ATROPA BELLADONNA

FAMILY :: SOLANACEAE
DEADLY NIGHTSHADE, BELLADONNA: Narcotic, sedative, hallucinogen, anodyne and poison used for 100s of years in medicine and magic. Can easily be fatal if misused. If you have children around, this plant is particularly dangerous because the berries (12 are often fatal —all parts of the plant are poisonous) look good and do not taste bad. Belladonna is an ingredient of witches’ flying potions and, besides its use by commercial drug companies, is best known as a witches’ herb. The story is that witches made an ointment out of this plant and applied it to broomsticks and masturbated with those broomsticks. Think this practice has something to do with the derivation of the phrase, “being swept away.” Better than sweeping floors. …

The root was combined with wine by Thessalian witches to make an effective love potion and was also a popular additive to drinks in the Middle Ages to “incite to unchasteness.” Unfortunately, it also easily incited to death. Doses are critical. There were times in history when a person could be legally jailed or executed as a witch for having this plant in his/her garden. But we’re beyond that now.

Contains atropine, which now has great value as an antidote for nerve gas poisoning. My dog’s life was once saved by a veterinarian who gave it atropine as an antidote for poisoning from a flea collar (many insecticides are “recycled” nerve gas components). It is a hardy perennial that grows 3-4′ tall in sun or shade and likes moisture and rich soil high in calcium.

BRUGMANSIA

FAMILY :: SOLANACEAE
All BRUGMANSIA, or “tree datura” or “angels’ trumpets” are tropical trees that will grow well only in Southern and Central coastal California, subtropical areas of the Southwest and Southeast, in greenhouses and in the mild tropics. They are all poisonous and very beautiful and are all, except B. sanguinea, heavily evening scented.

The roots are stronger than the seeds, than the stems, than the leaves, than the flowers. Most varieties have an extensive history of shamanic use in South America. All require a very rich soil and much moisture and are very susceptible to spider mites, white flies, and slugs. There are two general types of Brugmansia. The Andean (B. sanguinea, B. candida, B. aurea) and the lowland tropical (B. suaveolens, B. x-insignis, B. versicolor). The Andean types grow better in areas of less summer heat (partially shade B. sanguinea), and the lowland tropical varieties are less tolerant of chill. Most bloom as very young plants.

• BRUGMANSIA AUREA: A white-flowered version of this species from the Sibundoy Valley in Colombia. Very fragrant.
• BRUGMANSIA CANDIDA x: Hybrid with double white 6-8″ long flowers. Slightly hairy leaves. Thrives in areas of warm days and cool nights, growing naturally in South America at altitudes between 4000-7000′.
• ‘CHARLES GRIMALDI’: Tall, fast growing tree to about 20′. Very large (to 10″) salmon colored flowers.
• CULEBRA (Methysticodendron amesianum): Perhaps the rarest of all Brugmansias. Supposedly the strongest used by the shamans of the Sibundoy Valley in Colombia. Has very narrow, long leaves and distorted white flowers. Believed to be a mutation of Brugmansia aurea.
• ‘ECUADOR PINK’: Long 8-10″ unique, satin-pink trumpets on a quickly growing tree.
• ‘FORESTVILLE DOUBLE’: Elongated trumpet within a trumpet flowers to 12″ long. Large, fast growing tree that blooms well when young.
• ‘HAWAIIAN DOUBLE’: Elongated trumpet within a trumpet flowers over 12″ long. Young blooming on a slow-growing, compact tree. Likes strong light and blooms when young.
• ‘INSIGNIS x ORANGE’: Orange medium sized (6″ to 8″) trumpets in large quantity on a medium sized tree, tending to produce multiple trunks. The only Brugmansia listed here that is heavily scented in the daytime as well as in the evening. Also blooms well (perhaps the best) in winter.
• ‘INSIGNIS x PINK’: Salmon/pink bells of medium size (8″) on a medium sized tree.
• ‘JAMAICAN YELLOW’: A very large quantity of yellow 8-10″ trumpets on a vigorous, rapidly growing tree.
• BRUGMANSIA SANGUINEA: Perhaps the hardiest Brugmansia (…not saying that much; it still can’t handle any freezing) listed here. Large yellow bells with red flares. Grow in part shade in summer. The only Brugmansia listed that is unscented. Native to the highlands of Colombia and Ecuador. Not found in lower or middle elevations.
• BRUGMANSIA SUAVEOLENS: Large white, heavily scented trumpets on a medium sized tree. Grows naturally in the Northern Andes below 3000′ elevation.
• ‘SUNRAY’: Highly scented, lemon yellow 12″ blooms.
• BRUGMANSIA VERSICOLOR: The 6-8″ flowers on this medium-sized tree first open near white, then change to an apricot/peach. Blooms well in pots.
• BRUGMANSIA VERSICOLOR ‘Alba’: An albino version of the previous with extra long (to 15″) white flowers.

