Is Datura poisonous? Flowers, leaves, fruits and seeds are all toxic

Reports of Datura poisoning are not uncommon, so is Datura really poisonous? With this question in mind, the editor consulted a great deal of material and finally found the answer sought, and below is the detailed information:

Is Datura poisonous?

Datura is poisonous; its flowers, leaves, fruits and seeds can all cause poisoning if eaten by mistake.

Toxicity analysis

Datura is pungent in taste, warm in nature, and toxic.

① "Compendium of Materia Medica": pungent, warm, toxic.

② "Essential Materia Medica for Fresh Herbs": sweet in taste, warm in nature, toxic.

③ "Easy Readings on Materia Medica": pungent, warm, highly toxic.

Related poisoning information

1. Poisoning dose from mistaken ingestion

The poisoning dose from mistaken ingestion is 2 to 30 seeds, 1/4 to 10 fruits (the usual poisoning dose is about 3 fruits; there are deaths from taking 5 fruits, but there are also people who took 12 fruits and were saved), 1 to 30 grams of dried flowers; cases of poisoning from using the leaves have been seen only with external application.

2. Onset time of poisoning

After mistakenly eating Datura, clinical manifestations can appear in as little as 10 minutes, or up to 3 hours at the longest, generally about half an hour to 1 hour.

3. Clinical manifestations

Datura poisoning manifests as: flushing of the face and skin, restlessness, increased pulse rate, unsteady gait, dizziness, hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, dry mouth, thirst, numbness of the mouth, vomiting, slurred speech, dilated pupils, loss of the light reflex, and even high fever, coma, incontinence of urine and feces, paroxysmal convulsions, etc.

4. Emergency treatment for poisoning

Datura poisoning is the same as atropine or scopolamine poisoning; folk remedies include decocting 2 qian of Saposhnikovia divaricata and 2 qian of cassia twig for oral use; decocting 4 liang of raw licorice for oral use; mashing 1 to 2 liang each of raw licorice and raw mung bean and taking them soaked in boiling water or decocted; decocting 1 liang of tea leaves into a thick juice and mixing it with half a jin of tofu and taking it at one time. There are also those who use cold compress and cold bath methods to treat Datura poisoning in children, placing cold wet cloths on the patient's forehead and chest and changing them frequently until consciousness returns. For those with more severe poisoning, the cold water bath method is used, placing the poisoned child in a bathtub and rinsing with cold water until the flushing of the skin has completely faded, when gradual return to consciousness can be expected.

Warm reminders

1. Datura is poisonous and must not be eaten;

2. After mistakenly eating Datura, seek medical attention promptly.