Datura is a highly poisonous genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), known for its large trumpet-shaped flowers and spiny seed pods often called “thorn apple.”

What datura is

  • Datura is a genus of about nine species of herbaceous annuals or short-lived perennials, such as Datura stramonium , Datura inoxia , and Datura metel.
  • It belongs to the nightshade family, the same family as tomatoes and belladonna, but is classified as a poisonous plant rather than a food crop.
  • Plants are usually bushy herbs 30–150 cm tall, with large leaves, erect trumpet flowers (white, pink, or purple), and globular, spiny seed capsules (the classic “thornapple”).

How it looks & where it grows

  • Flowers are big, funnel- or trumpet-shaped and often bloom at night; fruits are round, knobby or spiky capsules that split open to release many seeds.
  • Datura now grows worldwide in warm and temperate regions, often along roadsides, in disturbed soil, and as an ornamental in gardens.
  • In some places it can self-seed and behave like an invasive weed because seeds stay viable for years.

Chemicals, effects, and danger

  • Datura contains potent tropane alkaloids such as atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine, which affect the nervous system.
  • These compounds can cause severe anticholinergic poisoning: confusion, hallucinations, agitation, very high heart rate, dry mouth, dilated pupils, overheating, seizures, coma, and death.
  • “Jimsonweed” (Datura stramonium) is a major cause of accidental poisonings in people seeking a cheap high or experimenting with the plant.

Very important: recreational use of datura is extremely dangerous. Dose is impossible to judge from plant material, and the gap between “effect” and “fatal overdose” is very small.

Traditional and medicinal uses (under strict control)

  • In various traditional systems (including some Ayurvedic contexts), purified datura extracts have been used for asthma, pain, and other conditions, but only after detoxification and under expert supervision because of its toxicity.
  • Modern medicine uses related purified alkaloids (like pharmaceutical scopolamine or atropine) in controlled doses for motion sickness, eye exams, and as antidotes, rather than crude datura plant preparations.
  • Some cultures historically used datura in rituals and spiritual practices due to its intense psychoactive and delirient effects, but these practices are tightly bound up with serious risk.

Internet and forum / “trending” context

  • Online, datura appears in forum discussions and news as a “world’s most dangerous drug”–type topic, especially where scopolamine from datura is linked to crimes, poisonings, or extreme “bad trip” stories.
  • Harm-reduction and addiction resources now highlight datura as a plant whose misuse can lead to organ damage, long hospitalizations, and permanent psychological trauma, not just a “hallucinogen.”

Safety bottom line

  • Do not ingest or smoke any part of datura; “natural” does not mean safe in this case.
  • If someone may have taken datura (confusion, hallucinations, hot dry skin, big pupils), this is a medical emergency and requires urgent hospital care.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.