Re: datura questions
- To: propagation@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: datura questions
- From: D* M*
- Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 17:44:11 -0500
>I would like to know if anyone can tell me the different species Datura names
>of the following.
>
>1. Large white Datura flowers...has pale purple edging when opening and have
>been measured at about 6-7 inches across. The stems seem to have a purple
>tinge as do the seed pods spikes.
>2. smaller white Datura flowers-has pale yellow edging when opening and have
>been measured at about 2-4 inches across. The stems seem to be plain green
>and same for the spikes on the seed pods.
>
>thank u in advance
>
>Dawn
>zone 5a
Dawn...
Could you give us a bit more information? For instance, how tall is the
plant? Is it upright or more sprawling in habit? How about the leaves,
are they completely smooth or are they slightly fuzzy. Gilder was correct
in that the taxonomy of this group can be confused. I've never seen a good
key for differentiating Datura meteloides, innoxia, quinquefolia, and
wrightii.
I grow Datura meteloides, which has large (6-7 inch diameter) pure white
flowers (they do get a tinge of blue in cooler weather. It is a sprawler,
never more than 3 ft tall, with greyish-green felted (fuzzy) leaves. I
have also grown Datura stramonium the normal form of which has much smaller
flowers than meteloides, perhaps only 2-3 inches across. It has smooth
green leaves and green stems, only reaching about 2 ft tall.
In addition, I have a datura whose seeds I collected in El Salvador about
10 years ago. The flower are about the same size as D. stramonium, but
they have a purple throat. The stems are also purple, but the plant has
reached a much larger size than the "normal" stramonium, reaching nearly 6
ft tall, and a lower stem diameter of over 3 inches. I have always thought
that this plant might be D. stramonium 'Tatula'.
Don
Don Martinson
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin (Milwaukee suburb)
USDA Zone 5 (-10 to -20F)
AHS Heat Zone #4, Map at:
( http://www.suite101.com/userfiles/79/hz1024.jpg )
l*@execpc.com
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