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Old 07-07-2009, 06:37 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Bob Hobden Bob Hobden is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,056
Default Datura - poisonous


"hound" wrote
newish here - so after some sensible advice. I know Datura is poisonous -
but how poisonous? I'm not going to be eating it!!!!, but do I have to
wash my skin if I touch it by mistake, or is it not so dangerous?


My sis-in-law swallowed a very small piece whilst pruning her Brugmansia
(prev. Datura), don't ask!
She soon started to shake and feel unwell/strange and on my insistence
phoned the Hospital who put her onto some specialist poisons clinic in
London. They continued to phone her every 15 minutes for many hours to
monitor the situation and wouldn't let her go to bed insisting she stayed
awake.

So obviously not lethal in small doses (usually) but you will be rather
unwell, feel dreadful, spaced out, and you will need medical help
immediately, reported to be what the Aztecs and others used to subdue human
sacrifice victims.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London