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Datura metel
Also called Hindu Datura, Hindu Thorn Apple, Downy Thorn Apple, Entire Leaved Thorn Apple, Hoary Thorn Apple, Horn Of Plenty, Metel
In Singapore: Horn of Plenty, Downy Thorn-Apple, Hoary Thorn-Apple, Purple Thorn-Apple, Thorn-Apple, Devil's Trumpet, 洋金花 (Grown in Singapore)
Datura metel is a shrub-like annual or short-lived shrubby perennial with large, fragrant trumpet flowers in white, cream, yellow, red or violet. It grows best in warm, humid, frost-free conditions, and every part of it is highly poisonous.
Datura metel is a shrub-like annual (zone 5–7) or short-lived, shrubby perennial (zone 8–10), commonly known in Europe as Indian thornapple, Hindu datura, or metel and in the United States as devil's trumpet or angel's trumpet. Datura metel is naturalised in all the warmer countries of the world. It is found notably in India, where it is known by the ancient, Sanskrit-derived, Hindi name dhatūra (धतूरा), from which the genus name Datura is derived.
The plant is cultivated worldwide, both as an ornamental and for its medicinal properties, the latter being due to its tropane alkaloid content. Like its hardier and smaller-flowered relative Datura stramonium, it is now of widespread occurrence, although showing a preference for warmer, humid climates.
All parts of Datura plants contain dangerous levels of highly poisonous tropane alkaloids meteloidine and its angelate ester and datumetine and may be fatal if ingested by humans or other animals, including livestock and pets. In some places, it is prohibited to buy, sell, or cultivate Datura plants.
Datura metel may be toxic if ingested in a tiny quantity, symptomatically expressed as flushed skin, headaches, hallucinations, and possibly convulsions or even a coma. The principal toxic elements are tropane alkaloids. Ingesting even a single leaf can lead to severe side effects.
Datura metel is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it is called yáng jīn huā (洋金花). However, the ingestion of D. metel in any form is dangerous and should be treated with extreme caution. According to Drug & Cosmetic Act 1940 & Rule 1995, Datura metel is banned in India except for use in Ayurvedic medicine. In Aruba, Curaçao, Cuba, and Surinam, Datura metel was used in traditional medicine.
Desert thorn-apple · Pricklyburr · Sacred Thorn Apple · Thorn-apple · Sacred thorn-apple · Jimsonweed
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Datura metel by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
