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Kampala Tree and Palm Directory

Tree Species

Common Name

Tree Description

Tree Uses

English: Moon flower, Angels trumpet, Angels tears Luganda: Maduudu.

Leaves

Flowers

Bark

Whole tree

Fruits

+ Tree Species

Datura suaveolens (D. Candida)

+ Tree Family

Solanaceae

+ Ecology

A small tree from the mountains of Chile and Peru, widely cultivated in the tropics and subtropics, including Uganda, for its beauty, over 1,000 m. In Kampala, Moon flower tree can be found within Bataka zone in Makerere precinct among other places.

+ Description

A shrub or small tree 2-5 m, stems often crooked, succulent when young becoming woody; dense drooping foliage.

BARK:

LEAVES: oval, mid-green, 15-30 cm long, softly hairy below, edge wavy, tip pointed, base often unequal-sided.

FLOWERS: attractive showy white trumpets to 30 cm long, hanging down all over the shrub, funnel shaped at the mouth with an overpowering muskysweet scent in the evening. Green calyx, 5-lobed to 12 cm, is enlarged and persistent.

FRUIT: a capsule, smooth, oblong about 1 cm with numerous seeds (rarely seen).

+ Uses

Agroforestry: bee forage, soil conservation, live fence, boundary marking.

An ornamental tree.

+ Propagation

Cuttings, layering, rarely seeds.

+ Management

Cuttings take easily and the plant spreads quickly and requires control by pruning. It forms an impenetrable hedge if properly looked after. Fast growing in high-rainfall areas.

+ Remarks

Datura hybridizes easily so there are many varieties, some double, others with cream or pinkish flowers. All parts of the plant are poisonous and have a narcotic effect especially the seeds and leaves. (In Mexico cooked leaves are used as a medicinal poultice and leaves and flowers are smoked to relieve asthma).