Wednesday January 17, 2007
I saw this while working on a series of photos of houses in Morningside. A crazy tree covered with huge flowers that hang straight down. The hedge around the house was blooming, too, with big flytrap-looking flowers.
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You should have plucked a few of those- you can make some pretty awsome tea out of them…
They are Angels Trumpet Flowers and they are very toxic so don’t eat them.
Well which is it — make tea or not!?
You can make the tea, which will cause hallucinations, but you might also die.
It makes perfect sense that the flowers cause (a) hallucinations and then (2) death. But we’re scientists, here, so we need to know, not speculate. Speculation is for chumps.
I say Alesh should pluck the flowers, make some tea, and report the results. What say the rest of you??
My book of Florida flowers says: “You will hear the angel’s trumpet blowing if you eat this flower or its seeds because it is highly poisonous. . . . Smoking Datura [sic] leaves, although a dangerous practice, was an old folk remedy for asthma. The plant has also been abused in various ways as a hallucinogenic drug.”
So if I’m reading this correctly, it’s “make the tea, but keep it sort of weak.”
Yes, in the hood the tea is called “Campanilla”. You can make a glass but only drink half. Sit back and enjoy the visions, but make sure you got a friend around to take you to the hospital to pump your stomach in case you drink too much.
Pack of woosies. That’s no way to treat a hallucinegenic! Half a batch is half assed! People have you no reverence for Nature’s natural highs??
Alesh, march back to that plant, hack off a handful of ripe buds, and bew yourself a bubbling pot of prisoners’ purple passion. Down the whole batch over two happy hours. Enjoy your planetary voyage around your anus and report back upon return.
We don’t hear from you in a day or two we’ll send a rescue St. Bernard for you (your cat’s on her own with the dog).
Weak batch my weak end! What would Timothy Leary say?
There are books one could consult. No need to go blindly into the grave—or the looney bin.
We call it campanilla in Cuba as well. Supposedly the hallucinations are intense.
J-J is a damn fool for advising you make tea from those flowers…they are related to Datura. aka Devil’s Trumpet or Angel’s Trumpet.
The effects of which can be extreme, leading to a complete inability to differentiate reality from fantasy. Many experience accounts can be found at www.erowid.org.
These are dangerous flowers to have around your property if you have curious plant eating children.
I advise J-J to brew up a batch, set up a web camera and allow us to watch him freak his eyes out.
buy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Plants-Gods-Sacred-Healing-Hallucinogenic/dp/0892814063
..yes trumpet flowers, and we have two in our yard. Do not eat, stew, or injest. Look at them, smell, enjoy. Strange you have never seen them before as they are quite common here.
What doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger.
“The effects of which can be extreme, leading to a complete inability to differentiate reality from fantasy.” (comment 12)
See Alesh? In your case, nobody would suspect a thing. Have a blast!
whoa! hey folks i was only kidding about the ‘tea’- I’m not a medical doctor (although I have a PhD in ‘loving’ so, ladies don’t hesitate to contact me)
So, please don’t follow my advise, unles of course you need to call Dr. Love…
But seriously, back in Puerto Rico history tells us that the taino indians used the tree flowers for their shamanic ceremonies- a practice that was discouraged by the good ol’ ‘conquistadores’- those Spanish dudes were really no fun.
Anyway…from what I hear some people still use it (but you need to have the original formula), it’s like a form of peyote-but I would never try it outside of it’s religious shamanic context…in other words the flowers are not a recreational drug…
j-j a.k.a. dr. love
wow, and all this time I was giving money to the local glue dealer at school!
Up until comment 11, I thought we were in the initial stages of planning another blogger gathering. :-)
True story – my friend Shawn drank angel trumpet tea and he said it was the worst trip he’s ever had (and this kid has tripped A-L-O-T). He said he sat in the corner, thinking he was growing to the size of a giant and then shrinking to the size of an ant. Over and over again, all night long.
I also have a friend who has done a lot of hallucinogens and said the trip he got on Angel’s Trumpet was very unpleasant.