Found this plant on the side of my house the other day. I sprinkled some pumpkin seeds back in October last year after Halloween. We’ve had pumpkins grow in our yard before but the flowers were always orange and this bloom like different than previous plants and pictures of pumpkin plants I’ve looked up as well.
by katiekaddy
22 Comments
No, that appears to be datura inoxia. Very toxic plant.
Edit: I believe it is actually D. Wrightii not inoxia
Nope, that is datura and it is extremely toxic
The leaves are quite different, and it would be worth learning the difference not only for safety, but stuffed pumpkin flowers are delicious
Devils breath
Could be a datura; but I wonder? Any pros can ID? Ty
Datura. It’s poisonous.
Thanks everyone!
Just went outside with gloves and found a whole patch of datura growing on the side of my house. I have some feral cats that live in my backyard and like to stay over there so I pulled up everything I could. Got most of them buy the roots but a few broke so I’ll be keeping an eye on the area for the next few weeks.
I just have no clue how those got there! My neighbors don’t have any growing nearby and besides some pumpkin seeds I’ve never tried to plant anything over there.
This is not a a pumpkin but if you eat it, you may hallucinate a conversation *with* a pumpkin and then go to the hospital.
This is called sacred datura (or moonflower), Datura wrightii. You can tell it apart from D. innoxia by the type of hairs on the plant (short, appressed and non-glandular in D. wrightii vs long, glandular hairs that stick straight out in D. innoxia), position of the stigma (past the anthers in D. wrightii and below them in D. innoxia), and corolla color (only D. wrightii ever has the purple tinge on the corolla).
If you’re in the SW USA or Mexico, it’s a native species. The plant is toxic if ingested, but it’s safe to touch it and to smell the flowers. Flowers typically open sometime between late evening and very early morning (~1-2am). That’s when they have their scent, which smells heavenly. By daylight, the scent is usually gone. These plants are pollinated at night by hawkmoths, which are fun to watch, as well as various types of bees during the day.
Datura is a beautiful plant to have in your garden. I would keep it if it were me. If you’re concerned about pets eating it, dogs and cats are usually repelled by the scent of its foliage, which you can smell too if you crush or break a leaf; it’ll smell sort of like rotting peanut butter. It’s highly unlikely that they would try to eat it.
Datura, she’s poisonous AND beautiful 😍
Nope. My grandma called these something that roughly translates to “cow drugs” because on her farm when they ate them, they apparently stumbled around and fell over.
No. Watch out for pets. Does bloom at night.
Side note – this is a preferred host plant for hornworm caterpillars which turn into sphinx moths which are great pollinators.
You can use them as trap plants to draw the moths away from tomatoes.
No.
That is Datura
It is beautiful, but extremely toxic. Avoid exposing it to any living animal in any way.
No
This is what witches used to make poison potions
I’d agree with Jimson weed. I’d rip it up by the roots and burn it before some idiot kid from the neighborhood finds out what psychosis is like.
No this is actually Datura. Very poisonous, every part of the plant.
Datura is native to places in the central southwest of the US. In some states, like where I am in Pennsylvania, it is officially an invasive and noxious weed. (Meaning not native, causing ecological harm, and a threat to agriculture and livestock.) So the OP should decide to remove or not, because I don’t see the location listed.
Nah
Nooo😱
You know you can Google what a pumpkin blossom looks like