Plants weakly tap-rooted. Leafblades with petioles usually half as long as the blades; blades rhombic to ovate or narrowly ovate, 5–-21 cm long, 1.5–15 cm wide, glabrous or nearly so, bases cuneate to subcordate, sinuately dentate to coarsely toothed, with up to 5 teeth per side. Calyces 3–6 cm long, teeth equal; corollas 6–10 cm long, usually white, sometimes mauve or purple, lobes separated by short sinuses, without interacuminal lobules; stamens inserted below the middle of corolla. Capsules erect, ellipsoid to broadly ellipsoid, usually with 100–300 slender spines, sometimes with no spines (f. inerme), dehiscing irregularly into 4 valves. Seeds black, with round pits on the lateral surfaces, without longitudinal furrows paralleling the dorsal edge; hila triangular.
Datura stramonium grows in tropical and warm temperate regions throughout the wordl, often as a weed in waste places. It is native in Mexico, Central, and South America.
M. Thulin (2006) Datura. 3:219220
Plantsup to 1 m tall, often much smaller, glabrescent. Leaves with petioles about 1-5.5 cm long; blades more or less braodly ovate, 5-17 cm long 3-14 cm wide, bases assymetrically cuneate, margins irregulary and coarsely dentate, tips acuminate. Calyces 2.5-5 cm long; corollas white, 4.5-10.5 cm long, lobes mucronate; stamens exceeded by the corollas; anthers 3-4 mm long. Capsules erect, globose or ovoi, 2-4 cm long 1.3-3.5 cm in diameter, densely pickley and minutely pubescent between the prickles, dehiscent by 4 equal valves; seeds black, about 3-4 mm long.
In northeast Africa, Datura stramonium grows in waste places, usually near water holes or in areas of impeded drainage, at 150-1500 m. Itis native to North America but has been widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions for centuries.