Jimsonweed

Latin Name: Datura stramonium

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Quickest identifier is to rub the leaves with your hand, then smell your hand (Jimsonweed has a unique scent)
  • Leaves are typically 3-8 inches long, smooth, toothed, soft, and irregularly wavy
  • Stem is strong, erect, smooth, and pale yellow-green to reddish purple in color
  • Can grow up to 5 ft tall
  • The flowers are tubular and white or violet
  • The fruit is a capsule that has prickles covering it

Plant Longevity:

  • Annual

Where Commonly Found:

  • Fertile soils where other plants are scarce
  • Pastures
  • Wood lines
  • Waste areas

Time of Most Concern:

  • During entire growth cycle, with seeds being most poisonous

Compound that Causes Concern:

  • Hyoscyamine – an isomer of atropine (an isomer is a molecule that is transformed into another molecule that has exactly the same atoms, but the atoms are rearranged)
  • L-hyoscine – epoxidized hyoscyamine (an epoxide is a cyclic ether, where the ether forms a three-atom ring: two atoms of carbon and one atom of oxygen)

Part of Plant Most Toxic:

  • Entire plant is toxic; seeds most often implicated

Livestock Species Affected:

  • Cattle
  • Sheep
  • Goats
  • Swine

Pasture, Stored Feed, Both:

  • Both

Clinical Signs:

  • Hypothermia
  • Increased pulse and respiration
  • In some cases, as pulse increases, respiration can decrease
  • Depression
  • Weakness
  • Tremors
  • Recumbency
  • Increased thirst
  • Increased urination
  • Digestive issues
  • Diarrhea
  • Weight loss
  • Nausea
  • Dilated pupils

Amount Needed to be Consumed for Clinical Signs / Death:

  • Pigs appear to be very sensitive to seeds; .000035 oz - .000043 oz per lb body weight reported to cause toxic signs
    • That equates to 0.007 oz in a 200 lb hog
  • Toxic signs seen in cattle consuming seeds at 0.06-0.09% of body weight/day
    • That equates to 0.6-0.9 lbs in a 1,000 lb cow

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Quickest identifier is to rub the leaves with your hand, then smell your hand (Jimsonweed has a unique scent)
  • Leaves are typically 3-8 inches long, smooth, toothed, soft, and irregularly wavy
  • Stem is strong, erect, smooth, and pale yellow-green to reddish purple in color
  • Can grow up to 5 ft tall
  • The flowers are tubular and white or violet
  • The fruit is a capsule that has prickles covering it

Plant Longevity:

  • Annual

Where Commonly Found:

  • Fertile soils where other plants are scarce
  • Pastures
  • Wood lines
  • Waste areas

Time of Most Concern:

  • During entire growth cycle, with seeds being most poisonous

Compound that Causes Concern:

  • Hyoscyamine – an isomer of atropine (an isomer is a molecule that is transformed into another molecule that has exactly the same atoms, but the atoms are rearranged)
  • L-hyoscine – epoxidized hyoscyamine (an epoxide is a cyclic ether, where the ether forms a three-atom ring: two atoms of carbon and one atom of oxygen)

Part of Plant Most Toxic:

  • Entire plant is toxic; seeds most often implicated

Livestock Species Affected:

  • Cattle
  • Sheep
  • Goats
  • Swine

Pasture, Stored Feed, Both:

  • Both

Clinical Signs:

  • Hypothermia
  • Increased pulse and respiration
  • In some cases, as pulse increases, respiration can decrease
  • Depression
  • Weakness
  • Tremors
  • Recumbency
  • Increased thirst
  • Increased urination
  • Digestive issues
  • Diarrhea
  • Weight loss
  • Nausea
  • Dilated pupils

Amount Needed to be Consumed for Clinical Signs / Death:

  • Pigs appear to be very sensitive to seeds; .000035 oz - .000043 oz per lb body weight reported to cause toxic signs
    • That equates to 0.007 oz in a 200 lb hog
  • Toxic signs seen in cattle consuming seeds at 0.06-0.09% of body weight/day
    • That equates to 0.6-0.9 lbs in a 1,000 lb cow

https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/WS/WS_37_ToxicPlants08.pdf

Beasely et al. Notes for Toxicology VB 320: A systems approach to veterinary toxicology. University of Illinois. 1994