Friday, November 04, 2011

Beautiful flower put to bad use

From old library book (found while hunting for another book for class):

"Jupiter, according to the Doctrine of Signatures, governs the Thornapple (Datura stramonium) and it was therefore used against epilepsy, fits and madness. All parts or the plant are narcotic and the evil uses to which it has been put in the past account for it's old name of Devil's apple. In Russia thieves and murderers stupified their intended victims with a concoction made of the ground seeds, and young girls were procured for prostitution. The therapeutic value of the thornapple however, has been appreciated by physicians in both the Old and New Worlds."

Book: Health Plants of the World: Atlas of Medicinal Plants

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