Thorn Apple, (Datura stramonium)

Dangerous due to its toxicity? I've seen some datura lining yards in our northwestern states, nothing guarding them. What/who are you guarding it from?

lol its a beast

Presumably the thorns on it .... if its name is right .... implying thorns.

The genus was derived from "datura", an ancient Sanskrit word for the plant. Stramonium is originally from Greek, strychnos (nightshade) and manikos (mad).
A mate of mine whilst backpacking in India, came across (met is the wrong word) a fellow European traveller who my mate was told by the locals, had been smoking Datura with the saddus' "holy men" a few days earlier. This traveller was totally loco, babbling, laughing and crying, totally naked, covered in and eating his own poo. Didn't know who he was, didn't know how he got there. Couldn't string a sentance together. What a mess. My mate thought he'll sleep it off and be ok in a couple of days.
However, when my mate returned to the village three months later, the traveller was still mad! My mate took him to the hospital and informed the travellers parents.
Moral: Don't eat, drink or smoke Datura.
Looks nice and has a nutty smell though.
Nuff said.

Scary !

Yeek!

This is the drug of choice in the Carlos Castendeda novels used by the sorcerer Don Juan in Northern Mexico. He decribed it as a powerful and dangerous woman who tempted the user with visions and destroyed them. Don Juan had developed a tender relationship with the plant to gain power. I'm sure that writing has brought more than one American to madness from trying this out.

Yeah mate, she's a dangerous woman not to be trifled with.
I read "Carlos Castaneda a Yaqui Way of Knowledge" about 20 years ago.
I think he refered to it as jimson weed. Or is that another book I'm thinking of. Anyhow, I still didn't want to try it.

Thats it, though there is more formal reference to it in following books. I wouldn't try it either. Reading about it was enough for me. :-)

I knew this plant from working in a garden in Spain. Very nice white trumpets but even then I knew it was poisonous. I worked in that garden 35 years ago for a few months.

gee I didn't know it was that poisonus, I've been deadheading with my fingernails...awful smell....

You'll be alright as long as you don't suck your fingers, ha ha!
The plant is behind bars to stop members of the public touching it.
There was a cage for a cannabis plant too, but the cage was empty. It probably got so "high" it just floated off. ;-)

As far as I know that this pic of Angels Trumpet is not so toxic as the Jimson or Jimsyn weed, not sure what spelling is right, which is the white flowering one that grows like a weed of a vine here in LA any where it can. I saw it on my last walk it was taking over everything, it grows 12 feet or more. It gets those big seed pods and it is said some thrill seekers convert them into a drug.
Sounds quite awful if that story u told is true.

Thank for the info Angie. I just came home with an 'Angels Trumpet' that I thought was a Brugmansia, but a good look at this picture, and I think I just brought this to my house! It does look different from the jimson weed Datura I saw in Washington. I'll have a look at its toxicity.

Looked further and the California wild Datura is name Datura inoxia or Moonflower. Jimsonweed is the Datura stramonium. I didn't find any information other than a southeastern US variety that seemed to be vine-like so I'm not sure about that. I've seen the Moonflower. I've definitely come home today with this Datura stramonium.

Then you must be careful!