Economic Botany of Datura plant

Economic Botany- Morphology, Cultivation and Uses of Datura stramonium 

Botanical Name: Datura stramonium

Family: Solanaceae

Part used: Leaves, flowers, roots and seeds.

The genus name Datura is derived from dhatura, the Bengali name for the plant. Datura species, also called thornapple, devil’s apple, angel’s trumpet (in a broad sense) or devil’s trumpet, have their main center of origin in Mexico and the southwest United States (US).

It is an aggressive invasive weed in temperate climates and tropical climates across the world.

Botanical Description:

Dhatura is an annual plant and the length of Dhatura plant, tall and has a pungent odor thus Datura stramonium is a bushy, smooth, annual. The branching stem is spreading and leafy

Root: cylindrical, brown, rough-splintered, with lateral branches.

Stem: Cylindrical, dichotomously branched, blackish-purple to dark purple in colour, with a very short internode.

Leaf: alternately arranged, with a pointed border. Leaves are generally light dull green, ovate to triangular ovate. When young, the leaves may be slightly pubescent; however, as they become older, they lose their hair, and the upper surface of each leaf is frequently dull and dark green.

Flowers: have bell or trumpet shapes. Flowers are axillary, erect, white, and sweet scented (especially at night).

Fruit: A globular, soft-spined capsule that contains light-brown seeds. Fruits are as large as walnuts and full of thorns. At maturity, it splits into four chambers, each with dozens of small seeds. A hard fruit that is dry, spiky and spheroid-ovoid in shape, replaces each bloom. Each fruit has a truncated, downward-curving remnant of the calyx underneath it. When these fruits reach maturity, they change from green to brown and split into four parts, releasing the seeds.

Seed: flattened, foveate, surface finely pitted, color similar to chili pepper seeds. Seeds are black.

Datura stramonium generally flowers throughout the summer. 

Cultivation:

Datura stramonium prefers rich, calcareous soil. Adding nitrogen fertilizer to the soil increases the concentration of alkaloids present in the plant.

D. stramonium can be grown from seed, which is sown with several feet between plants. It is sensitive to frost, so should be sheltered during cold weather.

The plant is harvested when the fruits are ripe, but still green.

To harvest, the entire plant is cut down, the leaves are stripped from the plant, and everything is left to dry. When the fruits begin to burst open, the seeds are harvested.

If cultivated for leaf crop, the capsule should be removed as soon as it forms since the spines in the plant.

The plant grows to a height of 1 meter in August and produces both flowers and fruits. The end of August sees the collection of stems with leaves and blooming tops, which are dried as quickly as possible. When the plant is fully bloomed, the leaves should be collected and dried with care. In the late summer, they are typically picked. The crop is hacked by the sickle in the month of August on a lovely morning after the sun has dried the dew, and the leaves are peeled from the stem and dried carefully.

Drug obtained: Alkaloid hyoscyamine, Atropine and scopolamine

The maximum amounts of alkaloids were found after ten weeks of seed germination, decreasing gradually with the beginning of the generative phase in plants.

Leaves develop maximum alkaloid concentration in the vegetative phase, decreasing rapidly in the generative phase. The stems and leaves of young plants contain hyoscyamine as a significant component. However, the concentrations of atropine and scopolamine differ in different plant parts in young and adult plants.

Medicinal properties:

ANTI ASTHMATIC ACTIVITY-

ANTICHOLERGENIC PROPERTY

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY

ANTI-CANCEROUS ACTIVITY

ANTI-INFLAMATORY ACTIVITY

ANTI-FUNGAL ACTIVITY