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