_Seeds and Leaves of the Indian or White-flowered Datura._
=Botanical Origin=—_Datura alba_ Nees, a large, spreading annual plant,
2 to 6 feet high, bearing handsome, tubular, white flowers 5 to 6
inches long. The capsules are pendulous, of depressed globular form,
rather broader than high, covered with sharp tubercles or thick short
spines. They do not open by regular valves as in _D. Stramonium_, but
split in different directions and break up into irregular fragments.
_D. alba_ appears to be scarcely distinct from _D. fastuosa_ L.
Both are common in India, and are grown in gardens in the south of
Europe.[1688]
=History=—The mediæval Arabian physicians were familiar with _Datura
alba_, which is well described by Ibn Baytar[1689] under precisely the
same Arabic name (_Jouz-masal_) that it bears at the present day; they
were also fully aware of its poisonous properties.
Garcia de Orta[1690] (1563) observed the plant in India, and has
narrated that its flowers or seeds are put into food to intoxicate
persons it was designed to rob. It was also described by Christoval
Acosta, who in his book on Indian drugs[1691] mentions two other
varieties, one of them with yellow flowers, the seeds of either being
very poisonous, and often administered with criminal intent, as well
as for the cure of disease. Graham[1692] says of the plant that it
possesses very strong narcotic properties, and has on several occasions
been fatally used by Bombay thieves, who have administered it in order
to deprive their victims of the power of resistance.
The seeds and fresh leaves have a place in the _Pharmacopœia of India_,
1868.
=Description=—The seeds of _D. alba_ are very different in appearance
from those of _D. Stramonium_, being of a light yellowish-brown, rather
larger size, irregular in shape and somewhat shrivelled. Their form has
been likened to the human ear; they are in fact obscurely triangular or
flattened-pearshaped, the rounded end being thickened into a sinuous,
convoluted, triple ridge, while the centre of the seed is somewhat
depressed. The hilum runs from the pointed end nearly half-way up the
length of the seed. The testa is marked with minute rugosities, but is
not so distinctly pitted as in the seed of the _D. Stramonium_; it is
also more developed, exhibiting in section large intercellular spaces
to which are due its spongy texture. The seeds of the two species agree
in internal structure as well as in taste; but those of _D. alba_ do
not give a fluorescent tincture.
[1688] Seeds of _D. alba_ sent to us from Madras by Dr. Bidie, were
sown by our friend M. Naudin of Collioure (Pyrénées Orientales), and
produced the plant under three forms, viz.:—1. The true _D. alba_ as
figured in Wight’s _Icones_.—2. Plants with flowers, violet without and
nearly white within (_D. fastuosa_).—3. Plants with double corollas of
large size and of a yellow colour.
[1689] Sontheimer’s translation, i. 269.
[1690] _Aromatum historia_, 1574, lib. 2. c. 24.
[1691] _Tractado de las Drogas ... de las Indias Orientales_, Burgos,
1578. 85.
[1692] _Catalogue of Bombay Plants_, 1839. 141.
The leaves, which are only employed in a fresh state, are 6 to 10
inches in length, with long stalks, ovate, often unequal at the base,
acuminate, coarsely dentate with a few spreading teeth. They evolve an
offensive odour when handled.
=Microscopic Structure=—The testa is built up of the same tissues as
in _D. Stramonium_, but the thick-walled cells constituting the spongy
part are far larger, and distinctly show numerous secondary deposits,
making a fine object for the microscope.
=Chemical Composition=—Neither the seeds nor the leaves of _D. alba_
have yet been examined chemically, but there can scarcely be any doubt
that their very active properties are due to _Daturine_, for the
preparation of which the former would probably be the best source.
=Uses=—The seeds in the form of tincture or extract have been employed
in India as a sedative and narcotic, and the fresh leaves, bruised and
made into a poultice with flour, as an anodyne application.