Datura suaveolens
Encyclopedia
Brugmansia suaveolens (syn. Datura suaveolens) is a shrub with large flowers; Common names include angel's tears, maikoa, and white angel's trumpet.

The flowers and the seeds are traditionally used in Rio Grande, southern Brazil, mixed
in water and ingested for its analgesic
Analgesic
An analgesic is any member of the group of drugs used to relieve pain . The word analgesic derives from Greek an- and algos ....

-like effect. Flower extracts have shown pain killing (antinociceptive) activity in mice. This antinociceptive activity may be related in part to benzodiazepine receptors.

Description

Brugmansia suaveolens is a semi-woody shrub or small tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

that gets 6-15 ft (1.8-4.6 m) tall, usually with a many-branched single trunk. The leaves are generally oval in shape, up to 10 in (25.4 cm) long and 6 in (15.2 cm) wide, and even larger when grown in the shade. The overall plant has a coarse texture but the flowers are remarkably beautiful. They are sweetly fragrant, about 12 in (30.5 cm) long and shaped like trumpets. The corolla has five points that are slightly recurved. The flowers are usually white but may be yellow or pink and are pendulous, hanging almost straight down.
The cultivar, 'Plena' (which may or may not be this species) has double flowers: a trumpet within a trumpet. B. X insignis is a second generation hybrid created by back-crossing B. suaveolens with a B. suaveolens - B. versicolor hybrid. It has huge, sometimes six-pointed, bell-shaped flowers to 15 in (38.1 cm) long. These may be yellow, orange, white, pink or multi-colored and are more prone to hang straight down. This popular hybrid blooms year-round and often is offered incorrectly as B. suaveolens. There are several other presumed hybrids, including 'Dr. Seuss', 'Frosty Pink' and 'Charles Grimaldi' whose parentages may include B. suaveolens, but this is not certain.

Location

This angel trumpet occurs naturally in SE Brazil. It is widely grown as an ornamental everywhere it is hardy and has escaped cultivation and established in residential areas throughout much of South and Central America, Mexico, and even in parts of south-central Florida.

Culture

Light: Brugmansia suaveolens does best in full sun. In partially shaded situations it may grow vigorously but flower sparingly or not at all.
Moisture: Angel trumpet requires regular watering for best growth and flowering. It wilts terribly, but usually survives through droughts.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 10 - 12. Brugmansia suaveolens is a small evergreen (although soft-wooded) tree. In zones 8B-9B, it dies to the ground in winter and resprouts in spring; under these conditions it rarely exceeds 8 ft (2.4 m) in height. Plants that are repeatedly killed to the ground winter after winter often weaken and die in a few years.
Propagation: Brugmansias usually are propagated from seed. They also may be started from semi-ripe heeled cuttings taken in summer and rooted with bottom heat. A heeled cutting is one that includes a small piece of the older stem still attached to the tip cutting.

External links

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