DURING much of the year one of the most
conspicuous plants to be found along Arizona's roadways is the sacred datura,
Datura meteloides. Possessing large, dark-green leaves and brilliant white,
trumpet-shaped flowers up to six inches in diameter, this common plant
contrasts noticeably with the surrounding foliage. Often called "thornapple"
because of its round, spiny fruit, the datura is a member of the potato family,
Solanaceae, which contains such cultivated species as the tomato, pepper,
eggplant, tobacco, and petunia. This family also includes the many species of
nightshade-Solanum, and the wolfberries-Lycium, among others. As with most of
the members of its family, many parts of the datura plant are toxic.
There
are three other, less common species of datura in Arizona. Datura querafolia
occurs only in the southeastern corner of the state, usually at elevations
between 4,000 and 6,000 feet. Datura discolor is confined to elevations below
2,000 feet in the southern counties, while Datura stramonium-an introduced
species-is found only around 5,000 feet in one or two locations of southeastern
Arizona. |
It was this last species,
which is quite widespread throughout the United States, that first acquired the
name which the entire genus now carries-Jimson weed. No one is exactly sure
when or how it was introduced, but it was already quite common in the
Jamestown, Virginia area in the early 1600s. Historians of that era give
several accounts of the settlers having cooked up batches of the spinach-like
leaves, causing temporary insanity to those who ate it. The plant therefore
became known as the Jamestown Weed, later to become corrupted to "Jimson
Weed.!'
The sacred datura is a very common plant in the southern half of
Arizona, occurring at elevations from 1,000 to 7,000 feet. It usually grows
where there is additional moisture, and is found most abundantly beside
roadways, or along the banks of washes and arroyos. A large plant will -. grow
to the height of three feet and may cover as much as fifty square feet of
ground. An individual plant does not usually attain this size in one season,
but may be two or more years of age. Although any hard frost or sub-freezing
temperatures will destroy the leaves and stems, the heavy root system survives
all but the hardest of winters, |
