Talampunay
Datura metel · Devil's trumpet
- Names in the 1901 book
- Talamponay, Tag., Pam.; Takbibug̃, Vis.; Dhatura, Indo-Eng.
- Names in the 1985 book
- English: Thorn apple; Tagalog: Talong-punaya, Talumpunay
- Colours
- flowerwhite, purple
- Native range
- The Americas; cultivated in Asia since antiquity
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Common on the shores of the sea. The D. fastuosa is differentiated by its violet flowers and double corolla.
- Family
- Solanaceae, filed in the book under Solanaceæ
- Printed in 1901 as
- Datura alba, Nees. (D. Metel, Roxb. and Blanco.)
- Printed in 1985 as
- Datura metel Linn.
- Sources
- Page 178 on Project Gutenberg · Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 133 · Wikipedia
The plant today
Datura metel is a shrub-like annual (zone 5–7) or short-lived, shrubby perennial (zone 8–10), commonly known in Europe as Indian thornapple, Hindu datura, or metel and in the United States as devil's trumpet or angel's trumpet. Datura metel is naturalised in all the warmer countries of the world. It is found notably in India, where it is known by the ancient, Sanskrit-derived, Hindi name dhatūra (धतूरा), from which the genus name Datura is derived. The plant is cultivated worldwide, both as an ornamental and for its medicinal properties, the latter being due to its tropane alkaloid content.
Excerpt from “Datura metel” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 93 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 12 provinces, most often Zamboanga del Norte (7), Batanes (4), Negros Oriental (2), Albay (2), Bukidnon (1), Cavite (1), Maguindanao (1), Marinduque (1), and 4 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
The applications of this species are identical with those of D. Stramonium and it is official in the Pharmacopœia of India. It is antispasmodic, narcotic and toxic, and is used quite commonly with criminal intent in India and Indo-China. The cooked and bruised leaves make an efficient poultice in articular rheumatism.
The symptoms of poisoning by “dhatura” are: dilatation of the pupil, general malaise, dryness of the fauces and skin, hallucinations, rapid pulse, coma and death or permanent mania.
The dry leaf is smoked to abort asthma, and though its action is uncertain, it is one of the many remedies that should be tried, which though ineffective in one case may in another afford positive relief in this distressing disease. Not more than 1.50 grams should be smoked in one day and their use should be discontinued if any symptom of intoxication supervenes. The Pharmacopœia of India contains a tincture made from 75 grams of the ground seeds and 500 grams of alcohol. Dr. Waring states that 20 drops of this tincture are equivalent to 6 centigrams of opium and that in some cases it has given him better narcotic results than the opium. The extract is made from 500 grams of the powdered seeds, 500 cc. ether, 500 cc. alcohol and 500 cc. water. Dose, 5–20 centigrams a day in 4 doses.
The D. fastuosa, L., known in Manila by the common name of Talamponay na itim, Tag., possesses the same properties as the above. The Filipino physician, Sr. Zamora, successfully employed a poultice of bruised leaves cooked in vinegar and applied to the forehead and backs of the hands to reduce the fever of tuberculous patients.
Neither the leaves nor seeds of these two varieties of Datura have been studied from a chemical standpoint, but there is little doubt that the active principle is the daturine (atropine and hyoscyamine) that exists so abundantly in D. Stramonium.
Botanical description
Plant 5–6° high, with nodose branches, forked. Leaves ovate, angled, somewhat downy. Flowers large, white, axillary, solitary. Calyx tubular, 5-toothed. Corolla funnel-shaped, the limb 5-angled and 5-folded. Stamens 5, same length as calyx. Anthers long, flattened. Stigma thick, oblong, divisible in 2 leaves. Seed vessel globose, thorny, 4-valved over the base of the calyx. Seeds numerous, flattened, kidney-shaped. (Resembles closely the common Jamestown Weed of America, though much taller with much larger flowers.)
What the 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- AsthmaDried leaves rolled and smoked.Roll 2 dried leaves into a cigarette. One every 6 hours.Page 14
Datura is poisonous and smoking its leaves has caused serious poisonings. This remedy is recorded as history.
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Talumpunay” on page 133. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Ethnobotanical uses and phytochemical, biological, and toxicological profiles of Datura metel L.: A review
- Experimental and Theoretical Studies of Green Synthesized Cu2O Nanoparticles Using Datura Metel L
- Phytochemical and biological assessment of secondary metabolites isolated from a rhizosphere strain, Sphingomonas sanguinis DM of Datura metel