Datura stramonium

Datura stramonium, known by the common names Jimson weed or Devil's snare, is a plant in the nightshade family. It is believed to have originated in Mexico, but has now become naturalized in many other regions. Other common names for D. stramonium include thornapple and moon flower, and it has the Spanish name Toloache. Other names for the plant include hell's bells, devil’s trumpet, devil’s weed, tolguacha, Jamestown weed, stinkweed, locoweed, pricklyburr, and devil’s cucumber.

Datura has been used in traditional medicine to relieve asthma symptoms and as an analgesic during surgery or bonesetting. It is also a powerful hallucinogen and deliriant, which is used spiritually for the intense visions it produces. However, the tropane alkaloids responsible for both the medicinal and hallucinogenic properties are fatally toxic in only slightly higher amounts than the medicinal dosage, and careless use often results in hospitalizations and deaths.

Description

Datura stramonium is a foul-smelling, erect, annual, freely branching herb that forms a bush up to 2 to 5 ft (60 to 150 cm) tall.

Jimson Weed (painting)

Jimson Weed is an oil on linen painting by American artist Georgia O'Keeffe from 1936, located in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which is in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. It depicts four large blossoms of jimson weed, or datura.

Description

O'Keeffe reiterated the pinwheel-shaped flowers' structure in the tight placement of the frog blossoms in the painting. Her use of rhythmic light and shade and a simplified palette underscores their fresh, simple beauty.

Historical information

O'Keeffe was immensely fond of jimson weed, ignoring its seeds' toxicity and allowing it to flourish around her patio. She paid tribute to the bloom in this painting, originally entitled Miracle Flower. Jimson Weed was commissioned by cosmetics magnate Elizabeth Arden for the new Gymnasium Moderne of her Fifth Avenue Salon in New York City. Placed in the exercise room, the unfurling blossoms were meant to encourage clients in their stretches. Arden paid the exorbitant sum of $10,000 for the largest floral composition O'Keeffe would ever create.