Latest flower reports from Anza Borrego.
Toloache
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tommy750 Posts: 1069
4/20/2020
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Hiked a ways up Carrizo Canyon with my wife yesterday after parking on S2. On the way back NOT driving 30 mph down the dirt road, we noticed what I'm pretty sure is a nice Datura Inoxia AKA Toloache plant growing a few feet from the road. Renown for its mind altering effects, it contains a mix of chemicals still widely used by modern medicine including scopolamine (TransdernScop patches for sea sickness), atropine to speed up a slowing heart rate (found in every ICU crash cart in the world) and hyoscamine (old treatment for irritable Bowel Syndrome and stomach cramps). The concentration of these chemicals can vary greatly between plants due to soil and other growing conditions so experimenting with this plant is perilous. The above chemicals are all members of the anticholinergic drug class and a classic side effect is confusion and hallucinations. Before the hike I had just stumbled onto an old article on indigenous use of datura and its curious occurrence near archaeological sites located here: https://4fe6dae8-b225-4a05-a4bd-cedfd2c07440.filesusr.com/ugd/488b16_dfca29adc70643eba7be69b8d09af202.pdf Maybe a nice self isolation read. Enjoy. Tom
 Datura Inoxia by tomteske, on Flickr
Apparently everything is toxic especially the flowers and seeds.
 Datura Inoxia Flower by tomteske, on Flickr
Lots of color variation found in the flowers.
 Datura Inoxia Flowers2 by tomteske, on Flickr
The seed pod.
 Datura Inoxia Fruit by tomteske, on Flickr
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ziphius Posts: 911
4/21/2020
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I have a few Datura plants in the garden, grown from seed. A great plant that attracts weird pollinators and Sphinx moth caterpillars. The plant itself sort of smells like peanut butter and the flowers are spectacular.
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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tekewin Posts: 384
4/23/2020
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I've seen dozens of those plants on the Coal Canyon trail off the 91 at Green River. I knew they were poisonous, but not that they were used for so many pharmaceuticals. Cool plants.
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