Angel's Trumpet

We saw some Angel’s Trumpet plants in bloom the other day, and this was not unusual in our old Baton Rouge neighborhood south of LSU, while Ed reports that he has not seen many in Lake Charles; probably because his travels around town are very limited. These are of interest to us Lawnchair Gardeners for several reasons. First, we used to know these by their botanical name: Datura, of which there are a number of different species, but the taxonomists have been up to their mischief again, and for several years now these plants have been called Brugsmania.  Next, several of the species contain powerful narcotic substances, although in very dilute amounts, and we may be familiar with some of their products without knowing it.

As for the latter, when we were teaching the Lagniappe course in Lawnchair Gardening for mature people (over fifty years of age), and we talked about Daturas, we told our class that there was a pharmaceutical product in which the list of active ingredients included hamamelis and stramonium, and we were sure that most of them were familiar with the product, but may not have looked at the ingredient list. It is Preparation H. Hamamelis is witch hazel (Hamamelis japonica, and stramonium is the species name of Datura stramonium, Jimson Weed, both of which are astringent).

As for the narcotics, a few years ago we read where concerned people in Florida became aware that adventurous teens were ingesting the small amounts of nectar in the flowers of the Angel Trumpet plant, reported over the teen grapevine to make one high.  There was some discussion of making it illegal to grow the plant, but this never got past the talking stage.

About the same time, we read somewhere about a potent narcotic derived from Datura arborea, a tree found growing in Columbia (where else?) which causes compliance, including truth-telling in people ingesting small amounts (2 mg. is a lethal dose), as well as amnesia for several days. This appeared to be a perfect “date rape” drug.  Fortunately, we have not become aware of it being wide-spread.

The active principle in this drug is scopolamine, used for a while as a “truth serum,” until replaced by sodium pentothal and other materials. But listen to this: There is a natural antidote to the drug, physostigmine, produced in parts of west Africa by a vine, called the Calabar bean (Physostigma venosum), where it is used to resolve some legal cases by having opponents eat portions of the bean and seeing who gets the sickest, or in the case of capital offenses, who survives.  This is like the Sasswood Trials that Leon learned about in Liberia and wrote about some time back. The plant used is Erythrobeum guieensis.

This is the kind of thing that used to be the basis for earnest, but often un-learned discussions in the old coffee room in the Horticulture Department.  For, example, how can one explain the large geographical separation of the drug plant growing in Columbia, and the antidote plant that grows in west Africa. Also, who does the research into what seem to be exotic subjects. We have read that physostigmine is being used in treatment of Alzheimer’s patients and other brain problems. Our psychiatrist consultant says it is all experimental and probably won’t work.

We can’t forget Jimson Weed. This was encountered by the settlers in the Jamestown colony, and may have been foisted on them by the native people.  At any rate, the spiny burrs looked like some nut crops and, to hungry people, it seemed worth trying. Apparently, the results were less than desirable, and the “Jamestown weed” became the “Jimson Weed” as it moved west. Gene Autry had a song, called “Back in the Saddle Again,” with lyrics that talked about, “where the long-horned cattle feed on the lowly Jimson Weed.”  It is also called “loco weed,” meaning that sometimes the long-horned cattle went crazy when they ate it.  Actually, there are two related plants called loco weed but they both contain three dangerous alkaloids, with the amounts varying according to growing conditions.  We googled the name Jimson Weed and found that, sometimes, a weak Jimson Weed tea makes a pretty good hallucinogenic drink. If the plant grows under other conditions, it makes a very good poison. Angel’s Trumpet is an attractive flower, but you shouldn’t try to make tea from it.

Ed O’Rourke, Jr. and Leon Standifer are the authors of Gardening in the Humid South (LSU Press, 2002).