Datura inoxia Mill.

Indian Apple; Moonflower; Devil's Trumpet

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Indian Apple is an introduced herbaceous annual or tender perennial in the Nightshade family (Solanaceae). It is native to Mexico. Indian Apple is sometimes cultivated and may persist around old home sites. It is also an agricultural weed, especially in cotton, and may be found in fields, in pastures, and around barns and livestock pens. Indian Apple is a shrubby annual or frost tender perennial with a tap root. The stems are 2-4 feet in height and branched above the middle to form a rounded or flat-topped mound. The stems are green or reddish purple in color and pubescent with short gray hairs. The leaves are petiolate, alternate, elliptic to ovate in outline, sometimes with 1-few large teeth or lobes. The leaves are densely pubescent along the veins on the lower surface and slightly pubescent between the veins. The upper surface of the leaf is dark green and pubescent with short soft hairs. The foliage has a disagreeable odor when crushed. Flowers are solitary in the axils of the leaves. The flowers are tubular with 5-10 teeth. They are white in color, glabrous on the outer surface, and fragrant. The flowers open at night and last a single day. The fruit is an inclined, spiny capsule. All parts of the plant are toxic, containing the alkaloids atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine. Indian Apple is sometimes cultivated and is available as seed. It prefers a sunny location with a well-draining soil. This species is similar to and may not be distinct from Sacred Thorn Apple (Datura wrightii Regel).--A. Diamond

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Not Native

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