Very poisonus
Effect:
antispasmodic, cough relieving, analgesic, calming
Areas of application:
-
Needs medical attention!!!
Plant parts used:
Leaves and seeds
Collection time:
leaves in summer,
seeds in autumn
To find:
Often on waste land. The datura comes from India, Mexico and North America.
Ingredients:
Alkaloids, scopolamine, scopoletin, hyoscyamine, atropine, nicotine, rutoside, essential oil, tannins, fruit acids, vitamins
Miscellaneous:
Love potions were made from the seeds of the Datura or incense was mixed, which clouded the senses and evoked sexual dream images.
Datura is deadly poisonous! Nevertheless, datura plants were and are processed into tobacco in Asia and Africa.
Most authors of old herbal books fear the datura and warned their readers about it. I also advise against it, as it is very difficult to determine which dose is still healing and which can be fatal. Some plants can cause mild symptoms of poisoning when collected. This is because it always depends on where the plant is located and how high the alkaloid content of the plant is.
In the hands of some Indian shamanic priests, Datura also has its benefits. Preparations have a strong painkilling effect. Even in small doses, they cause hallucinations and enable access to the world beyond.
To achieve trance states, a tea is made from the flowers; to combat pain, the crushed flowers are placed on the area that hurts.
An important active ingredient is atropine, which is used in ophthalmology and scopolamine is used for Parkinson's patients.
The external use of the plant is also problematic, but with less lasting consequences. In folk medicine, the leaves were softened in hot water and then placed on non-open, inflamed areas of skin or rheumatism and painful scars were treated with them.
The datura is an annual shrub that can grow to a height of 60 to 150 cm. The shrubs are malodorous, freely branching and upright. The plant has a long, thick and fibrous root. The stems are strong, leafy, smooth and pale yellow-green. They form many branches and branches, with each branch having a leaf and a flower. The leaves are 7.5 to 20 cm long, they are soft, unevenly wavy and toothed. The surface is smooth, with a darker green top and a light green bottom. The white, cream or purple trumpet-shaped flowers appear throughout the summer. They are about 5 to 10 cm long and sit on short stems that grow from the forks of branches or the leaf axils. The calyx is thickened at the base, long and tubular, and surrounded by five sharp teeth. The corolla is only partially open and has pronounced ribs. The flowers only open at night. The seeds are egg-shaped capsules with a diameter of around 2.5 to 7.5 cm and are either glabrous or covered with spines. When ripe, they split into four chambers, each containing many small black seeds.