Datura stramonium (Jimsonweed)
| Also known as: | Thorn-apple, Devil's Snare, Devil's Trumpet |
|---|---|
| Genus: | Datura |
| Family: | Solanaceae (Potato) |
| Life cycle: | annual |
| Origin: | uncertain |
| Habitat: | part shade, sun; roadsides, waste areas, gardens |
| Bloom season: | July - September |
| Plant height: | 1 to 4 feet |
| Wetland Indicator Status: | none |
| MN county distribution (click map to enlarge): |  |
| National distribution (click map to enlarge): |  |
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Detailed Information
Flower: 
![[photo of flower]](/udata/r9ndp23q/pd/datura-stramonium-061717-6.jpg)
Stalked flowers are single in the leaf axils, branch tips, and forks of branching stems. Flowers are funnel-shaped, 2 to 4 inches long, up to 2 inches across when fully open, white to purple-tinged, sometimes darker purple in the throat, with 5 petal lobes each with a slender tooth at the tip. Inside the tube are 5 stamens and a single style that do not extend beyond the floral tube.
![[photo of calyx]](/udata/r9ndp23q/pd/datura-stramonium-062517-2.jpg)
The calyx cupping the flower is tubular, cylindric to narrowly egg-shaped, to 2+ inches long with 5 sharply pointed lobes at the tip. Flower stalks are erect to ascending and up to ½ inch long. All parts are hairless or nearly so. Flowers open in the evening and wither by noon.
Leaves and stems:
![[photo of leaves]](/udata/r9ndp23q/pd/datura-stramonium-070217.jpg)
Leaves are alternate, egg-shaped to oblong-elliptic in outline, 3 to 7 inches long, 1½ to 5½ inches wide, on stalks up to 2 inches long. The edges are often somewhat wavy and have large, coarse teeth or a few shallow, pointed lobes. Stems are erect to ascending, round to weakly angled in cross-section, green to purple, and many branched creating a bushy appearance. Leaves, stalks and stems are hairless or nearly so, though may have short hairs when young.
Fruit:
![[photo of developing fruit]](/udata/r9ndp23q/pd/datura-stramonium-062017-5.jpg)
Fruit is a round to oval capsule 1 to 1¾ inches long, covered in numerous prickles, maturing from green to light yellowish-brown and splitting into 4 equal parts at maturity. Fruits are held erect on straight stalks, the remains of the calyx surrounding the base like a short skirt.
![[photo of seed]](/udata/r9ndp23q/pd/datura-stramonium-080617-s1.jpg)
Inside the capsule are numerous flattened, black, egg to kidney-shaped seeds about 4 mm (1/6 inch) long.
Notes:
Jimsonweed has only been recorded 6 times in Minnesota, all but one of those were in the late 1800s. Its origin is up for debate, possibly Asia or tropical America, but likely Mexico, and it is not very hardy here. We grew it from purchased seed but it did not persist after the first year even though it produced abundant seed. The entire plant is toxic but it has still been cultivated as a medicinal as well as an ornamental plant. The flowers are much like other Datura species, though half or less the size of the other species recorded in Minnesota: Sacred Thorn-apple (Datura wrightii); D. stramonium also has fruit on erect stalks where D. wrightii fruit is nodding.
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More photos
Jimsonweed plant
Jimsonweed plant
Jimsonweed plant
inside mature fruitPhotos by Peter M. Dziuk taken in his garden.
Comments
Have you seen this plant in Minnesota, or have any other comments about it?
on: 2019-07-17 20:28:58
I am pretty sure I ha e this growing after buying native seeds from a minnesota prairie restoration business. How do I submit a picture for positive identification?
on: 2019-07-18 11:57:01
Robin, post images on the Minnesota Wildflowers facebook page.
on: 2019-08-27 08:43:03
This plant popped up in our garden this year. It caught our attention because of the spiny seed pod. We did get some top soil from the local compost site for the garden earlier this spring.
on: 2019-09-18 09:22:16
Neighbor down the road in Bayport, MN has planted this in their front yard down their sidewalk next to the public sidewalk. Started from seed and grew in pots for the spring then transplanted into the ground early summer. Noticed the spiny seed pods as an indicator of this plants identity.
on: 2022-08-03 09:19:28
I got compost from the county compost site to create a pumpkin patch and now jimsonweed has taken over the patch, choking out the pumpkins. It has come back every year for about 3 years and I can't get rid of it.
on: 2022-08-03 09:33:25
Rick, this is an annual so you'll continue to get plants until the seed bank is depleted. Preventing further seed production is your best bet.
on: 2022-08-22 18:26:11
I just saw this at the st cloud city compost site. there are several shrubs with glossy leaves, pale purple flowers and lighter green spiny pods. they are growing in some of the scrap soil piles along the west side of the site. i was hoping to go back and ask if i could dig one up and bring it home. it was so pretty and unusual i came home and started trying to identify it.
on: 2022-09-13 18:36:14
We have some of this on our land in soil we disturbed. We also had a plant last year but it didn't come back. Makes me think this is an annual but the seeds can be buried for years and come back when the ground is disturbed .
on: 2022-09-22 11:59:19
Eat the flowers - it will cause hallucinations but be careful as you can become violently and end up in the hospital. Keep pets away
on: 2023-07-17 14:47:02
It is growing here wild on a construction site. Based on the posted information Jimsonweed is not an invasive species?
on: 2023-07-17 16:40:28
Mike, I would consider it weedy more than invasive.
on: 2023-07-17 17:59:45
We have this growing in a planter on our property. Just one large plant, but am sure it is Jimsonweed. I read that it is poisonous? My husband filled the planter with soil from his slough. Near Brandon, Minnesota. Please advise.
on: 2023-07-17 19:02:11
Patricia, as mentioned in the Notes above, the entire plant is toxic. Pull it if you don't want it in your planter.
on: 2023-08-24 22:24:43
Plant is growing in corner by driveway just popped up this spring (our first spring at this house) didn't know at first what it was so let it go. Well now it is about 3-4 ft tall and not kidding six feet wide! 27 blooms going at the moment and the plant staulk even split down the middle from weight and it still lives. I did do a little tic for it.
on: 2023-11-07 21:12:05
On a pasture near Plainview MN I came a cross a dense stand of a plant I didn't recognize. After some research I am fairly certain it is Jimsonweed. Based on the size of this stand it is hard to believe that it is as rare in Minnesota as the notes on this page suggest.
on: 2023-11-08 06:53:50
Matt, most weeds are under-reported and this one should be no exception.
on: 2023-11-24 12:44:42
isolated plant carried in a peat pot from a friend going to try seeds in an open area for effect like the flower
on: 2024-05-25 08:27:13
This plant always volunteers in my yard near the sidewalk. Likely years ago someone planted it, and it's managed to carry on since. I let it go one year, and it crowded out everything else. But four years ago, I planted big bluestem where it likes to pop up, and now I rarely see it anymore. It's been out-competed.
on: 2024-07-22 16:49:13
Two Jimsonweed just popped up in the yard in rural Isanti County. I had never seen this plant before. Minnesota Naturalists identified it for me. I have a good photo.
on: 2024-08-04 16:30:27
Found in my backyard at edge of recently disturbed ditch area on Aug. 1, 2024. One plant with one bloom and two seed pods. Reported on iNaturalist and EDDMapS. I have photos, frozen seed pods, and trying to press the plant.