Plants bushy annual herbs. Leaves with petioles about 4 cm long; blades ovoid to elliptic, (6.5)8–16 cm long, 6–10 cm wide, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, coarsely and irregularly toothed. Calyces 2–3.5 cm long, teeth equal; corollas funnelform, 3–4.5(–6) cm long, white, lobes separated by short sinuses, interacuminal lobules absent; stamens inserted below middle of corolla. Capsules 2–5 cm long, subtended by reflexed remnant of calyces, with 30–60 conical spines 15-25(–35) mm long, the distal spines longer than those below; dehiscence regular. Seeds black, lateral surfaces with round pits, without longitudinal furrows paralleling the dorsal ridge; hila triangular.
Datura ferox is widely distributed in tropical regions but most common in Central and South America. It is sometimes included in D. quercifolia from which it differs in its coarsely and irregularly toothed, rather than deeply lobed, leaves. The two may prove to represent two ends in a continuous range of variation.