A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Datura inoxia
This flower is very fragrant. It is a bush, not a vine. The flowers bloom at night and are spent by sunrise the next day. The bulb is full of seeds and very prickly. The Mourning Doves love it when the seed pod breaks open because they eat the seeds. This plant was in my grandmother's sisters' yards in Michigan and she grows them in Valparaiso, FL as well, where they are very prolific. Entire plant is poisonous or toxic.
We've spotted them in Cadillac, Michigan; a rest area in Huntsville, Alabama; and Valparaiso, Florida.
This is my grandmother's flower and we are not sure if she or I took this picture, but I think she took it several years ago. I'm trying to convince her to join Project Noah. She's even more of a gardener and enthusiast than I am.
Your welcome for the ID. All parts of this plant are poisonous. This is just known as Thorn Apple. There is a type of Morning glory that is white and blooms only at night and it is known as Moonflower. So I can see why there is some confusion. This should just be called Thorn Apple to avoid any confusion in the future. Yes, the seeds of morning glory can be used as a drug. They contain LSA, the closest equivalent in nature to the laboratory produced LSD.
OK we confirmed, it's my Aunt Judy's flower, but my grandmother took the picture. She'll get some pics of her Florida flowers if they survive the heat. She has 6 plants growing as of last week. It's been hot with no rain.
ALice - It only blooms at night, is very fragrant, but then by day time the next day, that flower is done/spent/dead. There are many many blooms and this plant is on the invasive side in Northwest Florida. My grandmother reports that it will take over an entire bed if allowed.
My grandmother's sisters, all growing up in Cadillac, Michigan in the 1930s and 40s had these "at the farm" and other houses they lived in in Michigan. My grandmother has lived in Valparaiso, Florida since the 1960s and collected some seeds and cuttings from the plants in Michigan. They grown in Florida. She's saved seeds for me and I've tried growing them but they never grew (In Atlanta, Georgia). She says she will try to get some starts for me. I will have to plant them where the dogs do not go though. I seem to have a dog who thinks she is a billy goat who samples everything I plant, most recently cucumber leaves.
The bloom is so fragrant for a reason. Its narcotic. :)
The moon flower is more viney. This looks alot like the one i spotted yesterday, but the leaves are different. There are many sub-species.
Does this bloom at night or during the day? A real Moon flower blooms at night. I just found some old seeds. I will see if I can get them to sprout and have a picture for you in 6 weeks.(Since the rainy season has come in) In rereading your comments I think you have a Datura Moon Flower, mine in Florida is not Datura, but it is posionous. I understand that teenagers have gotten high on it.
I"ve grown Moon Flowers in my Moon Garden and they were a vine. I should see if I have any Old pictures.
Thanks for the ID Dan. Isabela - these Moonflowers are often confused with Morning glory plants, but they are not a vine, but a bush-like plant.
Not a morning glory but a Datura. I love these plants. The blooms are so fragrant, though be careful, the whole plant is poisonous.
Beautiful! I think a it's Morning glory but there are so many different varieties...If you go to Edit this spotting you can choose category: plant and add location so that other people can help identify.
Spotted on May 27, 2006
Submitted on May 27, 2011
+2
