stramonium

Stramonium is a term referring to Datura stramonium, commonly known as jimsonweed or thorn-apple. It is a flowering plant in the nightshade family (Solanaceae). The plant is an annual herb that can reach up to 1–2 meters in height. It has broad, irregularly toothed leaves and large, trumpet-shaped flowers that are white or with purple veining, opening at night. The fruit is a spiny capsule that split to release many seeds.

Native to the Americas, stramonium has naturalized in many temperate and subtropical regions worldwide. It typically grows in disturbed soils, along roadsides, wasteland, fields, and garden margins.

All parts contain tropane alkaloids, notably atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine. Ingestion or excessive exposure can produce anticholinergic syndrome: dry mouth, dilated pupils, flushed skin, confusion, agitation, hallucinations, tachycardia, and in severe cases coma or death. The alkaloid content varies with plant age, part, growing conditions, and geography, making dosing unpredictable. Seeds are particularly potent. Skin exposure can cause irritation for some individuals, but the plant is primarily dangerous when ingested.

Historically, stramonium has been used in traditional medicine and as a source of tropane alkaloids for pharmaceuticals; today isolated compounds such as atropine, scopolamine, and hyosamine are used in medicine, while whole-plant preparations are rarely used due to toxicity. It remains a hazardous weed; accidental poisonings have occurred, especially in children, from misidentification or ingestion of ornamental plants or seeds. Identification should be precise, and plants should not be ingested.