Yang Jin Hua

Yang Jin Hua is the dried flower of Datura metel L. (Solanaceae), the downy thorn-apple or hindu datura, an erect annual or short-lived perennial herb 0.5 to 1.5 m tall with stout branching stems and broadly ovate, sinuate to entire leaves. The large solitary upward-facing trumpet-shaped flowers are 14 to 20 cm long, white to pale purple or yellow, single or double; the prickly globose capsule splits irregularly to release numerous flattened brown seeds. WARNING: All parts contain the tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine, scopolamine, and atropine and are highly toxic, producing anticholinergic delirium, mydriasis, tachycardia, hyperthermia, and in overdose death; the herb is a restricted drug in China and many countries. In traditional Chinese medicine the flower is acrid, warm, and toxic, entering the Lung and Liver channels; it stops cough and asthma, relieves pain, and calms convulsions, and was historically used as a surgical anesthetic.