Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Harvesting Datura seed

My mom purchased two double-flowering Angel Trumpet plants this last Spring and gave the yellow one to me to raise, while she kept the purple.  Each of our plants has produced between 5 and 10 blooms this Summer and seed pods have followed.

yellow_datura_pod
Seed pod and blooms on my yellow Datura.  Notice how spikey it is.
Originally I was thinking that these Angel Trumpet plants were from the Brugmansia genus, but after looking into how the seeds should be germinated, I realized that our seed pods match the genus Datura.  As far as I can tell, Brugmansias have long seed pods that look like green beans.  Surprisingly the seed pods from my mom's purple plant and my yellow plant have very different textures, but neither are bean-like pods.  Mine are spikey little balls that look like the "gumballs" produced by Sweet Gum trees.  My mom's pods are smooth and polished-looking.

purple_datura_pod
Seed pod and bloom on my mom's purple Datura.  Notice how smooth this pod is.
After the seeds inside are ready, the pod breaks open and the seeds fall out.  I'm going to try to germinate some of these.  Wish me luck!

yellow_pod_open
My yellow seed pod opening.  I had a lot of trouble getting this picture, since it was dark out in my greenhouse when I got home from work yesterday.  I really don't like the time change.
For now, I have just been scattering these seeds on the surface of the soil in the same pot.  With the next pod I'm going to be a little more intentional in matching the germination requirements of these seeds.

I imagine most people are thinking "Yeah, yeah - nice seed pods...  Show me the Blooms!"  Okay, here you go.

yellow_datura_bloom
The stunning yellow Datura
Both of these pictures are from mid to late Summer.  Since then the flowering has trailed off.

purple_datura_bloom
The equally stunning purple Datura.
My yellow blooming plant is currently on a top shelf in my greenhouse.  I noticed last night that there were more buds forming on my plant, so I guess even though it lost some leaves over the last couple of weeks, it won't be going dormant after all.

6 comments:

  1. Good post.

    To tell the difference:
    Brugs flowers hang downward = angels' trumpets
    Datura flowers point more or less upward = devils' trumpets.

    There are no purple brugs that I know of. The round seed pods do give them away, and they are easily started from seed. Our experience has been that new plants started each spring perform better.

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  2. Hello,

    What beautiful, large blossoms!

    Please let us know how the Datura seeds do.

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  3. Fascinating post and thanks to Neil Jean for explaining the differences.

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  4. You have a beautiful purple datura. Do they have nice fragrance?

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  5. I was surprised to see so many seeds inside the round pod. Mine is cracking open, so will try to see if we can produce more plants from them.

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  6. I have seen White and blue dhatura plant put not seen yellow dhatura.I require it for medicinal use as per advice Can I get the plant with root.In India ( maharashatra where i can get it.please le me know urgently.

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