DATURA STRAMONIUM
NEREA, AITZIBER ETA OHIANA
FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION
TARGET GROUP NUMBER : 20
SCIENTIFIC NAME : Datura Stramonium
VULGAR NAME
- English: Datura stramonium
- Italian: Stramonio
- Basque: Asma-belarra
- Greek: στραμωνιο
DESCRIPTION
The root is long, thick, fibrous and white. The stem is stout, erect, leafy, smooth, and pale yellow-green. The stem forks off repeatedly into branches, and each fork forms a leaf and a single, erect flower
The leaves are about 3 to 8 in (8–20 cm) long.
The upper surface of the leaves is a darker green, and the bottom is a light green.
The leaves have a bitter and nauseating taste.
The egg-shaped seed capsule is 1 to 3 in (3–8 cm) in diameter and either covered with spines or bald. At maturity, it splits into four chambers, each with dozens of small, black seeds.
USES, THREATS AND SINGULARITY
USES:
- Datura is used as poison because the presence of alkaloids such as scopolamine, hyoscyamine, and atropine.
- The growing datura plant acts like as insect repellent thereby protects other plants from insects.
- The juice of datura plant is applied over the scalp to treat hair fall, hair loss and dandruff.
THREATS :
- Datura is poisonous plant, so it should be taken only after consultation with the experienced physicians.
- Datura chemicals such as scopolamine and atropine are used as poison and used in murders and suicides.
- Datura increases the heart beat and may lead to cardiac arrest.
- Ingesting datura may cause violent behavior because the presence of chemical substance called anticholinergic.
- Taking datura results to dilated pupils.
- One can also experience amnesia due to this.
- Blurred vision, nausea, giddiness, confusion, rapid pulse, hyperthermia are some of the side effects of datura.
- Datura can affect the nervous system adversely.
- The juice of datura leaves is also very harmful for eyes.
MYTHOLOGY
Datura has many healing properties but is rarely used due to it is toxicity and it is habit of causing severe unpredictable hallucinations that can lose hours or days whith the person who ate or smoked. So Datura in mythology was used by Kirki on Odysseus as a poison , a herb for them to not remember.
SYMBOLISM
The common name of "datura" has its root in ancient India; indeed, the plant represented the Hindu God Shiva Nataraja. It also represented a good way to "open the mind", to be more receptive to learning and imaginative thinking, to debrawotch (lay priests).
Then in Haiti, for vodou priests Datura was identified as the principal ingredient to create zombies.