Home :: Jimsonweed

Jimsonweed Herb - Uses And Side Effects

Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) grows in fields, roadside ditches, and refuse sites. Herbalists use the leaves, flowering tops, roots, and sometimes the seeds. However, all plant parts are toxic, especially the seeds. Most countries restrict the herb. In the United States, it's considered illegal except when prescribed.

Jimsonweed is one to five feet high, and has egg-shaped, pointed, coarsely toothed leaves that are two to eight inches long.  Its white, violet or lavender funnel-shaped flowers are about two and a half to four inches long.  Its fruit is a spiny pod, about two inches long, which is why it is commonly called thornapple

All parts of Jimsonweed are poisonous. Leaves and seeds are the usual source of poisoning, but are rarely eaten do to its strong odor and unpleasant taste. Poisoning can occur when hungry animals are on sparse pasture with Jimsonweed infestation. Most animal poisoning results from feed contamination. Jimsonweed can be harvested with hay or silage, and subsequently poisoning occurs upon feeding the forage. Seeds can contaminate grains and is the most common poisoning which occurs in chickens.

Common doses of Jimsonweed

Jimsonweed comes in an oral form and as a suppository. Some people smoke it in cigarettes, burn it in powders, or inhale its fumes.

Some experts previously recommended a dose of 75 milligrams. For adults, estimated lethal doses for the chemicals in jimsonweed are 10 milligrams of atropine and 2 to 4 milligrams of scopolamine.

Uses of Jimsonweed herb

Jimsonweed has been considered a healing herb for centuries. One early commentator recommends its juice for curing burns from "fire, water, boiling lead, gunpowder, [and] that which comes by lightning." It contains atropine, a potent chemical that combats spasms and generally diminishes muscular activity in the digestive system, lungs, and other internal organs. Specifically, Jimsonweed may help to :-

• As a hallucinogen
• Asthma
• Muscle spasms
• Parkinson's disease
• To cause the pupils to enlarge
• To relax muscles of the digestive, bronchial, and urinary tracts
• Whooping cough

Side effects of Jimsonweed

Call your health care practitioner if you experience any of these possible side effects of jimsonweed:

• blurred vision
• difficulty swallowing and speaking
• dilated pupils
• dry, hot, flushed skin
• dry mucous membranes
• fever
• high blood pressure symptoms, such as headache and blurred vision
• low blood pressure symptoms, such as dizziness and weakness
• mental changes, such as confusion, disorientation, loss of short-term memory, visual and auditory hallucinations, and psychosis
• poor muscle coordination
• rapid pulse
• thirst
• unusual eye sensitivity to light
• urine retention.

Eating this herb can cause coma, seizures, respiratory failure, heart and blood vessel collapse, and death. Eating 50 to 100 seeds can cause severe intoxication or death.

Interactions

Combining herbs with certain drugs may alter their action or produce unwanted side effects. Don't use jimsonweed while taking:

• antihistamines (used for treating colds, allergies, and hay fever)
• L-dopa
• Norpace
• other anticholinergic drugs such as atropine
• other drugs that interact with atropine and Levsin, such as antihistamines and Nizoral
• phenothiazines (used for anxiety, nausea, vomiting, or psychosis) such as Thorazine
• Procan SR
• Quinaglute Dura-tabs
• Symmetrel
• thiazide diuretics, such as Naturetin, Diuril, HydroDIURIL, Renese, and Metahydrin
• tricyclic antidepressants.

Important paints to remember

• Avoid jimsonweed if you're pregnant or breast-feeding.
• Don't use this herb if you have glaucoma, a rapid pulse, overactive thyroid, a digestive or urinary tract blockage, or myasthenia gravis.
• Know that health care practitioners advise against eating jimsonweed.

What the research shows

Studies show jimsonweed is less effective than conventional treatments for asthma, whooping cough, and muscle spasms. Until this herb is studied on people and researchers explore the many poisoning reports, medical experts discourage its use. Also, keep in mind that nonprescription use of jimsonweed is illegal.

Other names for Jimsonweed

Other names for jimsonweed include angel's trumpet, angel tulip, apple-of-Peru, devil weed, devil's-apple, devil's trumpet, Estramonio, green dragon, gypsyweed, inferno, Jamestown weed, loco seeds, locoweed, mad apple, moon weed, stramoine, stechapfel, stinkweed, thorn apple, tolguacha, trumpet lily, and zombie's cucumber.