Dilip Walse Patil

Scientific Name : Datura innoxia Mill.

Category : Angiosperms

Status : Alive

Habit : A perennial pubescent herb, with green or purplish hairy stems. Leaves : Ovate, acute or obtuse at apex truncate and unequal sides at base; margins entire or sinuate, pubescent on both sides. Inflorescence : Solitary Flower : White, stout and pubescent pedicels. Calyx pubescent outside, green tubular 5-toothed. Corolla infundibuliform, white, glabrous outside, puberulous on the inside, 10-toothed. Stamens included, filaments slender, glabrous. Ovary clothed with soft white. Fruit : Covered with soft weak spines, irregularly dehiscent. Seeds numerous, pale brown, reniform, minutely foveolate. Flowering and Fruiting Time : May-October Significance : The seeds and leaves are narcotic and antispasmodic immediate relief comes after smoking a small-quantity of leaves in asthma. The seeds are highly poisonous and have been in use for centuries for criminal purposes. The juice of the plant is believed to be the cure for hydrophobia.