily appealing...not at all like a rag weed or other "garden variety" invasive species. It definitely has a tropical feel to it.

Anyway, thanks again, folks! I will definitely cut off all the pods and make sure they go to the landfill instead of the yard waste collection site. I don't think people would like having this come up at random nor do I think it should start growing wild around here (Oregon).

You can let it go. I cultivate them. I love their blooms, and the fragrance. I just don't eat them. Some people find growing them near their tomatoes beneficial because many bugs that feast on tomatoes also feast on daturas (they are members of the same family, solanaceae.)

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/14/

They are lovely ornamentals.

Look at this beauty, opening at dusk to release its perfume. :)

-Joe

This message was edited Aug 7, 2008 1:27 AM

"Some people find growing them near their tomatoes beneficial because many bugs that feast on tomatoes also feast on daturas (they are members of the same family, solanaceae.) "

Yup. I keep some (and american nightshade as well) so I can move my hornworms there. This year they seem to have gone there by themselves:)

They will seed readily. I have them coming up all over my flower garden just like weeds.

The weed went out in the garbage this morning. Thank you all for your prompt and highly informed responses. I told my cop neighbor and he asked if I was growing any wacky tabaccy too. Evidently, Jimson Weed grows wild around here and kids use it to get high...shortly before it kills them.

Anyway, thanks again!

Cheers!

Very few people in my part of the country know of this plant's potential to be abused, so I just tell them it's lethal and omit the "hallucinate like heck before you die" part. I notice some joker has put in the plantfiles that they smoke it for their asthma. Someone a few years back added that the stamens make an excellent soup.

To me it could taste like truffles and cook itself, if it still has the same effects I wouldn't eat it. I can think of better things to do for my asthma than to inhale tar and smoke, even if it has other beneficial effects.

-Joe

Hi Tweezar, you just need to cut off the seeds heads to stop it from sending seedlings everywhere, that way you can enjoy the flowers and evening perfume all summer long, but if it is in among veg, I would dig it out end of summer and move it elsewhere so no one gets confused thinking it is salad leaf or the likes, they honestly are lovely flowering plants, just the seed heads give you more plants than you need after they scatter their seeds, maybe a bird dropped a seeds in your garden for this to grow, but they also grow wild in Vietnam. China and other eastern countries. good luck. WeeNel.

tweezak,

You threw it out, and I'm trying like crazy to grow them. That's so funny. There's an entire Forum here on just Daturas. The flowers come in purple, lavender, and yellow as well as white. Also in double and triple flowers.

Karen

I'm so glad to have found this thread, my son and I have had a lot of fun watching the "prickly bomb" grow in the back of our yard, and the pretty white and purple flowers. I wondered what it was. My younger son is a garden eater, but I don't think even he would try to wrap his mouth around a "prickly bomb. This has also led me to look up my nightshade, which I see now is woody nightshade with the purple flowers, very pretty on the trellis around our deck. I cut all berries while green on that one and put them in the trash. I'm glad to know I can put tomato worms on there, wouldn't have thought of that; I love tomato worms but also love tomatoes!

In Missouri, this datura is known as "Jimson Weed," and as said, IT WILL KILL YOU. There are always at least 2 or 3 reports on the news every fall where some kid got smart and........well, there are some who've gotten permanent brain damage IF THEY LIVED. I was taught as a child which weeds to stay away from, and as I've gotten older it has become apparent that often the pod itself will give you a clue....the more evil the pod is, the further away you should stay!!!

Wow, I have never seen such a big one! You must have a very good soil in your garden.