Garden Centre

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Datura and Brugmansia - death and beauty

This is one of my favourite plants – sometimes called Datura and sometimes Brugmansia, with the common names of Angel Trumpets or Thorn Apples, they are all from the same family – Solanaceae; which includes the common potato and the Deadly Nightshade. The basic difference is that Datura/Thorn Apple is usually an annual while Brugmansia/Angel Trumpet is more commonly a perennial. Both tend towards woody stems and become large trees and bushes.

In Victorian times they were highly popular because they were superb plants for the conservatory or could be set on occasional tables in large rooms where people would dance – the plants give off a wonderful perfume, highly sweet and pervasive, all night, which, along with the huge flowers, made them doubly attractive in an era where people were only just coming to terms with personal hygiene.

Sadly, they don’t survive outside in most of the UK – even if they can cope with our cold winters, our rainy springs will tend to carry them off, because they originate in sub tropical regions.

There’s a cunning word play in the name of the Angel Trumpet, which not only recognises the shape and size of the flower, but picks up on the negative association the plant has with witchcraft and poison – arising from Datura’s use as an hallucinatory drug and shamanistic medicine in many parts of South America. In other words, eat this and you’ll hear the angels’ trumpets as they come to carry you to heaven! If you want to grow these plants you have to be aware that the whole thing is toxic if eaten, seeds, flowers, leaves and roots, and that the hallucinations are not guaranteed while the risk of death is.

They are plants that need vast amounts of water, which is best given at room temperature as cold and wet can check the plant or even cause it to rot, and it needs potting on regularly if you have it in a greenhouse, because Brugmansia can grow eight feet in a summer! The scent is sublime, and the plant would be worth growing for that alone, even if the flowers weren’t so gorgeous.

Labels: brugmansia, datura, garden flowers

The All Seasons Gardener at 1:04 AM

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