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Common name: Jimsonweed, thornapple, Jamestown-weed, Devil's apple
Botanical name: Datura stramonium Family: Solanaceae
Jimsonweed is a type of Datura. It is thought that Jimsonweed is a native of
Asia and it was imported to Europe and then to temperate parts of North and
South America. The name Jimsonweed is a corruption of Jamestown weed, after
the town in Virginia to which it is first believed to have been imported to
the USA from England. Jimsonweed is an annual, growing up to a height of 5
feet with large purplish or white trumpet-shaped flowers and spiny, egg-shaped
fruits. The stem is purplish and glabrous (smooth) and the leaves are ovate,
irregularly lobed, to 8 in long, and have a foul odor. The flowers,
however, are fragrant and sweet-smelling. They open for only one evening, but
new ones continue to open throughout the summer and autumn. The flowers are
white or pale lavender, shaped like a five-sided funnel, 2-4 in long.
| Photographed in Govindghat,
Uttaranchal. |
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