Hairy thorn-apple

Datura wrightii, sacred datura or hairy thorn-apple, is a robust, sprawling perennial herb in the family Solanaceae native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it occupies sandy washes, roadsides, desert scrub, and disturbed ground from sea level to about 2,200 m. Plants grow 0.5–1.5 m tall and twice as wide, forming a low, broad mound from a stout, woody, perennial root. The stems are stout, branched, and densely covered with fine grey-green pubescence, giving the whole plant a softly velvety appearance. The leaves are alternate, broadly ovate, 5–20 cm long, with shallowly toothed to nearly entire wavy margins and a slightly fetid odour when bruised. The spectacular flowers are erect, trumpet-shaped, 12–20 cm long, opening at dusk and pollinated by hawkmoths; the corolla is white, sometimes flushed lavender, with five short triangular teeth around the rim. The fruit is a nodding, spiny capsule about 4 cm in diameter that splits irregularly to release numerous flat, pale brown seeds.