Datura fastuosa 'Double Purple'
Description
Datura fastuosa 'Double Purple' is a tropical bush that can get 36 to 60" in height and should be spaced 24-36" apart. The flowers are a double purple with a white center and are trumpet shaped with edges that roll back and form tendrils. The flowers are very fragrant and are strongest in evening. Devil's Trumpet blooms repeatedly in the summer time. All parts of this plant are poisonous.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 9-11
Plant Use: Tender Perennial
Exposure: Sun to Part Sun
Water Requirements: Medium
Description
Datura are woody-stalked, leafy annuals and short-lived perennials which can reach up to 2 meters in height. The leaves are alternate, 10–20 cm long and 5–18 cm broad, with a lobed or toothed margin. The flowers are erect or spreading (not pendulous like those of the closely allied Brugmansiae), trumpet-shaped, 5–20 cm long and 4–12 cm broad at the mouth; colors vary from white to yellow, pink, and pale purple. The fruit is a spiny capsule 4–10 cm long and 2–6 cm broad, splitting open when ripe to release the numerous seeds. The seeds disperse freely over pastures, fields and even wasteland locations.
Datura belongs to the classic "witches' weeds," along with deadly nightshade, henbane, and mandrake. Most parts of the plants contain toxic hallucinogens, and Datura has a long history of use for causing delirious states and death. It was well known as an essential ingredient of love potions and witches' brews.
Common names include Thorn Apple (from the spiny fruit), Pricklyburr (similarly), Jimson Weed, Moonflower, Hell's Bells, Devil's Weed, Devil's Cucumber, and Devil's Trumpet, (from their large trumpet-shaped flowers). The word datura comes from the Hindi Dhatūrā (thorn apple); record of this name dates back to 1662 (OED). In Tamil it is called "oomathai" .
Datura species are food plants for the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species including Hypercompe indecisa.
Species and cultivars
It is difficult to classify a datura as to its species, and it often happens that descriptions of new species are accepted prematurely. Later it is found that these "new species" are simply varieties that have evolved due to conditions at a specific location. They usually disappear in a few years. Contributing to the confusion are the facts that various species such as D. wrightii and D. inoxia are very similar in appearance, and that the variation within a species can be extreme.
For example, Datura have the interesting property of being able to change size of plant, size of leaf, and size of flowers, all depending on location. The same species, when growing in a half-shady damp location can develop into a magnificent flowering bush half as tall as a man, but when growing in a very dry location will only grow into a thin little plant just higher than his ankles, with tiny flowers and a few miniature leaves.
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