Brugmansia sanguinea

Brugmansia sanguinea, the red angel's trumpet, is a species of South American flowering shrub or small tree belonging to the genus Brugmansia in tribe Datureae of subfamily Solanoideae of the nightshade family Solanaceae. It has been cultivated and used as an entheogen for shamanic purposes by the South American Indians for centuries - possibly even millennia.[1]

Brugmansia sanguinea
Brugmansia sanguinea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae
Genus: Brugmansia
Species:
B. sanguinea
Binomial name
Brugmansia sanguinea
(Ruiz & Pav.) D.Don
Synonyms

Datura sanguinea Ruiz & Pav.
Brugmansia bicolor Pers.
Brugmansia lutea Hort. ex Gard. Chron.

Description

Brugmansia sanguinea is a small tree reaching up to 10 m (33 ft) in height. The pendent, tubular/trumpet-shaped flowers come in shades of brilliant red, yellow, orange and green.[2]

Distribution

B. sanguinea is endemic to the Andes mountains from Colombia to northern Chile at elevations from 2,000 to 3,000 m (6,600 to 9,800 ft).[3]

Toxicity
Main article: Brugmansia (Toxicity)

All parts of Brugmansia sanguinea are poisonous. Different parts of the plant contain tropane alkaloids in varying proportions. Alkaloid content in the flowers is mainly atropine with only traces of scopolamine (hyoscine).[4][5] The seeds of B. sanguinea contain approximately 0.17% alkaloids by mass, of which 78% are scopolomine.[5]

References
  1. Hoffmann, Albert; Schultes Richard Evans; Ratsch, Christian; Plants of the Gods, pp. 33
  2. Cullen, James; Knees, Sabina G.; Cubey, Suzanne (2011). The European Garden Flora: Volume 5, Dicotyledons: Boraginaceae to Compositae. Cambridge University Press. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-521-76164-2.
  3. Preissel, Ulrike; Preissel, Hans-Georg (2002). Brugmansia and Datura: Angel's Trumpets and Thorn Apples. Buffalo, New York: Firefly Books. pp. 106–129. ISBN 1-55209-598-3.
  4. Pratt, Christina (2007). An Encyclopedia of Shamanism Volume 1. The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 68–70. ISBN 978-1-4042-1140-7.
  5. Hoffmann, Albert; Schultes, Richard Evans; Ratsch, Christian. Plants of the Gods. p. 37. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
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