BRUNFELSIA AUSTRALIS

FAMILY :: SOLANACEAE
Tropical shrub 2-3′ tall with beautiful purple (turning white with age), sweetly scented flowers in quantity throughout the summer. Grow in rich, moist acid soil in part shade with high humidity and temperatures above 50º f. From Paraguay.

BRUNFELSIA JAMAICENSIS

FAMILY :: SOLANACEAE
An endangered species from the Blue Mts. of Jamaica with large, whitish, heavily scented flowers (at night). Requires warmth (above 60º f. at night) to flower.

CESTRUM NOCTURNUM

FAMILY :: SOLANACEAE
NIGHT BLOOMING ‘JASMINE’: As I write this I have one of these plants in front of me, sitting on top of the computer. It has many clusters of 1-2″ light green/white, five-pointed, star-mouthed trumpets “shouting” at me the sweetest, most intoxicating musk scent I’ve ever smelled in a flower.

A friend who grew up in the Southern USA said it’s dangerous to have one of these shrubs growing outside your bedroom window. He wouldn’t say why; that’s the kind of guy he is. He thinks you should already know, or if you don’t, you should be able to figure it out with a minimum of hints. Grows easily and well in a pot as a house plant. Blooms December through April in northern climates and almost year-round in tropical climes.

CESTRUM PARQUI

FAMILY :: SOLANACEAE
WILLOW-LEAFED JESSAMINE: A tender shrub to 6′ tall, with greenish/yellow night-scented flowers and narrow dark green leaves. The hardiest Cestrum listed here. From Chile.

DATURA sp.

FAMILY SOLANACEAE

“… in a shady, damp, secret place, the sacred datura, moon flower, moonlily, thornapple blooms in the night, soft white trumpet shaped flowers that open only in darkness and close with the coming of the heat. The datura is sacred (to certain cultists) because of its content of atropine, a powerful narcotic of an alkaloid group capable of inducing visual hallucinations, as the Indians discovered long before the psychedelic craze began. How they could have made such a discovery without poisoning themselves to death nobody knows; but then nobody knows how so-called primitive man made his many other discoveries. We must concede that science is nothing new, that research, empirical logic, the courage to experiment are as old as humanity.”
— Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

NOTE: I have been criticized by many people for selling such a ‘dangerous’ family of plants. I have read and heard of many accounts of the use of these plants by those seeking inebriation, but nothing substitutes for first-hand experience, so I had to try for myself a combination of datura and brugmansia, hoping to fly or to see gods… or to see the danger others were warning me about.

Making a tea of 3 datura leaves and some seeds and 2 large brugmansia leaves and one brugmansia flower, I let it brew for a while and drank it over a period of a couple of hours.

I didn’t see god. Didn’t hallucinate in a traditional sense. I probably would not have passed a sobriety test; my walk was very unsteady, my legs and arms seemingly dissociated from my body (or mind), but this wasn’t a “high.”

Sometimes when I dream, I have to do a check to see if I am dreaming or awake. With these plants, I was awake, but had to do reality checks to see if I was dreaming. Had to piss a lot. My throat became so dry, I knew what it would be like to die of thirst in the desert.

But the scariest part of this trip was that I stopped breathing automatically and had to make myself breathe with my diaphragm. These conditions lasted all night. There was no hangover. Can’t say I recommend using these plants in this manner.

