Scientific Name: Datura stramonium L.
Family: Solanceae (Nightshade Family)
Common name: Jimson-weed
Description: Rank-smelling, coarse annual herb 1-5 feet tall; flowers July-September.
Range and Habitat: Common throughout the United States along roadsides and in barnyards, fields, vacant lots and other disturbed areas.
In Porcher’s time… Jimson-weed was a well-known narcotic and antispasmodic, employed in mania, epilepsy, chorea, tetanus, and palsy.
See the historical entry on this plant as it appears in Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests