The calyx is slit along one side and is very long in relation to the flower, and in this respect is often used as a quick check to verify correct identification.

[2][3] In his 1753 Species Plantarum, Carl Linnaeus published Datura arborea using as his type specimen a drawing by Louis Feuillée from 1714 with name Stramonioides arboreum, oblongo et integro folio, fructu laevi, vulgo Flori pondio.

Then Robert Sweet, in his 1818 Hortus Suburbanus Londinensis, published the modern version of the name to be in the separate genus of Brugmansia.

[2] They are native to the Andes mountains of southern Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, western Bolivia, and northern Chile.

As the hardiest of all Brugmansia species in regards to both cold and drought, they are often found in the drier valleys of the Andes, in areas with an annual rainfall of 400–1,400 millimetres (16–55 in).