datura

American  

[duh-toor-uh, -tyoor-uh] / dəˈtʊər ə, -ˈtyʊər ə /

noun

1. any of several plants belonging to the genus Datura, of the nightshade family, including some species grown as ornamentals and usually having funnel-shaped flowers and prickly pods: the leaves and seeds are the source of hallucinogenic alkaloids.

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datura British  

/ dəˈtjʊərə /

noun

1. any of various chiefly Indian solanaceous plants of the genus Datura , such as the moonflower and thorn apple, having large trumpet-shaped flowers, prickly pods, and narcotic properties

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Other Word Forms

• daturic adjective

Etymology

Origin of datura

1655–65; < New Latin < Hindi dhatūra jimson weed < Sanskrit dhattūra

Example Sentences

Actually, datura grows naturally in the U.S. and was well known to early American colonists.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025

Around the post that holds the Main Street and Shaker Hill Road signs are petunias and datura, with its long, white, trumpet-shaped blossoms.

From Washington Times • Sep. 11, 2019

When it was cold, all three boys slept in the adobe room, but usually Mark slept in a hammock in the large living room and Jeff outside next to the datura.

From The New Yorker • Jul. 28, 2016

By chance, I discover her own secret garden, a poetic flowerscape of tole buttercups, cornflowers, sweet peas, a datura and a thistle that is arranged on a small bare wall in her home.

From New York Times • Aug. 21, 2013

"Yes, something like that Mexican toloache and the Hindu datura which you must have heard about," he continued.

From The Social Gangster by Reeve, Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin)