Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), of the Solanaceae family. Coarse annual herb with jagged leaves and large trumpet flowers; native range: the Americas (probably Mexico / Central America), now a cosmopolitan weed of waste ground. Globally recognized as dhattura / unmatta in Sanskrit, dhatura / sada dhatura in Hindi, man tuo luo (曼陀罗); flower yang jin hua (洋金花) in Chinese, jauz masal / datura in Arabic, and thorn apple, devil's trumpet, stramonium in English. The part used is leaves, flowers and seeds. Rank, foetid green leaves and pale trumpet blooms opening at dusk; a spiny egg-shaped capsule of dark kidney seeds. A heavy, narcotic, nauseous odour and bitter, acrid taste.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
JIMSONWEED
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Jimsonweed
- Scientific name
- Datura stramonium L.
- Family
- Solanaceae
Form
- Part used
- leaves, flowers and seeds
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- pungent
- Ayurveda
- dominant: bitter (tikta) · then: pungent (katu) · with: astringent (kashaya)
- Western
- bitter · acrid
- Unani
- bitter · acrid
Temperature
- TCM
- warm
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
- Western
- cool (a cooling narcotic)
- Unani
- cold & dry (3rd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Lung · Liver
- Western
- nervous system · lungs · nerves
- Unani
- brain · nerves · lungs
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- stops cough and calms wheezing, relieves pain and (in old surgery) numbs — a component of anaesthetic powders
- Ayurveda
- shwasahara (anti-asthmatic), vedanasthapana (analgesic), krimighna, kesya (on the scalp for hair and dandruff), an intoxicant nervine
- Western
- antispasmodic, anodyne, narcotic, mydriatic; relaxes bronchial and other smooth muscle
- Unani
- muraqqid (narcotic / hypnotic), musakkin (sedative-anodyne), dafe-e-tashannuj (antispasmodic)
Cautions
Contraindications: glaucoma, tachycardia and heart disease, prostatic enlargement, high fever, pregnancy and lactation, children and the elderly
Toxicity: highly poisonous — all parts contain the tropane alkaloids atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine. Overdose gives the anticholinergic syndrome: dry burning mouth, flushed skin, dilated fixed pupils, racing pulse, urinary retention, hallucination, delirium, hyperthermia, convulsions, coma and death ('blind as a bat, red as a beet, hot as a hare, dry as a bone, mad as a hatter')
Interactions
- Western
- anticholinergics: additive antimuscarinic toxicity — retention, delirium, hyperthermia · sedatives / CNS depressants: additive central depression and confusion
This is the card. Sign in for the full four-tradition entry — the aligned TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani reading, actions, dosing and cautions.