Is Jimson Weed a common ingredient in Indian cooking?
The nocturnal blossoms and pollination ecology of Datura wrightii are among the most ingenious and unusual of all wildflowers of western North America. The entire corolla is neatly folded or pleated (plicate) and twisted (convolute) in the bud forming a compact cylinder. Each day at dusk during the summer months the buds begin to gradually unfold. Each corolla slowly unfurls and then suddenly snaps open as the intertwined lobes come lose from one another. At this instant a powerful fragrance is emitted. Five long stamen filaments are attached to the funnelform corolla at the throat. The filaments extend as ridges down the inner corolla tube, forming 5 narrow canals to the base of the ovary where the disc-shaped nectary is located. The nectar canals can best be seen by examining a corolla tube in cross section. The curious name “revolver flower” refers to nectar canals which resemble the cylinder chambers of a 5-shot revolver. At night the nectar oozes along the length of the canals wit
