Angel’s Trumpet plant not so angelic

Photo by Lilian Hayball-Clarke
Lecturer in Biology and
Environmental Science
at UCCI

Tuesday, May  3, 2005

The name may aptly describe how this distinctive 12 inch long ivory or yellowish flower looks, but the plant is not altogether angelic. Native in Brazil, but now a common shrub throughout the Caribbean, Angel's Trumpet’s leaves and flowers contain hallucinatory chemicals once used by Indians in South America, but the plant is extremely toxic when ingested.

Nowadays as an attractive flowering shrub it is used extensively for landscaping, but once here on the Cayman Islands, potions from it were once used to relieve asthma, and to counteract neuralgia or headaches. Look for a small shrub or tree with slightly fleshy stems, a pervading scent from the huge tubular trumpet-like flowers, and curious globular fruits.

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