TOXIC — no self-medication🐾 Pets

VERY TOXIC — ENTIRE PLANT, SEEDS PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS. Datura stramonium contains tropane alkaloids (atropine, scopolamine, hyoscyamine) in all plant parts. Seeds can contain up to 2710 mg atropine and 660 mg scopolamine per kg (≈ 0.1 mg atropine per seed). Lethal adult dose: > 10 mg atropine or > 2–4 mg scopolamine. Severe poisoning possible from as little as 0.3 g plant material. Concentration varies by factor of 20 between individual plants. Anticholinergic syndrome symptoms: dry mouth, tachycardia, dilated pupils (mydriasis), photophobia, skin flushing, hyperthermia, urinary retention, vivid hallucinations, delirium, bizarre behaviour, seizures, coma — poisonings can last 24–48 h, in individual cases up to 2 weeks. The German Commission E negatively assessed the drug. Frequent fatal poisonings among teenagers seeking intoxication. In case of suspicion: IMMEDIATELY call emergency services and poison control. No self-medication. No lay use.

Datura stramonium

Toxic🐾

Gemeiner Stechapfel · (Datura stramonium)

Nightshade family (Solanaceae)

Description

Datura stramonium, known by the common names thornapple, jimsonweed, or devil's trumpet, is a poisonous flowering plant in the Daturae tribe of the nightshade family Solanaceae. Its likely origin was in Central America, and it has been introduced in many world regions. It is an aggressive invasive weed in temperate climates and tropical climates across the world.

🌿 Risk of confusion — read before wild-harvesting!

Frequent fatal poisonings among teenagers seeking intoxication.

External use only!

This plant must NOT be taken internally. Use only as compress, salve, or bath.

CONTRAINDICATED during pregnancy

Tropane alkaloids (atropine, scopolamine, hyoscyamine) cross the placental barrier and can cause fetal tachycardia, CNS damage and congenital malformations. Any exposure during pregnancy is strictly contraindicated.

CONTRAINDICATED during breastfeeding

Atropine and scopolamine pass into breast milk and can trigger anticholinergic effects in the infant (tachycardia, dry mouth, fever, sedation). Breastfeeding: strictly contraindicated.

CONTRAINDICATED for children

Children are extremely sensitive to tropane alkaloids. A few seeds can be fatal. Frequent abuse by adolescents ('daturism') with numerous deaths. No use in children and adolescents under 18 years — not even in low homeopathic potencies below D6.

Critical drug interactions with:

Anticholinergika (Tiotropium, Ipratropium, Oxybutynin, Darifenacin, Scopolamin-Pflaster) · Anticholinergika (Tiotropium, Ipratropium, Oxybutynin, Darifenacin, Scopolamin-Pflaster)

CompressLeafExternalFolk medicine
Folk medicinal external use of jimsonweed leaves as compress or poultice for neuralgia, boils, abscesses and painful wounds. John Gerard (1597) reported the juice 'cureth all inflammations whatsoever, all manner of burnings and scaldings'. Local anticholinergic effect; today unsuitable due to skin absorption and systemic toxicity.
Preparation & dosage
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TinctureAerial partsExternalFolk medicine
Medieval use in 'witch ointments' (flying ointments): Datura stramonium or related species (D. metel, D. inoxia) were combined with henbane, belladonna and mandrake. Absorption of tropane alkaloids through mucous membranes triggered anticholinergic delirium with flight hallucinations. Pure historical cultural phenomenon — today to be strictly rejected due to toxicity.
Preparation & dosage
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Historical documentation only — do NOT use

These internal applications are historically documented. This plant is highly toxic — self-treatment can cause severe poisoning or death. For documentation only, explicitly NOT a recommendation.

InhalationLeafInternalTraditional use
Historical use of jimsonweed leaves as asthma cigarettes ('stramonium cigarettes') in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Following the report by British physician James Anderson (1802) from India, inhalation of burning stramonium preparations was added to the British and American pharmacopoeias. Anticholinergic bronchodilation by atropine/scopolamine as the mechanism. Since recognition of asthma as allergic inflammation and the introduction of ephedrine, obsolete — today strictly rejected due to toxicity and hallucinogenic effects.
Preparation & dosage
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TinctureLeafInternalTraditional use
Historical pharmaceutical use of stramonium extracts in early Parkinson's therapy. The anticholinergic action of the tropane alkaloids (atropine, scopolamine, hyoscyamine) was used to alleviate tremor and muscle rigidity — standard before the introduction of L-dopa. Today replaced by synthetic anticholinergics (biperiden, trihexyphenidyl).
Preparation & dosage
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RawSeedInternalFolk medicine
Ethnobotanical and shamanic use in pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas (Aztec, Navajo, Cherokee, Luiseño, Algonquian) and in the Indian Tantra tradition. Jimsonweed seeds were used in sacred ceremonies as a hallucinogen — effect through high tropane alkaloid concentration (≈ 0.1 mg atropine per seed). Today not suitable for rituals or consumption — frequent fatal poisonings among teenagers seeking a 'trip'.
Preparation & dosage
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TinctureAerial partsInternalFolk medicine
Homeopathic use of Datura stramonium (D6–C30) for childhood anxiety, night terrors, convulsions with hallucinations and rabies-like symptom pictures (hydrophobia). Pure homeopathic dilution levels (from C12) contain no pharmacologically active alkaloid amounts. Widespread in classical homeopathy as a constitutional remedy.
Preparation & dosage
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Description

☠️Historical documentation only — do NOT use

More from this family · Nightshade family

Historical documentation only — do NOT use