Plant: Annual herb; pubescent, with a long, tuberous root

Leaves: ovate, 10-23 cm long, 5-12 cm wide, the upper surface puberulent to glabrescent, the lower surface canescent, especially along veins, entire, irregularly dentate to lobed; apex acute; base cuneate to rounded

Flowers: with calyx 6.5-14.5 cm long, the teeth acute to acuminate, 10-35 mm long; corolla white to pale violet or lavender, the tube (14-)16-26 cm long, the limb 7-15 cm wide, the acumens acuminate to linear triangular, often with a tendril-like tip, 7-40 mm long

Fruit: FRUITS pendent, capsule dehiscing irregularly, green to whitish green, subglobose to globose, 3-4 cm in diameter, with 300-400 spines, 0.6-1 cm long; pericarp puberulent; persistent calyx base appressed, sometimes rotate or reflexed; SEEDS brown to red-brown (sometimes black), reniform, 4-6 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, smooth, with a cord-like triple ridge on convex edge; caruncle white, present in fresh seeds

Misc: Roadsides, waste grounds and arroyo margins; 1220-1850 m (4000-6000 ft); May-Oct

Notes: Corolla funnelform.Flowers fragrant.Plants poisionous.Seeds light brown (tan).Anthers white or pale lavender.

References: Kearney & Peebles; Arizona Flora. McDougall; Seed plants of Northern Arizona. Hickman, ed.; The Jepson Manual. ASU specimans. Bye, Robert. 2001. Solanaceae. JJ. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 33(1).

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Perennial herbs; spreading and branching; herbage grayish-green; 50-180 cm tall.

Leaves: Alternate with short petioles and toothed lobes, usually asymmetric at the base, 4-15 cm long, grayish-green and short-pubescent.

Flowers: In stout, dense, sessile to short peduncled spike 2-6 cm long, floral bracts lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 8-9 mm long, acuminate; calyx densely villous to hirsute, lobes setaceous, about twice as long as the tube, corolla yellow, becoming purplish-pink as it dries.

Fruits: Capsule round, 3-4 cm in diameter, nodding, and very prickly; prickles 5-12 mm long; seeds flat and cream-colored.

Ecology: Found in creosote brush, Joshua tree, sagebrush, and pinon-juniper communties; 1,000-6,500 ft (300-1980 m); flowers April-October.

Distribution: Most of N. Amer.except CAN; south to c MEX; also in Europe, Australia and eastern Asia.

Notes: Characterized by being a perennial; its spreading habit, large ovate leaves, and large white funnel-shaped corolla (D. discolor has a purple throat) with 5 teeth and spikey globose fruits with spines <1cm long (D. discolor has spines >1cm). Entire plant is poisonous.

Ethnobotany: Apache use plant juice, flower, roots as disinfectant. Cahuilla and others use leaf powder to make ointment for setting bones. Also used as antidote for tarantula, snake, spider and poisonous insect bites. In Cahuilla given to Shaman so he may visit the land of the dead and offer messages to those living. In other tribes given to medicine men to -see- the disease and give proper diagnosis. Used in numerous tribes in ceremonies marking boy initiation into manhood. Plant is the most poisonous narcotic known.

Etymology: Datura is an ancient Hindu name. Wrightii named for Charles Wright (1811-1885), an American botanical collector.

Synonyms: Datura inoxia subsp. quinquecuspida, D. metel var. quinquecuspida, D. meteloides

Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015

Coarse, heavy-scented perennial to 1.5 m, often as broad as high, grayish-pubescent throughout with fine, ±crisp short hairs, the lvs velvety beneath; lvs to 2 dm, broadly ovate, rounded to cordate at base, entire or merely repand; cal 6-15 cm, terete or slightly angled, wingless, unequally 5-toothed, the persistent portion 1-2 cm, reflexed; cor 12-20 cm, white, the limb to 12 cm wide, slenderly 5-toothed; fr reflexed, subglobose, 3-4 cm, densely hairy and copiously short- spiny; 2n=24. Native of Mex. and sw. U.S., casually intr. here and there in our range. July-Oct. Confused in the past with D. inoxia Mill. (D. meteloides), a Mexican sp. with narrower, 10-toothed cor-limb.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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