[2][8] It is unlikely ever to become a major drug of abuse owing to effects upon both mind and body frequently perceived as being highly unpleasant, giving rise to a state of profound and long-lasting disorientation or delirium (anticholinergic syndrome) with a potentially fatal outcome.

[2][9] Datura stramonium is an erect, annual, freely branching herb that forms a bush 60 to 150 cm (2 to 5 ft) tall.

The fragrant flowers have a pleasing odour; are trumpet-shaped, white to creamy or violet, and 6 to 9 cm (2+1⁄2–3+1⁄2 in) long; and grow on short stems from either the axils of the leaves or the places where the branches fork.

This name derives from Jamestown, Virginia, where soldiers sent to suppress Bacon's Rebellion in the English colony of Virginia reportedly consumed the plant and spent eleven days in altered mental states: The James-Town Weed (which resembles the Thorny Apple of Peru, and I take to be the plant so call'd) is supposed to be one of the greatest coolers in the world.

This being an early plant, was gather'd very young for a boil'd salad, by some of the soldiers sent thither to quell the rebellion of Bacon; and some of them ate plentifully of it, the effect of which was a very pleasant comedy, for they turned natural fools upon it for several days: one would blow up a feather in the air; another would dart straws at it with much fury; and another, stark naked, was sitting up in a corner like a monkey, grinning and making mows [grimaces] at them; a fourth would fondly kiss and paw his companions, and sneer in their faces with a countenance more antic than any in a Dutch droll.In this frantic condition they were confined, lest they should, in their folly, destroy themselves—though it was observed that all their actions were full of innocence and good nature.

[23] Today, it grows wild in all the world's warm and temperate regions, where it is found along roadsides and at dung-rich livestock enclosures.

[30] All parts of Datura plants contain dangerous levels of the tropane alkaloids atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine, all of which are classified as deliriants, or anticholinergics.

[35] In traditional cultures, a great deal of experience and detailed knowledge of Datura was critical to minimize harm.

[38] These chemical production responses present in Datura stramonium function as a natural defense for the plant against dangers.

[39] Such dangers can range from biotic factors such as herbivores, pathogens, viruses, fungi and oomycetes to abiotic conditions such as drought, light, temperature, and nutrient deprivation.

The abiotic responses are driven primarily by protein kinase regulatory subunits which are over-represented, expanded, and positively selected.

[40] In addition to this, terpenoids play a key role in mediating plant defense responses, as they trigger terpene metabolite activity.

[41][40] Such activity has the effect of defending against herbivore damage through a sulfakinin (SK) domain that reduces sensitivity of taste receptors for certain insects that come into contact with the plant.

However, the way these plants have evolved to display these characteristics differs from traditional defense mechanisms, as Datura stramonium uses a combination of both resistance and growth simultaneously to address these issues, instead of relying exclusively on one or the other.

Another factor that impacts behavior is the fact that due to the wide habitat range, a number of different, region-specific response patterns have been observed.

Studies in ecological reserves have shown that herbivore presence can either increase or decrease plant growth, fitness, and resistance.

As such, it is difficult to track the evolution of its traits (aside from a few instances of model species), which results in a limited understanding of how it has evolved to adapt to various environmental conditions.

Variables such as immunity, response to abiotic stress, and defense against biotic threats determine gene expansion signaling, positive selection, and physicochemical divergence.

It is aided by the tropane alkaloid Littorine rearrangement which is very important to scopolamine and atropine/hyoscyamine production, all of which serve to debilitate any organism that would come into contact with them.

The least common ancestor had only one gene copy, while modern variants have a range of three to two present, which results in higher mutation rates for traits involved with these various alkaloids.

[41] Another aspect of these varying Solanaceae lineages is that enzymes from completely different protein groups have been observed to be utilized to form similar biosynthesis reactions.

During the late 18th century, James Anderson, the English Physician General of the East India Company, learned of the practice and popularized it in Europe.

[46] John Gerard's Herball (1597) states,[12] [T]he juice of Thornapple, boiled with hog's grease, cureth all inflammations whatsoever, all manner of burnings and scaldings, as well of fire, water, boiling lead, gunpowder, as that which comes by lightning and that in very short time, as myself have found in daily practice, to my great credit and profit.William Lewis reported, in the late 18th century, that the juice could be made into "a very powerful remedy in various convulsive and spasmodic disorders, epilepsy and mania," and was also "found to give ease in external inflammations and haemorrhoids".

[50][51][52] In Ethiopia, some students and debtrawoch (lay priests), use D. stramonium to "open the mind" to be more receptive to learning, and creative and imaginative thinking.

[54] Both Datura stramonium and D. metel have reportedly been used by some sadhus and charnel ground ascetics, such as the Aghori, as both an entheogen and ritual poison.

[55] The ascetics have used unpleasant or toxic plants such as these in order to achieve spiritual liberation (moksha), in settings of extreme horror and discomfort.

[60] In European witchcraft, D. stramonium was also supposedly a common ingredient used for making witches' flying ointment along with other poisonous plants of the nightshade family.