Datura metel (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

1, flowering stem and young fruit; 2, fruit; 3, seeds (Iskak Syamsudin)

Datura metel L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. 1: 179 (1753).

Synonyms

• Datura fastuosa L. (1759).

Vernacular names

• Downy thorn apple, metel thorn apple (En).
• Stramoine metel, concombre diable (Fr).
• Brunei: kecupong
• Indonesia: kecubung (general), kucubung (Sundanese), kacubung (Javanese)
• Malaysia: kechubong, kechubong puteh, kechubong hitam
• Philippines: talong-punay (Tagalog), kamkamaulau (Iloko), katchibong (Bisaya)
• Cambodia: slak
• Laos: mak kheua ba
• Thailand: ma khuea ba (northern), lamphong (central), liak (Khmer, Surin)
• Vietnam: cà dộc dược, dương kim hoa, mạn dà la.

Distribution

Probably of American origin; widely cultivated and naturalized in all tropical and subtropical regions. In South-East Asia, D. metel is reported for Indo-China, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia (cultivated and locally naturalized in the northern part), Brunei, Java (cultivated and naturalized), the Philippines (naturalized, sometimes cultivated) and Papua New Guinea (very locally cultivated and naturalized).

Uses

Dried leaves of D. metel are traditionally used as "asthma cigarettes" to relieve asthma in South-East Asia. In Brunei, an infusion of the flowers is drunk to relieve mental disorders.

Observations

• An annual or short-lived perennial herb up to 200 cm tall, stem short-haired to glabrous.
• Leaves ovate to angular broad-ovate, 4-25 cm × 2-20 cm, entire to repand-dentate-lobed, petiole up to 16 cm long.
• Flowers with corolla of (12-)14-18(-20) cm long, simple or double, white or purplish.
• Fruit deflexed when mature, with numerous conical tubercles of approximately equal length.

D. fastuosa is sometimes considered as a species distinct from D. metel, but more often as a variety or cultivar. D. metel is often cultivated in gardens and yards (often with double and purplish corolla), but also grows wild or naturalized (usually with simple and whitish corolla) and is locally abundant in waste places, roadsides, brushwood, open grassland, teak forest and on river banks, up to 1000 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Afsharypuor, S., Mostajeran, A. & Mokhtary, R., 1995. Variation of scopolamine and atropine in different parts of Datura metel during development. Planta Medica 61(4): 383- 384.
• Atal, C.K. & Kapur, B.M. (Editors), 1982. Cultivation and utilization of medicinal plants. Regional Research Laboratory, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Jammu Tawi, India. 877 pp.
• Avery, A.G., Satina, S. & Rietsema, J. (Editors), 1959. Blakeslee: the genus Datura. The Ronald Press Company, New York, United States. 289 pp.
• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A-H) pp. 1-1240. Vol. 2 (I- Z) pp. 1241-2444.
• de Padua, L.S., Lugod, G.C. & Pancho, J.V., 1977-1983. Handbook on Philippine medicinal plants. 4 volumes. Documentation and Information Section, Office of the Director of Research, University of the Philippines at Los Baños, the Philippines.
• Dharma, A.P., 1981. Indonesische geneeskrachtige planten [Indonesian medicinal plants]. De Driehoek, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 168 pp.
• Gupta, S., Prabhakar, V.S. & Madan, C.L., 1973. The distribution of total alkaloids and major components in the different organs of Datura metel var. fastuosa at various stages of growth. Planta Medica 23(4): 370-376.
• Hänsel, R. et al. (Editors), 1992. Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutishe Praxis [Hagers handbook of the practice of pharmacology]. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 1209 pp.
• Hawkes, J.G., Lester, R.N. & Skelding, A.D. (Editors), 1979. The biology and taxonomy of the Solanaceae. Published for the Linnean Society of London by Academic Press, Dorset, United Kingdom. 738 pp.
• Hawkes, J.G., Lester, R.N., Nee, M. & Estrada, N. (Editors), 1991. The Solanaceae III: Taxonomy, chemistry, evolution. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & The Linnean Society of London, London, United Kingdom. 483 pp.
• Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
• International Trade Centre UNCTAD/GATT, 1982. Markets for selected medicinal plants and their derivatives. Geneva, Switzerland. 206 pp.
• Lewis, W.H. & Elwin Lewis, M.P.F., 1977. Medical Botany. Plants affecting man's health. John Wiley & Sons, New York, United States. 515 pp.
• Mohiddin, M.Y., Wong Chin & Holdsworth, D.K., 1991. Traditional medicinal plants of Brunei Darussalam. Part II. Sengkurong. International Journal of Pharmacognosy 29(4): 252-258.
• Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
• Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
• Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
• Samuelsson, G. (Editor), 1992. Drugs of natural origin, a textbook of pharmacognosy. Swedish Pharmaceutical Press, Stockholm, Sweden. 320 pp.
• Symon, D.E., 1985. The Solanaceae of New Guinea. Journal of Adelaide Botanic Gardens 8: 1-171.

Main genus page

• Datura (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Sri Hartati, Imastini Dinuriah & M.M. Blomqvist