Nasty surprise in my packet of mixed exotic seeds!
Pride comes before a fall, and my unidentified exotic plant is the toxic and hallucinogenic devil’s snare or Datura stramonium. I’d been asking around if anyone recognised it, and it became my prized plant of the season – big mistake!
It’s also known as the thorn apple, due to its spiny seed cases and Jimsonweed in the US (although native to Central America). Unfortunately, it has become an unwelcome weed in temperate zones. Other names include moon flower, hell’s bells, devil’s trumpet, devil’s weed, Jamestown weed, stinkweed, locoweed, prickly burr and devil’s cucumber.
I’ve grown it quite by accident in my packet of Mac’s Mix XV from Chiltern Seeds. There’s a host of wonderful and some quite rare plants in there, but this one wasn’t on the list!
Devil’s snare is scary, and I’m giving it a wide berth! A member of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), it causes long-lasting and terrifying hallucinations. Its effects are traumatic and can be fatal even after ingesting a few seeds. Even when dried, the leaves have a bitter, nauseating taste.
All parts are toxic, with people getting numb fingers just by touching the leaves without gloves. Hundreds of people die from devil’s snare every year in the US.
Apart from hallucinations, it causes:
- Respiratory depression,
- Abnormal heart rhythm,
- Fever,
- Delirium,
- Anticholinergic syndrome (dry mouth, constipation, urinary retention, bowel obstruction, dilated pupils, blurred vision, decreased sweating),
- Psychosis before death.
Hallucinogenic devil’s snare – what it looks like
The plant is an upright annual with branching stems, growing from 60cm to 150cm. It has a bad smell, reportedly, but I haven’t noticed this. Stems are smooth and yellow-green to red-purple and fork repeatedly. In each fork, a leaf and a single flower grow. Leaves are between 8cm to 20cm long, toothed with irregular undulations. The upper surfaces are a darker green and lighter underneath.
The trumpet-shaped white (or violet) flowers, 6cm to 9cm long, grow on short stems from the leaf axils or where the branches fork. The folded petals open at night, with a pleasant fragrance. The spiky seed capsule is 3cm to 8cm (1–3 in) wide. When mature, it splits into four chambers, filled with small, black seeds.
Use by native peoples
Indigenous inhabitants of central and southern California used to take the seeds to commune with deities when hallucinating. The Algonquian, Navajo, Cherokee and Luiseño used it in sacred ceremonies.
The name Datura comes from India, where the sister species Datura metel is sacred to Shiva. Sadhus and ascetics use D. stramonium and D. metel as an ordeal poison to achieve liberation by undergoing extreme horror and suffering.
Hallucinogenic devil’s snare – use in magic
Known as the ‘zombie cucumber’ in Haiti, it is thought to be a key ingredient of the brew Vodou (Voodoo) witches (male bokor or female caplata) use to keep people in a zombie state.
In Europe, devil’s snare was a common ingredient in witches’ flying ointment, combined with other poisonous nightshade family plants. It was often used in potions or ointments relating to werewolves.
Hallucinogenic devil’s snare or Datura stramonium updated 2025
