Narcotic Daturas

The Jamestown Weed, Datura stramonium L., which Intoxicated the British Soldiers Sent to Quell Bacon s Rebellion. Natural Size. 

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Scopolamine (42), an optically active, viscous Hquid, also isolated from Solanaceae, eg. Datura metell. decomposes on standing and is thus usually both used and stored as its hydrobromide salt. The salt is employed as a sedative or, less commonly, as a prophylactic for motion sickness. It also has some history of use ia conjunction with narcotics as it appears to enhance their analgesic effects. BiogeneticaHy, scopolamine is clearly an oxidation product of atropiae, or, more precisely, because it is optically active, of (—)-hyoscyamiae. 

Datura stramonium. Jamestown weed. Narcotic anti-spasmodic and anodyne tinct. and infusion as local application. Fol. 4[lb.] 0[oz.]... 

Jamestown weed Datura stramonium anti-spasmodic, anodyne, narcotic likely ... 

The narcotic properties of Datura stramonium are well known to our own southern Indians as well as to the Mexicans (6). Hernandez called attention to the fact that its fruit causes insanity if eaten incautiously. That this is true is shown by the following anecdote taken from Robert Beverly s History and Present State of Virginia, in his account Of the Wild Fruits of the Country It appears that the soldiers sent to Jamestown to quell the uprising known as Bacon s Rebellion (1676) gathered young plant of this species cooked it as a potherb. 

Tree Datura (Bruqmansia sanquinea), Used as a Narcotic by the Priests of THE Temple of the Sun. 

The narcotic effects of Datura sanguinea, known in Peru as Huacacachu or Yerba de Huaca, have been described by several travelers. Tschudi, who found it growing on the declivities of the Andes above the village of Matucanas, repeats the statement of Humboldt that from its fruit the Indians prepare a very powerful intoxicant which they call tonga, on which account the Spaniards named the plant borrachero. His account is as follows ... 

Humboldt and Bonpland, who collected Datura sanguinea on the banks of the Rio Mayo, in New Granada, state that the natives believe that the tonga prepared from this species to be more efficacious as a narcotic than that made from the white-flowered Datura arborea mentioned above. It is from the account of these travelers that the story of the Peruvian prophets is taken. The Temple of the Sun in which they officiated was at Sagamoza, in the interior of what is now Colombia. Dr. Santiago Cortes, in his account of the medicinal plants of the province of Cauca, Colombia, says that there are many stories and fables relating to this plant told by the natives. 

Datura meteloides, Narcotic Plant Used by the Ancient Aztecs, Zunis, and California Indians as an Intoxicant and Hypnotic. Natural Size. 

The delirium caused by Datura is evident by the Afrikaans name, malpitte which translates as mad seeds (86) and its Zulu name iloyi which is possibly derived from -loya which means to bewitch, or cast a spell on. In tropical West Africa, Datura spp. are used in native beer or in palm wine to add a stupefying or narcotic effect. A drink made from the seeds of D. metel is given as an intoxicant to Fulani youth to incite them in the Sharo contest or ordeal of manhood (101). 

Based on the above reports we investigated the possibility of using "hairy root" cultures in studies of secondary metabolism. We focused on the tropane alkaloids, synthesized in the roots of various Solanaoeae genera (Atropa, Datura, Brugmanaia, Hyosayamua, and Duboisia). Hyoscyamine and scopolamine are widely used in narcotic medicine as sedatives and in the treatment of sea sickness. Scopolamine tilso happens to be the best known antidote against nerve gas. 

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