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Plants  >  Brugmansia Family Overview
Brugmansia

Brugmansia is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the family Solanaceae, native to subtropical regions of South America, along the Andes from Colombia  to northern Chile, and also in southeastern Brazil. The members are:

  • Brugmansia arborea
  • Brugmansia aurea
  • Brugmansia insignis
  • Brugmansia sanguinea
  • Brugmansia suaveolens
  • Brugmansia versicolor
  • Brugmansia vulcanicola

Brugmansias form under the right cultivation conditions long-lived, woody trees or bushes, with pendulous, not erect, flowers, that have no spines on their fruit. The listed species are divided according to an natural crossig barrier into two cultivarname groups

  • Brugmansia (sometimes also called warm growing group)
  • Sphaerocarpium (sometimes also called cold growing group)

To the cultivarname group Brugmansia belong: B. aurea, B. insignis, B. suaveolens, B. versicolor as well as the derived hybrids from this species.

Sphaerocarpium refers to the bulbous fruits some of the members form. The second cultivarname group covers B. arborea, B. sanguinea, B. vulcanicola as well as their hybrids (e.g. x flava).

Author: H. Posch
Angel's Trumpet versus Devil's Trumpet

It is easy to envision the hanging flowers of Brugmansia as Angel’s Trumpets, blasting from the heavens towards the Devil down below.  Likewise, Datura’s trumpet-shaped flowers call upwards to the heavens. Datura prefer to be watered only when the roots are dry; Brugmansia require more water.  One should avoid watering Datura from overhead, as this will spoil the upwards-facing flowers.  Brugmansia enjoy overhead watering, and this also provides an atmosphere less hospitable to red-spider-mites, which thrive on hot and dry conditions.  The wait for first flowers is much shorter with Datura, which can flower quickly from seed.  Brugmansia require more time to mature, often blooming only when the plant reaches 2 or 3 feet tall.

More info

Cultivarname Group Sphaerocarpium

The cultivarname group Sphaerocarpium includes as alread mentioned the species B. arborea, B. sanguinea and  B. vulcanicola as well as their hybrids. In ancient literature the plants also referred to as the cold growing group. To set an abondance of flowers the plants need cooler growing conditions. In their natural habitat (growing locations) the plants are very often faced with frost. The beautiful colors borne by this species and hybrids is anywhere from pink, yellow, red, purple and apricot. A very colourful hybrid group developed by Dr. Preissel in the Herrenhaeuser Gaerten/Hannover/Germany are the Flava-hybrids. Within this hybrid group the flowering habits of B. arborea (which is nearly continous over the summer periode) and the scent are combined with the colour coming B. sanguinea.

Dr. Preissel described in an article he published in 2004 in the German garden magazine 'Gartenpraxis' that hybrids derived from crosses like (B. arborea x B. sanguinea) x B. sanguinea and (B. arborea x B.sanguinea) x B. arborea gave the most stunning results. Later ones very often have a descent scent combined with god flowering habits.

Here a link to our most current Sphaerolist

For further questions please join our Sphaerocarpium-Group.

Author: H. Posch

 

 

 

Datura

Datura is a genus of nine species of vespertine flowering plants belonging to the family Solanaceae.  Datura are herbaceous annuals or short-lived perennials, and do not often form woody growth. Most of the species orginate in Latin or South America in drier areas.

The species within the genus Datura are:

  • D. ceratocaula
  • D. dicolor
  • D. ferox
  • D. inoxia
  • D. leichthardtii
  • D. metel
  • D. quericifolia
  • D. stramonium
  • D. wrightii

Like their close relatives from the genus Brugmansia all parts of Daturas are poisonous and contain up to 6 different tropane alkaloids (scopolamine, hyoscamine....). Therefore most of the plants have an ethnobotanic background and are used to relieve rheumatic diseases, motion sickness or asthma. So please be careful in handling the plants!

Some of the species have bad germination rates. A soak with in alcoholic giberellic acid solution (3%) can help to increase germination rates.

Note: Over a long periode of time Brugmansias have been rated as Daturas. Some botanist see in D. ceratocaula the connex between the two plant groups. As result you can find more Daturas if you google or go through the available literature on plants.

An equivalent list with the current names of Daturas will be soon available at the following link: Datura-List

 

Author: H. Posch
Iochroma

Iochroma is a genus of about 24 species of shrubs and small trees within the plant family of Solanaceae. Plants can be found in the light forests of South America. Their natural habitats range from Southern Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Peru,  Bolivia  to Argentina. Hummingbirds are in most cases the natural  pollinators of  the flowers which tubular or trumpet-shaped in form, and from a lear azure blue, purple, red, yellow to greenish-white, followed by pulpy berries containing the tiny seeds. The cupular calyx is inflated in some species. The leaves are alternate, simple, and entire.

An good overview on the available species you can find here: Iochroma-List