Jimsonweed

These dramatic seed pods carry a warning -- poison! Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) is common around here -- this one showed up in our garden. I already knew it has hallucinogenic qualities--a neighbor told me years ago that when she was young, thrill-seeking teenagers would lay one of the little seeds inside their lower eyelid and it would make then see strange things.  

What I didn't know was that the name Jimsonweed was originally Jamestown Weed, derived from Jamestown, Virginia where English soldiers, attempting to put down a rebellion in 1676, boiled and ate a quantity of the leaves "the effect of which was a very pleasant comedy, for they turned natural fools upon it for several days: one would blow a feather up in the air; another would dart straws at it with much fury; and another, stark naked, was sitting in a corner like a monkey   . . .

In this frantic condition they were confined, lest they should, in their folly, destroy themselves--though it was observed that all their actions were full of innocence and good nature. . .a thousand such simple tricks they played, and after eleven days returned to themselves again, not remembering anything that had passed."

(From The History and Present State of Virginia, Book II-1705

I'm not tempted.

Depending on where you live, the plant is also called thornapple, moon flower, hell's bells, devil's trumpet, devil's weed, stinkweed, locoweed, prickly burr, or devil's cucumber.

Its poisonous ingredients include atropine, scopolomine, hyoscyamine, and tryopane alkaloids.

A perfect plant for a witch's garden.  Maybe between to the foxglove and deadly nightshade . . . 

Jimson Weed

Jimson weed ( datura stramonium) grows wild around here. I was told by Louise Freeman, who grew up on this farm, that back when she was young, some kids would put the seeds in their eyes and it would make them see things.

Ay, law -- I'll bet. All parts of the plant are toxic to a degree, containing"dangerous levels of the tropane alkaloids atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine which are classified as deliriants, or anticholinergics. There is a high risk of fatal overdose amongst uninformed users, and many hospitalizations occur amongst recreational users who ingest the plant for its psychoactive effects. " 

My book of Cherokee herbal medicine states that the dried leaves  were smoked to alleviate asthma and warm, wilted leaves were applied as a poultice for boils.  But one needs to know what one's doing.  

According to Wikipedia, in the United States the plant is called jimson weed, or more rarely Jamestown weed; it got this name from the town of Jamestown, Virginia, where British soldiers consumed it while attempting to suppress Bacon's Rebellion. They spent eleven days in altered mental states:

  

I quote:

"The James-Town Weed (which resembles the Thorny Apple of Peru, and I take to be the plant so call'd) is supposed to be one of the greatest coolers in the world. This being an early plant, was gather'd very young for a boil'd salad, by some of the soldiers sent thither to quell the rebellion of Bacon (1676); and some of them ate plentifully of it, the effect of which was a very pleasant comedy, for they turned natural fools upon it for several days: one would blow up a feather in the air; another would dart straws at it with much fury; and another, stark naked, was sitting up in a corner like a monkey, grinning and making mows [grimaces] at them; a fourth would fondly kiss and paw his companions, and sneer in their faces with a countenance more antic than any in a Dutch droll.
In this frantic condition they were confined, lest they should, in their folly, destroy themselves — though it was observed that all their actions were full of innocence and good nature. Indeed, they were not very cleanly; for they would have wallowed in their own excrements, if they had not been prevented. A thousand such simple tricks they played, and after eleven days returned themselves again, not remembering anything that had passed. " The History and Present State of Virginia, 1705

Thanks, Wikipedia! I'll not mess with it.