"someone" wrote in message
...

"Stewart Robert Hinsley" wrote in message
...
In message , ugo82
writes

Hi

My neighbour needs help identifying a plant. It has grown in the place
where they used to have a compost heap along with some other random
plants although no one in the area can seem to tell her what it is.

I have included some pictures, 01 is a picture of the flower that
appears on the plant. This then dies off and is replaced by a hairy
looking thing that is pictured in 02. Finally, 03 is a picture of the
whole plant.

Any help would be appreciated as it seems to be driving my neighbours
mad not knowing what it is!

Thorn apple (Datura stramonium). It is one of the more poisonous plants
out there. (If I understand correctly it's in the same range as deadly
nightshade and hemlock.)


There's been articles about D. stramonium in the newspapers all last week,
about someone who found one growing on their compost heap or something.
It appeared to have come in on a pot plant from a garden centre.

We probably all grow some poisonous thing or other in our gardens, be it
lilies, laburnum, nightshade, or whatever. Lots of people have Daturas of
various varieties in their gardens. I have a Hippobroma longiflora which
I have been nurturing for many years waiting for it to flower, but I treat
it with caution.

Difficult to find out levels of toxic substances, but it's more closely
related to Lobelia than Nicotiana, and so liable to be less toxic than the
latter.

--

Jeff