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Family: Solanaceae
desert thorn-apple
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Plant: Annual or short-lived perennial herb; to 1.5 m tall; glabrate to pubescent, with a short, slightly swollen tap root Leaves: widely ovate, 5-18.5 cm long, 3-16 cm wide, both surfaces variously pubescent, acute, entire to few lobed or dentate, truncate to subtruncate Flowers: with calyx 4-8 cm long, the teeth ovate, acute or acuminate, 5-15 mm long, the base persistent, rotate or reflexed; corolla white with purple throat, the tube (8-)10(-15) cm long, the limb 4-8 cm wide, the acumens acute to acuminate, 1-10 mm long Fruit: FRUITS pendent, dehiscing along 4 sutures at least half the length, green to purple, subglobose, 2.5-4 cm in diameter, with 200-300 spines, these 1-3.2 cm long; pericarp glandular-puberulent; persistent calyx base rotate or reflexed; SEEDS black, reniform, 3-4.5 mm long, 2.4-3.5 mm wide, rugose; caruncle white, present in fresh seeds Misc: Roadsides and waste grounds; usually below 600 m (2000 ft), although up to 1750 m (5500 ft); Mar-Oct REFERENCES: Bye, Robert. 2001. Solanaceae. JJ. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 33(1). JANAS 33(1), Kearney and Peebles 1969 Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous annual to 1.5 m tall, weedy and somewhat bushy, stems stout, erect, branched, herbage sparsely puberulent, ill scented. Leaves: Widely ovate, large, to 19 cm long and 16 cm wide, petioled, margins wavy to sinuate-dentate. Flowers: White to purple, trumpet-shaped with 10 teeth, large and showy, corollas less than 15 cm long, borne on short peduncles, solitary in the forks of the stems, calyx cylindric to prismatic, 4-8 cm long, 5 toothed, flowers fragrant. Fruits: Large globose to ovoid capsules, nodding, green to purple, covered with large, straight or slightly hooked prickles, viscid-pubescent, dehiscing along 4 sutures. Seeds black when ripe. Ecology: Found in disturbed areas, roadsides, from 2,000 ft or below (610 m); flowering autumn. Notes: The keys to this species are the nodding fruits, the wavy to sinuate-dentate margins of the leaves, the corollas less than 15 cm long, and the viscid-puberulent fruits. Similar to D. wrightii but generally smaller with smaller flowers and fewer spines on the fruit. Etymology: Datura comes from the Hindu vernacular name, Synonyms: Datura thomasii Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011 |
