Thursday, October 21, 2010

Devil's Trumpet

Zach and I went to a corn maze some weeks ago and while we were finding our way through the twisting labyrinth of brown rustling stalks, we kept seeing this strange weed, it looked like a very angry Milkweed.









It truly is one of the weirdest plants I've ever seen. It reminds me of something from Little Shop of Horrors.










I took a lot of pictures of it so I could look it up when we got home. Turns out it's called Devils Trumpet, or Datura it's also called Horn of Plenty or Downy Thorn Apple, among others. Zach and I collected some seeds because we thought it would be cool to plant around the yard.







We quickly flushed them down the toilet after reading about this plant. It is extremely toxic, I read on one site that even hummingbirds can become sick from drinking too much of the nectar. That's what we need with dogs and goats around, eating everything in site.









It grows good in corn fields because it thrives in soil that is turned annually. I found this little excerpt on Wikipedia that I thought was appropriate for this time of year,  









"Datura belongs to the classic "witches' weeds," along with deadly nightshade, henbane, and mandrake. Most parts of the plants contain toxic hallucinogens, and Datura has a long history of use for causing delirious states and death. It was well known as an essential ingredient of love potions and witches' brews."
Spooky little plant, isn't it?

2 comments:

Karla said...

That was wicked interesting! :D

Jennifer Sartell said...

Thanks! Very strange plant!

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