Unknown Plant

[Jennykenny]

A self-sown strange plant has appeared in one of my pots. It's only about 8 inches high so far and has interesting leaves, almost like a holly plant but not shiny or spiky, but has produced a really unusual 'fruit' - almost identical to a horse chestnut. White flower.
Can't work out how to send a photo but does anyone recognise this description?

[Chipchopper]

I'm thinking, maybe : sweet chestnut, indian horse chestnut, Holm oak, possibly buried by a squirrel, is there any of those locally ?

[mazie]

Is it this one Jenny

http://www.ukwildflowers.com/Web_pages/datura_stramonium_thorn_apple.htm

[Jennykenny]

Mazie, that's brilliant! Well done. (And thank you chipchopper).
I'm going to cultivate it and sprinkle the seeds round the garden when they mature.
(Ps did you know it is called the 'truth drug'? Apparently it was used during the Cold War by the Russians and Americans to get information out of captured spies. Will be using it on my nephew to discover who ate the last of the cheesecake!)

[sandyRoe]

Is that Locoweed?

[Jennykenny]

Sandy, not sure, but Wikipedia has a lot of alarming info on the plant.

[Peter Pedant]

yes ( locoweed )

see here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datura_stramonium

found on dartmoor and used to be a relatively-ish common cause of hallucination ( needing hospital admission ) in skool kids in Devon and Cornwall in the seventies

looks a bit like a triffid ...

[sandyRoe]

In the 60s we were told the inside of banana peel dried and then smoked produced a high.
It didn't. :-((

[Jennykenny]

Sandy, a couple of my more 'adventurous' cousins in the sixties were convinced that eating lots of sunflower seeds would give them a high. I think this was a common misconception and, if memory serves me well, they were withdrawn from sale for a while.

[sandyRoe]

Wouldn't have done them any harm. If fact, they look like a superfood.

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/health-benefits-of-sunflower-seeds/

[Peter Pedant]

datura tea does work
put you into hospital I mean

atropine toxicity - 6 H s I think
high as a kite
hot as a hen
made as hare and three more

( "Blind as a bat, mad as a hatter, red as a beet, hot as Hades (or hot as a hare), dry as a bone, the bowel and bladder lose their tone, and the heart runs alone.") not many Hs there tho

[mazie]

Hi jenny. I used to grow datura and brugmansia. Be careful with it if you have children around. Its hallucinogenic. There are some beautiful ones around. The flower on this one is a little disappointing. X

[Jennykenny]

Thanks Masie, just me and a 'oldish' nephew. Looking forward to see how it develops, and yes the flower seemed a bit boring.

[Chipchopper]

Jenny, I was going down the wrong track with this one. when you said the 'fruit' was almost identical to a horse chestnut, I was thinking about a conker type fruit inside a prickly pod, when the thorn apple pod splits you should see lots of seeds inside. :-)
Let me just underline that the thorn apple (Datura) is poisonous, I wouldn't want to handle it without gloves.
Enjoy watching it develop.