Interesting Facts
Common Names
Common Names in English:
Devils Trumpet, Downy Thorn Apple, Horn of Plenty
Description
Family Solanaceae
Herbs, shrubs
, small trees
, or climbers
. Stems sometimes prickly, rarely thorny; hairs
simple
, branched, or stellate
, sometimes glandular
. Leaves alternate, solitary or paired
, simple or pinnately compound
, without stipules; leaf blade
entire, dentate
, lobed
, or divided
. Inflorescences terminal
, overtopped by continuing axes, appearing axillary
, extra-axillary
, or leaf opposed, often apparently umbellate
, racemose, paniculate
, clustered, or solitary flowers, rarely true cymes, sometimes bracteate
. Flowers mostly bisexual
, usually regular, 5-merous, rarely 4- or 6-9-merous. Calyx mostly lobed. Petals united
. Stamens as many as corolla lobes
and alternate with them, inserted
within corolla, all alike or 1 or more reduced; anthers
dehiscing longitudinally or by apical pores
. Ovary 2-5-locular; placentation mostly axile
; ovules usually numerous
. Style 1. Fruiting calyx often becoming enlarged, mostly persistent
. Fruit a berry or capsule. Seeds with copious
endosperm; embryo mostly curved
.
About 95 genera with 2300 species: best represented in western tropical
America, widespread in temperate
and tropical regions
; 20 genera (ten introduced
) and 101 species in China.
Some species of Solanaceae are known in China only by plants
cultivated in ornamental
or specialty gardens: Atropa belladonna Linnaeus, Cyphomandra betacea (Cavanilles) Sendtner, Brugmansia suaveolens (Willdenow) Berchtold & Presl, Nicotiana alata Link & Otto, and Solanum jasminoides Paxton.[1]
Genus Datura
Shrubs
or annual
or perennial
herbs; pubescence
of simple
sometimes glandular
hairs
. Leaves petiolate
; leaf blade
simple, entire or sinuate-dentate. Inflorescences solitary flowers in leaf axils
or in branch
forks; peduncle, bracts, and bracteoles absent. Flowers actinomorphic
, large. Pedicel often stout. Calyx long tubular
or cylindric
, often circumscissile near base
. Corolla elongated, funnelform
; lobes
sometimes cuspidate
. Anthers
mostly elongated, dehiscing longitudinally, included
. Ovary 2-4-locular. Fruit a dry capsule, 4-valved or irregularly dehiscent
, prickly or unarmed
, often subtended by remnants of persistent
calyx. Seeds numerous
, laterally compressed
; embryo curved
.
About 11 species: North and South America, three species in China.[2]
Physical Description
Flowers: Bloom Period: April, May, June, July, August. • Flower Color: near white, purple, white
Size/Age/Growth
Size: 4-6' tall.
Biology
Growth
Culture: Space 6-9" apart.
Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .
Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
)
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
)
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
)
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
)
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
)
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Spermatopsida
(
)
- Brongniart, 1843
- Subclass:
Asteridae
(
)
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Solananae
(
)
- R. Dahlgren Ex Reveal, 1992
- Order:
Solanales
(
)
- Dumortier, 1829
- Family:
Solanaceae
(
)
- A.L. de Jussieu, 1789, nom. cons.
- nightshades, solanacées
- Subfamily:
Solanoideae
(
)
- Subfamily:
Solanoideae
(
- Family:
Solanaceae
(
- Order:
Solanales
(
- Superorder:
Solananae
(
- Subclass:
Asteridae
(
- Class:
Spermatopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Notes
A tentatively accepted name in the RHS Horticultural Database.
Similar Species
Members of the genus Datura
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 47 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
D. arborea (Maikoa) · D. bernhardtii (Devils Trumpet) · D. candida (Angel's-Trumpet) · D. ceratocaula (Devils Trumpet) · D. discolor (Desert Thorn Apple) · D. fastuosa 'Double Golden' (Devils Trumpet) · D. inermis (Smoooth Thorn-Apple) · D. innoxia (Angel's Trumpet) · D. inoxia (Devils Trumpet) · D. inoxia inoxia (Downy Thornapple) · D. inoxia 'Evening Fragrance' (Datura) · D. inoxia 'Missouri Marble' (Variegated Evening Trumpet) · D. kymatocarpa (Datura) · D. leichhardtii (Devils Trumpet) · D. metaloides (Jimsonweed) · D. metel var. fastuosa (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel var. muricata (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Alba' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Aurea' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Ballerina Purple' (Ballerina Purple Angel's Trumpet) · D. metel 'Ballerina Yellow' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Belle Blanche' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Black Currant Swirl' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Cornucopaea' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Double Cream' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Double Golden Queen' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Double Lavender' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Double Purple' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Double White Lady' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Frilled Double Purple' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Purple Petticoats' (Devils Trumpet) · D. metel 'Triple Yellow' (Devils Trumpet) · D. pruinosa (Datura) · D. quercifolia (Chinese Datura) · D. reburra (Datura) · D. seraticaula (Devils Trumpet) · D. stramonium (Jamestown Weed) · D. stramonium subsp. stramonium (Purple Thorn-Apple) · D. stramonium var. stramonium (Common Thorn-Apple) · D. suaveolens (Angel's Trumpet Tree) · D. tatula var. inermis (Devils Trumpet) · D. versicolor (Peach Angel's-Trumpet) · D. wrightii (Devils Trumpet) · D. wrightii 'High Altitude Form' (Devils Trumpet) · D. x candida (Angel's Trumpet) · D. 'Eryngium Blue' (Devils Trumpet) · D. 'Lilac Le Fleur' (Common Thorn-Apple)
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Kuang Ko-zen & Lu An-ming, eds. 1978. Solanaceae. Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 67(1): 1-175.
- Kuang Ko-zen & Lu An-ming, eds. 1978. Solanaceae. Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 67(1): 1-175.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
Identifiers
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 955685
Footnotes
- Zhi-Yun Zhang, Anmin Lu & William G. D'Arcy "Solanaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 17 Page 300. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
- "Datura". in Flora of China Vol. 17 Page 330. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
