Iraq’s Interior Ministry urged farmers and residents to report datura plants because the spread threatens agricultural crops. Datura contains highly toxic chemical compounds that affect the nervous systems of humans, animals, and plants. The plant has white or purple trumpet-shaped flowers, green prickly fruit, large leaves, and a pungent odor. Although classified as poisonous, it contains pharmaceutical compounds used in very precise medical doses, including tropane alkaloids such as atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine. The plant has been used medicinally for about 500 years, originating in Central America and later spreading to Europe and other continents, where it has reached Iraqi agriculture.
"The spread of datura has forced the Iraqi Interior Ministry to urge farmers and citizens to report if spotted. Iraq's Ministry of the Interior has warned farmers and residents to be on the alert for an invasion of datura plants commonly known as jimsonweed, thorn apple or devil's trumpet. Plants like datura usually grow sparsely in desert regions but can be cultivated for their medicinal and pharmaceutical properties, and the growth of this one appears to have spun out of control, authorities say."
"In an official statement, the ministry stated that the plant poses a significant risk to agricultural crops because it contains highly toxic chemical compounds which affect the nervous systems of humans, animals and plants. This plant is known for its white or purple trumpet-shaped flowers, green prickly fruit and large leaves which give off a pungent odour. Despite its classification as a poisonous plant, it contains important pharmaceutical compounds when used medically in very precise doses."
"These are tropane alkaloids such as atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine, which are used to dilate pupils, treat motion sickness and for some anticonvulsant medications. The plant has been used medicinally for 500 years, Khalid Mohammed Omer, a professor of chemistry at the College of Science, University of Sulaimani, told Al Jazeera. The plant originates from Central America where it was used by Indigenous people before the arrival of European colonisers in traditional medicine, mainly for anaesthesia and pain relief."
"When Europeans arrived in the Americas in the late 15th century, the plant caught their attention due to its potent effects on the nervous system. It was brought back to Europe, from where it reached the rest of the world's continents, and is now invading Iraqi agriculture, Omer said. The datura plant is commonly known as jimsonweed, thorn apple or devil's trumpet. This particular variant is known as datura stramonium [File: Sara DeAngelis"
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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