Sacred Datura

Datura wrightii, commonly known as sacred datura, is a poisonous perennial of the nightshade family, native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It is sometimes used as a hallucinogen because of its psychoactive alkaloids, and is classed as an anticholinergic deliriant. It grows 30 cm to 1.5 m tall and wide, and its most striking feature is the sweetly fragrant white trumpet flowers, sometimes tinted purple, which open in the morning and evening. Southern California has been the site of various toloache (datura) based religions, and the plant is sacred to some Native Americans, who have used it in ceremonies and rites of passage, including the Chumash and the Tongva. The Zuni give the powdered root as an anaesthetic for surgery and use the root pieces and powder in ceremonial, magical and divinatory ways. All parts are dangerous, and the roots are the most potent.