Question:
I know that Brugmansia
has toxic and intoxicating properties. I heard a story about a railway carriage in Europe that was filled with Brugmansia
flowers. When the doors to the carriage were closed, the fragrance of the blooms caused the passengers to lose consciousness, and their valuables were stolen. Plausible, or urban legend?
Brugmansia, like the related solanaceous plant
Datura, contains tropane alkaloids throughout the plant, including the seeds and flowers. One of these alkaloids is scopolamine. There are many tales of “Devil’s Breath,” a processed form of scopolamine (as powder), or scopolamine-rich seeds being used by criminals in various parts of the world to drug their victims into unconsciousness. There is an article in
The Guardian (September 2, 2015) which suggests it’s unlikely that this substance would have been used to “zombify” travelers in Europe. There are, however, travel security
warnings from the U.S. State Department about its use by criminals in Ecuador and Colombia.
A scientific article, “Volatile compounds emitted from flowers and leaves of
Brugmansia X
candida (Solanaceae)” (G.C. Kite and C. Leon, in
Phytochemistry, 1995) states that volatile tropane alkaloids could not be detected in the fragrance of either flowers or leaves; the main volatile organic compounds emitted by the flowers are terpenoids, benzenoids, and indole. Those compounds can cause headaches but it seems unlikely they would act like a sedative.
The book
Plant Intoxicants by Baron Ernst von Bibra (Healing Arts Press,1995) describes use of
Datura seeds by criminals in India to knock out their victims. There are many traditional medicinal uses of
Brugmansia among the Indigenous tribes of Colombia, but the hallucinogenic effects are especially frightening. One tribe describes the pleasant scent of the flowers but warns that the plant is inhabited by an evil spirit and all who sit at the foot of the tree “will forget everything.” (Source:
Plants of the Gods, Richard Evans Schultes, Healing Arts Press, 2001). However, I cannot find any confirmation for your colorful story of a train carriage full of drugged passengers among the
Brugmansia flowers.
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