datura stramonium

(jimsonweed)

Beware the flower of the poisonous plant. Jimsonweed is an invasive species that causes hallucinations and potentially death when ingested. And yet the flowers are so beautiful and the word origins so interesting:

The genus name is derived from the plant's Hindi name, dhatūra, ultimately from Sanskrit dhattūra, 'white thorn-apple'. The name Stramonia was used in the 17th century for various Datura species. There is some evidence that Stramonium is originally from Greek στρύχνον, 'nightshade' and μανικόν, 'which makes mad'.

In the United States, the plant is commonly known as “Jimsonweed”. This name derives from Jamestown, Virginia, where soldiers sent to suppress Bacon's Rebellion in the English colony of Virginia reportedly consumed the plant and spent eleven days in altered mental states.