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

Whispers in our garden, laughter in the dark by the datura tree.

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

Hyoscyamus dilates the pupils of the eyes, the same manner as stramonium, several Eastern species of datura, and belladonna, which the Europeans use.

From North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826 by Bache, Franklin