Brugmansia suaveolens (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Bercht. & J.Presl, 1820

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 158-159

Brugmansia suaveolens (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Bercht. & J.Presl

Names.

Myanmar: padaing. English: angel’s trumpet, bell bush.

Range.

South America. Cultivated in Myanmar.

Conservation status.

Extinct in the Wild [EW] ( IUCN 2017).

Uses.

Leaf: Used as a sedative and an antiasthmatic.

Notes.

In Dominica, it has been observed that the dried flowers, smoked in cigarettes, are hallucinogenic ( Adjanohoun et al. 1985). Juice of Brugmansia suaveolens is the strongest hallucinogen used by the Shuar Jivaroan group of indigenous people in Amazonian Ecuador and Peru, who employ it to communicate with the spirits, and also use it medicinally to remedy menstrual pain, and against infections and weakness ( Bennett 1992). Uses of "tree datura" ( Brugmansia ) species, cited as Datura candida (Persoon) Safford and Datura sanguinea Ruiz & Pavon, for medicinal and psychotropic (hallucinogenic, narcotic) purposes among Amerindians in the Valley of Sibundoy, Colombia are discussed by Bristol (1969, cf. Schultes 1981).

Leaves and fruits of Brugmansia suaveolens contain hyoscyamine which is highly toxic, anticholinergic, and used to treat motion sickness and induce anaesthesia; and also contain atropine, a highly toxic anticholinergic substance which causes delirium, blurred vision, vasodilation and suppressed salivation ( Lan et al. 1998). Plants derived from cultivated stock of Brugmansia suaveolens are not known to set fruit; the leaves are very poisonous ( Witherell 2001).

Reference.

Nordal (1963).