Datura inoxia Mill.

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Photo: Bart Wursten
Shashe Wilderness Camp, Shashe River

Photo: Des Goldhawk
Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, on private road about halfway from the main road to the Lodge.

Photo: Brent Lees May
Mwenezi River, Nuanetsi Conservancy

Photo: Bart Wursten
Road to Mozambique Border, Mahenye

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Species details: Click on each item to see an explanation of that item (Note: opens a new window)

Synonyms:	Datura metel L. p.p.
Common names:	Downy thorn-apple (English)
Frequency:
Status:	Introduced
Description:	Erect or sprawling annual or short-lived perennial herb or small shrub, up to c. 2 m. Branches often purple-tinged, softly pubescent and more or less glandular; all parts unpleasantly scented. Leaves alternate, more or less broadly ovate to elliptic, up to 17 × 9.5 cm, thinly textured, pubescent, particularly near the base below, on the veins and the margin; base often decurrent into the petiole; margin with coarse to almost lobe-sized triangular teeth. Flowers solitary in the forks of the branches, erect when fresh, later drooping. Calyx long and tube-like, up to 11.5 cm long, sometimes purplish and somewhat swollen towards the base, 5-angled with ovate to linear-triangular unequal apical lobes, up to 2.5 cm long. Corolla white or creamy, sometimes purple-tinged, 13-21 cm long, trumpet-shaped, somewhat 10-12-lobed with acuminate tips. Fruit nodding to pendulous, almost round to ovoid, up to 6 × 5.5 cm (including spines), covered with numerous slender spines, 8-12 mm long, purple-green to brownish when ripe, breaking up irregularly. All parts of the plant are poisonous.
Notes:
Derivation of specific name:
Habitat:
Flowering time:	All year
Worldwide distribution:	Native to tropical Central and South America. Naturalized throughout the tropics and subtropics.
Botswana distribution:	N,SE
Growth form(s):
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters:	Display spot characters for this species
Literature:	Gonçalves, A.E. (2005). Solanaceae Flora Zambesiaca 8(4) Pages 31 - 34. (Includes a picture). Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 79. Maroyi, A. (2006). Preliminary checklist of introduced and naturalized plants in Zimbabwe. Kirkia 18(2) Page 243. Pickering, H. & Roe, E. (2009). Wild Flowers of the Victoria Falls Area Helen Pickering, London Page 107. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 105.

Other sources of information about Datura inoxia:

Our websites:

Flora of Burundi: Datura inoxia
Flora of Malawi: Datura inoxia
Flora of Mozambique: Datura inoxia
Flora of Zimbabwe: Datura inoxia
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Datura inoxia

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Datura inoxia
African Plant Database: Datura inoxia
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Datura inoxia
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Datura inoxia
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Datura inoxia
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Datura inoxia
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Datura inoxia
JSTOR Plant Science: Datura inoxia
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Datura inoxia
Plants of the World Online: Datura inoxia
Tropicos: Datura inoxia
Wikipedia: Datura inoxia