DATURA INOXIA

FAMILY :: SOLANACEAE
TOLOACHE: The largest flower of all native California plants: 6-10″ long white trumpets with a slight lavender tinge to the opening. The 2-3′ tall shrub has large, almost velvety gray leaves and can become up to 6′ across: more sprawling than it is bushy. Grow all datura in part shade or full sun and rich, moist soil. Tender, dormant in winter. The roots can be dug and saved in a cool, dry place over winter and replanted in spring if you live in the northern exposures. All datura are poisonous.

DATURA METELOIDES

FAMILY :: SOLANACEAE
A large bush with white 3-6″ long trumpet flowers (late summer to winter, and longer if grown in the greenhouse) and gray leaves. Often confused with D. inoxia, but of a taller (3-4′), more shrub-like growth (rather than sprawling) and smaller, more numerous flowers.

Used by many American Indian tribes in rituals and as an inebriant. Perhaps the most hardy Datura listed here, going dormant in the winter. From Mexico and Southwestern USA.

DATURA STRAMONIUM

FAMILY :: SOLANACEAE
JIMSON WEED, THORNAPPLE: An upright, very strongly scented annual bush with large dark green leaves and many 3-4″ white flowers. This is the Datura that is hated by farmers and ranchers because it can cause poisoning in livestock and spreads very easily from seed. I like it.

The Algonquin Tribe of North America used this plant as the chief ingredient in a potion called wysocean that was given to adolescent boys for 18-20 days continuously to initiate them into manhood. They were supposed to unlive their childhood, becoming men by forgetting they had ever been boys. Modern American culture is sorely lacking in male initiation rites, but I don’t think I’m ready to recommend this one.

DATURA TATULA

LILAC FLOWERED JIMSON WEED: Identical to D. stramonium
and considered by some a variety, but with lilac colored flowers and purple
stems. Some will come up white flowered; it’s easy to tell without having
to wait months for the bloom: the lilac flowered plants have purple stems
and the white flowered ones have light green stems.

LYCIUM CHINENS

MATRIMONY VINE, GOU-QI-ZI: The small, red, pleasantly
sweet fruit of this easily grown, deciduous, hardy shrub have long been
a popular tonic in traditional Chinese medicine. It is used for nonspecific
immune system enhancement and for many diseases from diabetes to poor eyesight,
to impotence, to high blood pressure. Grows best in rich, moist, sandy,
alkaline soil in full sun and prefers a cool climate (naturally grows at
the 6-8000′ level in China) The fruit is most often used in combination
with other herbs.

MANDRAGORA OFFICINARUM

MANDRAKE: A near mythological plant prominent in European
and Near-Eastern magic. Nearly impossible to germinate, difficult to grow,
dangerous to harvest and deadly to use.

NICOTIANA ALATA

JASMINE TOBACCO: A tender perennial tobacco with sweet
scented 3″ white flowers atop 3′ stems. Usually grown as an ornamental
and aromatic annual. Low nicotine content.

NICOTIANA GLAUCA

TREE TOBACCO: A tender perennial tobacco (actually all tobaccos are tender to freezing, some more than others-this is the generally the hardiest). Can grow 12′ or more tall in mild climates. This variety has long, slender, sticky leaves with yellow flowers. Contains no nicotine, rather anabasine which is slightly different, though just as deadly. Reseeds easily.

NICOTIANA RUSTICA

FAMILY :: SOLANACEAE
WILD TOBACCO: OK, now this is the real stuff, with a nicotine content higher than any commercial tobacco. This plant was probably the first cultivated plant in the history of mankind. It is very highly valued among Native Americans, both north and south, and is an integral part of almost all of their shamanic disciplines. It is a short-lived perennial with yellow-green flowers that look amazingly like those of belladonna. Not an easy smoke.

WITHANIA SOMNIFERA

FAMILY :: SOLANACEAE
ASHVAGANDHA: Since before 1000 BC this plant has been used in Ayurvedic medicine. The root is considered a tonic for the elderly, relieving tremors and promoting vigor. It is also used as an aphrodisiac and is the drug of choice of Ayurvedic physicians in the treatment of rheumatic pain and joint inflammation. It is popularly used as a sedative. The leaves are used to reduce skin inflammations. The small red fruit (encased in a paper sheath like tomatillos) are used as a dye. This 2-3′ tall plant is relatively hardy (to the mid-20ºs f.) and easy to grow in well-drained, rich soil in full sun. Dormant in winter.