I recently heard a very funny story about this strange (and common) plant and did some research on it. I already knew a little about it like the common name, etc., but what I found amazed me.
Five dollars says you can't guess what this is...
by RayPublisher 20 Replies latest social entertainment
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AnnOMaly
Thorn apple.
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KateWild
Eric, what am I going to do with five dollars?
I guess, conker plant. But that's the UK name, it's different in California.
Sam xx
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AnnOMaly
Not a conker (horse chestnut tree).
The $5's mine
I recently heard a very funny story about this strange (and common) plant ...
Do tell.
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KateWild
I disagree Ann, we should split it, how much is that in sterling? Sam xx
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RayPublisher
I owe Ann $5 and I will pay up! I'll send it via paypal okay? PM me the email addy you want me to use...
And yes I DID think "Goats in a tree" meant Goatee!!! But not while on Datura Stramonium...
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AnnOMaly
Not splitting it. We'll fight for it
Scrub that.
Ray, give it to a charity (a real charity - not the WT$).
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Heartofaboy
A member of the Solanaceae family of plants, includes potato, tomato & peppers to name a few.
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RayPublisher
If anyone is thinking of being nuts and trying it read this real-life experince of someone who ate the seeds:
http://forum.grasscity.com/real-life-stories/536751-my-experience-jimson-weed.html
Yet native peoples have been using this powerful weed for eons in medicinal and spiritual ways:
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This practice of smoking datura to relieve asthma has its origins in traditional Ayurvedic medicine in India. After this was discovered during the late 18th century by James Anderson, the English Physician-General of the East India Company, the practice quickly became popular in Europe. [ 19 ] [ 20 ]
The Zuni used to use datura as an analgesic, to render patients unconscious while broken bones were set. [ 21 ] The Chinese also used it in this manner, as a form of anaesthesia during surgery. [ 22 ]
Atropine and scopolamine (both of which are found in very high concentrations in datura) are muscarinic antagonists which can be used to treat Parkinson's disease and motion sickness, and to inhibit parasympathetic stimulation of the urinary tract, respiratory tract, GI tract, heart and eye. [ 23 ]
Datura can be used to assist in the process of breaking drug addictions, by reducing the symptoms of delirium tremens and morphine withdrawals. [ 22 ]
Other medicinal uses for datura include providing relief from sore throat or toothache and getting rid of parasites. [ 24 ]
Datura should be avoided by patients with heart problems, glaucoma, enlarged prostate, urinary difficulties, fluid buildup in the lungs, or bowel obstructions. [ 25 ]
Spiritual uses
For centuries, Datura stramonium has been used as a mystical sacrament which brings about powerful visions (lasting for days) and opens the user to communication with spirit world.
The ancient inhabitants of what is today central and southern California used to ingest the small black seeds of datura to "commune with deities through visions". [ 26 ] Across the Americas, other indigenous peoples such as the Algonquin, Cherokee, Marie Galente and Luiseño also utilized this plant in sacred ceremonies for its hallucinogenic properties. [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 27 ] In Ethiopia, some students and debtrawoch (lay priests), use D. stramonium to "open the mind" to be more receptive to learning, and creative and imaginative thinking. [ 28 ]
The common name "datura" has its roots in ancient India, where the plant is considered particularly sacred—believed to be a favorite of the Hindu god Shiva Nataraja. [ 20 ]
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Heartofaboy
Do I get the $5 Ray?
What's the $/£ exchange rate....................