Cosmopolitan weedy annual whose spiny seed pods conceal an extremely dangerous mixture of tropane alkaloids — producing intense, fully formed hallucinations indistinguishable from reality, often followed by amnesia and lasting physical harm.
Fast-growing annual of disturbed ground, roadsides, and abandoned fields worldwide.
The names this organism has been given by the cultures that have lived alongside it. Each carries an entire relationship — what is sacred is never simply translated.
- Hierba del diabloSpanish (folk)"Devil's herb"
- Used by several Indigenous North American peoples in ritual contexts under expert supervision
- Historical use in European witchcraft and folk magic
Across nearly every culture that has encountered it, Datura is treated as a dangerous, ambivalent teacher — never a recreational plant. The line between an effective ritual dose and a hospitalizing or lethal one is famously narrow.
- Schultes & Hofmann 1979
- Preissel & Preissel 2002
