Flora of New Zealand Series

thornapple

Foetid annual herb to c. 1 m tall, puberulent, especially when young. Stems usually green or rarely purple. Petiole to c. 7 cm long. Lamina 5-30-(40) × 3-20-(25) cm, narrow- to broad-ovate, lobed; veins remaining puberulent, otherwise lamina becoming glabrous; apex of lobes acute or short-acuminate. Calyx 4-5 cm long, ribbed, reflexing at fruiting; teeth 5-8 mm long, unequal. Corolla 6-8-(9.5) cm long (excluding lobes), usually white or rarely light purple, funnelform; lobes 4-8 mm long, aristate. Fr. 3-5 × 2-3 cm (excluding spines), ovoid, erect, largest towards base of cyme; spines numerous, to 1 cm long, slender, the largest concentrated in upper 1/2. Seeds 2-3 mm wide, reniform, eventually black, irregularly rugose.

N.; S.: scattered through most settled areas; K.: very occasional on Raoul Id.

Tropical and subtropical America 1867

Waste places such as roadsides, building sites, old gardens, as well as cultivated ground, sometimes abundant on recently disturbed ground but often only as isolated plants.

FL Nov-Apr.

Thornapple is a well-known medicinal and poisonous plant (Connor 1977).

A fl. of thornapple is illustrated in Fig. 112. Purple thornapple, D. stramonium var. tatula (L.) Torrey (sometimes treated as D. tatula L.) is distinguished by its purple stems and light purple fls. It is much less common than the white-flowered var., and is a sporadic colour variant doubtfully worthy of varietal status.

Fig. 112. Fl. of Datura stramonium. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X3R]