# Thorn apple (Datura stramonium)

**Stramonium*; Jimsonweed*

**Known today as.** *Datura stramonium*, of the nightshade family.

Kind: Plant  
Poisoning: Tropane (anticholinergic) poisoning (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/anticholinergic)  
Deadly: yes

> **Deadly.** Poisonous in every part: delirium, fever, and death.

## What was it used for?

Smoked or applied for asthma and pain; notorious as a poison and a drug of delirium.

## What does modern science say?

Contains atropine and scopolamine. Stramonium “asthma cigarettes” were sold into the twentieth century.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **scopolamine**: the chief alkaloid in *Datura*
- **hyoscyamine**: 

**Mechanism.** Muscarinic blockade, with deep delirium.

**Dose.** Fifty to a hundred seeds; the tea of the leaf has killed adolescents who sought the visions.

**Standing.** No medicinal use; stramonium cigarettes for asthma were sold into the twentieth century.

## What lore surrounds it?

Counted among the herbs of the witches’ ointments, with [henbane](https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/henbane) and [deadly nightshade](https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/deadly-nightshade).

## What did the older authorities say?

**Jamestown, 1676.** Robert Beverley tells how soldiers sent to Jamestown ate the plant in a salad and spent eleven days in a harmless madness; hence “Jamestown weed.”

## Sources

- Beverley, R. (1705). *The History and Present State of Virginia*.
- Nelson, L. S., et al. (2007). *Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants*.

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*Thorn apple.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-25. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/thorn-apple

Historical description, not medical advice.