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Thorn-Apple. Jamestown-Weed

Datura Stramonium. Nightshade Family.

Stem.--Smooth and branching. Leaves.--Ovate; wavy toothed or angled. Flowers.--White; large and showy; on short flower-stalks from the forks of the branching stem. Calyx.--Five-toothed. Corolla.--Funnel-form; the border five-toothed. Stamens.--Five. Pistil.--One. Fruit.--Green globular; prickly. The showy white flowers of the thorn-apple are found in waste places during the summer and autumn, a heap of rubbish forming their usual unattractive background. The plant is a rank, ill-scented one, which was introduced into our country from Asia. It was so associated with civilization as to be called the "white man's plant" by the Indians.

Its purple-flowered relative, D. Tatula, is an emigrant from the tropics. This genus possesses narcotic-poisonous properties.