J20160707-0109—Datura wrightii—RPBG

Datura wrightii—sacred thorn apple. Few plants have as many common names. The name Datura is ultimately from Sanskrit and means "white thorn apple". Another, Toloache, is derived from its Aztec name and is the vernacular term in northern Mexico. Jimson weed, another name, is familiar to English-speaking farmers.

Willis. L. Jepson (of the Jepson Manual and Jepson Herbarium fame) believed the plant was introduced into California in Spanish times, or perhaps even earlier by Native Americans, who used (and still use) it in religious rites. Datura wrightii's hallucinogenic properties have been known since ancient times.

Jesús Roberto Duarte, a Flickr friend, has provided more information that adds some weight to Jepson's belief. Google translated Senor Duarte's remarks that I, in turn, translated into somewhat better English:

" Datura wrightii is a genus of herbaceous plants in the family Solanaceae. The center of American diversity is found in Central America and the Greater Antilles (where it is believed that the genus is native) extending through northern Mexico and the southern and western United States.

The name “Toluca” comes from toloatzin, which in Nahuatl [the language of the Aztecs—JR] means "head down", which refers to the inclination for the flower of this plant to nod. Toluca means "place where God Tolotzin is.."Very few people know that this city is named for the toloache, since this plant was revered by our ancestors, who worshipped the god Tolotzin (god of fire)."

You can read the original Spanish and view a marvelous Datura photo at: flic.kr/p/pLovMv

Photographed at Regional Parks Botanic Garden located in Tilden Regional Park near Berkeley, CA

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