Caution!

 The Trumpet Flower!

( Datura Stramonium/ Candida)

 A beautiful flower and a sad patient.  So what do these two pictures have in common with each other? I think a lot.

    I love Trumpet flowers!  They are evening bloomers but by the next afternoon their blooms wither and droop.  Some verities have a sweet, pungent smell that can fill the night air.  This is my third year with Trumpet Flowers and for the last two years I've kept them in pots on my patio right near my front door.  The fragrance is incredible and spirit lifting, the blooms breath taking.  Everyday as I walk by these plants into the house, I snap off the old blooms and toss them aside-bad idea!

     A few weeks ago I went to the emergency room with a dilated pupil, blurred vision and dizziness!  I was treated for a possible stoke or aneurysm.  It was really scary!  I spent the night in the hospital in the stoke unit, and underwent a MRI and CAT Scan.   I was poked, and prodded, it scared my husband and family to death (sorry everyone). Nothing was found wrong.  In the end I was released because my symptoms started to go away.  "Maybe we'll never know," the doctors said as they scheduled me for more tests.  The crazy thing about this is we are uninsured, so....

    Since I've left the hospital I've doing a lot of research which is when I stumbled across people that had the exact same experience as me.  It turned out to be poisoning from one of my favorite flowers! 

Blurred vision

Dilated pupils

Extreme thirst

Headache

Dizziness

Confusion

*Please note that if you ever have these symptoms, you need to go to the hospital right away.  The knowledge of the Trumpet plant can give you more information to give your doctors if you've been exposed to them.

      My Doctor told me he feels it is very unlikely my symptoms resulted from exposure to the Trumpet Flower. (At this point, I tend to disagree.)  I might not ever know what in the world happened. However,  I think you all out there should know about this anyway.  These can be very dangerous plants if not handled very carefully.  Please research this plant before you buy one, there is a lot of information on line.  

     In some areas it is illegal to buy or sell this plant, but not in Vermont.  You'll see them in many Vermont gardens.  I was told they are in the landscape at UVM and I've seen them downtown Middlebury.

Guatemala 2011.  I've always known that the type of Trumpet Flower in Central America was one to admire from afar.  For some reason I didn't connect this huge plant with my small potted plants right on my front porch.

     Trumpet Flowers contain a chemicals called alkaloids.  They are stimulants, from what I've read, and can effect the nervous system.  Alkaloids are found in the plant that is used to make cocaine (which might be why the doctors asked me if I had taken cocaine).  Anyway, kids die from the drugs they try and make from this plant every year.  It's serious stuff.

Please be careful and if you have any more information or even a correction,  please share.