Datura wrightii

Family: Solanaceae
Common Name: sacred thorn-apple
Symbol: DAWR2
Description: Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Perennial herbs; spreading and branching; herbage grayish-green; 50-180 cm tall. Leaves: Alternate with short petioles and toothed lobes, usually asymmetric at the base, 4-15 cm long, grayish-green and short-pubescent. Flowers: In stout, dense, sessile to short peduncled spike 2-6 cm long, floral bracts lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 8-9 mm long, acuminate; calyx densely villous to hirsute, lobes setaceous, about twice as long as the tube, corolla yellow, becoming purplish-pink as it dries. Fruits: Capsule round, 3-4 cm in diameter, nodding, and very prickly; prickles 5-12 mm long; seeds flat and cream-colored. Ecology: Found in creosote brush, Joshua tree, sagebrush, and pinon-juniper communties; 1,000-6,500 ft (300-1980 m); flowers April-October. Distribution: Most of N. Amer.except CAN; south to c MEX; also in Europe, Australia and eastern Asia. Notes: Characterized by being a perennial; its spreading habit, large ovate leaves, and large white funnel-shaped corolla (D. discolor has a purple throat) with 5 teeth and spikey globose fruits with spines <1cm long (D. discolor has spines >1cm). Entire plant is poisonous.