18th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Sacred Datura
Two Sacred Datura (Datura wrightii) flowers, one still in its "pinwheel" state, were photographed after a spring rain. Beautiful, hallucinogenic and potentially toxic, Sacred Datura flowers have been the subject of artistic, botanical, religious and scientific interest for many years. Recent research, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, establishes the entheogenic use of Datura by Native Americans in California's Pinwheel Cave, a rock art site that includes a red ochre painting of a Datura pinwheel flower. http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/11/18/2014529117.abstract
Photo Detail
Date Taken: | 04.2019 |
Date Uploaded: | 11.2020 |
Photo Location: | Encinitas, California, United States of America |
Copyright: | © Jeff Maysent |