Datura quercifolia
Datura stramonium
Chinese thorn-apple, oak-leaf jimsonweed or thorn-apple
datura, devil's apple or weed, jimson-weed, thorn-apple
hairy, sometimes villous.
sometimes purple, sparsely puberulent, glabrescent.
blades elliptic to narrowly ovate, to 16 × 10 cm, margins usually pinnately lobed, sometimes sinuate-dentate, abaxial surface hairy, adaxial surface glabrescent.
blades broadly ovate, to 22 × 12 cm, margins coarsely sinuate-dentate, surfaces glabrescent.
calyx hairy along veins, tube cylindric, 5-toothed;
corolla whitish to purple, trumpet-shaped, 4–8 cm, acuminate lobes alternating with sinuses.
calyx hairy along veins, tube cylindric, 5-toothed;
corolla usually white, sometimes purplish, trumpet-shaped, (5–)6–11 cm, acuminate lobes alternating with sinuses.
erect, dehiscent by 4 valves, pericarp dry, glabrous or hairy, with prickles unequal, proximals shorter than distals;
calyx remnant not accrescent.
erect, dehiscent by 4 valves, pericarp dry, glabrous or hairy, with prickles ± equal, to 15 mm;
calyx remnant not accrescent.
black, 3–5 mm, convex marginal ridge absent, testa rugose;
caruncle absent.
black, 3–4 mm, convex marginal ridge absent, testa rugose;
caruncle absent.
= 24.
= 24.
Datura quercifolia
Datura stramonium
Datura quercifolia is native to the Chihuahuan Desert, where it hybridizes occasionally with introduced D. stramonium. In the flora area, it is native to Texas and possibly New Mexico. Its geographic range is expanding especially in agricultural habitats. Although recently documented in central California (former orange orchard in Riverside; 1984, 1996), it has not expanded its range in that state.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Although a weed found throughout the world, Datura stramonium is probably native to central and southern Mexico and accompanied the expansion of Mesoamerican agriculture. Based upon a revised interpretation of ancient Latin and Greek texts, A. Touwaide (1998) argued that it was known in the Old World prior to the discovery of the New World in 1492. The delirious consequences of the British soldiers’ consumption of young leaves at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1676 led to the application of the common name of jimsonweed to D. stramonium (R. Beverley 1705).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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