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Datura stramonium, the Thornapple or Devil's apple, is a
plant that gets about 2 or 4 feet tall with a similar
spread. It is a common in pastures, barn yards, roadsides
and waste places throughout the US, southern Canada, and
most of the world. Some believe it may have come
originally from Asia. Today it occurs almost everywhere.
Normally treated as an annual, the plant can be over-wintered
in a greenhouse environment.
The flowers are white or pale lavender, shaped like a
five-sided funnel, 2-4 inches long. The long delicate
trumpet shaped flowers are attractive and fragrant. They
open for only one evening to the morning, but new ones
continue to open throughout the Summer and Autumn, from
July to September.
The flowers are followed by the spiny seedpods, which
give the plant its common name Thornapple. The fruit is
about 2 inches long, egg-shaped and covered with spiny
prickles. It starts out green and ripens to brown. It is
full of black seeds. Remove seedpods regularly to
encourage further blooms.
The stem is much branched, forked, spreading, leafy, and
of a yellowish-green color. The leaves are from the forks
of the stem, large, to 8 inches long, ovate, smooth,
unequal at the base, variously and acutely sinuated and
toothed, veiny, dark-green above, and paler beneath. All
parts of plant are poisonous if ingested.
Hardiness zones 7-9, (-15°C/5°F, -5°C/25°F) in Winter.
Perennial in zone 9, annual elsewhere. They thrive in
rich garden soil. Flowering and growth is most pronounced
in partial sun to full sun, and rich soils that get
regular waterings. Do not feed plants, but water well.
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