Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Datura ferox
Common name
Fierce Thornapple, Longspine Thornapple
Family
Solanaceae
Where found
Weed of wasteland and disturbed areas. Sydney area and Western Slopes. Doubtfully naturalised in the ACT. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced annual herb to 1 m high, hairless or sparsely hairy. Seed cases with many sharp spines. Leaves alternating up the stems. Mature leaves mostly 8–14 cm long, 60–160 mm wide, margins with a few shallow lobes, and usually toothed or wavy, tips pointed, surfaces hairless. Flowers white, 40–60 mm long, tubular, with 5-lobes; the lobes ending in a point 1–2 mm long. Flowers single. Flowers mainly summer. Seed case erect, body more or less oval, 2–4 cm long, 2–3 cm diameter, with usually 40–60 stout, sharp, spines, the longest 10–15 mm long.
General Biosecurity Duty all NSW. Noxious weed Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Datura~ferox (accessed 4 May 2021)
Online fact sheet published by the South Australian Herbarium: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/efsa/lucid/Solanaceae/Solanaceae%20species/key/Australian%20Solanaceae%20species/Media/Html/Datura_ferox.htm (accessed 4 May 2021)
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