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Accession Data:

Brugmansia versicolor Lagerh.

  • Common Name: Angel's Trumpet
  • Family: Solanaceae Juss.

  • Country of Origin: Guayaquil Basin (Ecuador)
  • Habitat: Frequently cultivated at low elevations throughout tropics

  • Description: [syn. Datura mollis Saff.]

    Small graceful tree, 8-15 feet; leaves oblong-elliptic, entire, glabrous to soft pubescent; flowers very large 12-20 inches long, pendulous, calyx spathe-like, rarely persistent on fruit; corolla typically white, turning apricot-peach with age, tube constricted well beyond the calyx, teeth long, flaring and recurnved; fruit fusiform, 6-12 inches long. There are no herbarium collections of any species of this genus made from confirmed wild plants. No botanist specialising in this genus has ever reported seeing wild plants of any species. (Verbal) Reports by non-specialist botanists of the occurrence of ‘wild’ plants are either misidentifications (usually of Datura), or misinterpretation of remnants or localised escapes from cultivation, usually along creeks and occurring by vegetative propagation from stem fragments. In all such instances investigated in Ecuador and Colombia, the plants are of the anthropogenic hybrid Brugmansia x candida (Hay et al. 2012: 172-177). It is quite clear that such instances do not represent self-sustaining sexually reproducing populations.3

    The complete lack of evidence of fruit dispersal or spontaneous seedlings, combined with the presence of large numbers of fruits containing viable seed, suggests their dispersers are extinct. Hence, all the species should best be regarded as extinct in the wild.3

  • USDA Zone: 9a-11

Accession Data:

  • Accession # 198500486
  • Source: Unknown
  • Accession Date: 12-31-1985
  • Bench: 1319 - NEOA: South Bench W
    • Currently: active - healthy
    • Qty: 3 confirmed on 02-26-2025
  • Restrictions:
    • Poisonous Plant Parts - Not for Human Consumption
      Tropane alkaloids. These plants may cause serious illness or death. If ingested, immediately call the Poison Control Center.
    • IUCN Red List: Endangered Species - Extinct in the Wild

Classification:

  • Division: Magnoliophyta
  • Class: Magnoliopsida
  • SubClass: euasterid I
  • Order: Solanales
  • SubOrder:
  • Family: Solanaceae
  • SubFamily: Solanoideae
  • Tribe: Datureae
  • SubTribe:

Flowering Data:

This accession has been observed in bloom on:
YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003

References (internal):

  • EEB 3271 - Systematic Botany
  • EEB 3203 - Developmental Plant Morphology
  • IUCN Redlist Extinct in the Wild
  • EEB Greenhouse Holdings native to: Ecuador

References (external):

  1. Hortus Third, LH Bailey Hortorium, 1976
  2. The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. Last accessed on Thursday, December 15, 2016.
  3. Brugmansia versicolor at IUCN Redlist. Last accessed on Thursday, December 15, 2016.
  4. Poisonous Plants at University of California. Last accessed on Wednesday, July 05, 2017.

data regenerated on Wed, 26 Feb 2025 13:24:03 -0500 [bcm v4.0]

Images:

No default accession image assigned

Additional images for this accession:

Click on thumbnails to enlarge

Current Accessions in the Solanaceae

Subfamily Browallioideae
Tribe Cestreae

  • Cestrum nocturnum

Subfamily Nicotianoideae

  • Nicotiana alata
  • Nicotiana glauca

Subfamily Petunioideae

  • Brunfelsia undulata W/C

Subfamily Solanoideae

  • Mandragora officinarum
  • Solandra longiflora
  • Solandra maxima

Subfamily Solanoideae
Tribe Capsiceae

  • Capsicum chinense
  • Lycianthes asarifolia

Subfamily Solanoideae
Tribe Datureae

  • Brugmansia pittieri W/C
  • Brugmansia suaveolens
  • Brugmansia versicolor

Subfamily Solanoideae
Tribe Hyoscyameae

  • Atropa belladonna

Subfamily Solanoideae
Tribe Juanulloeae

  • Juanulloa aurantiaca

Subfamily Solanoideae
Tribe Lycieae

  • Lycium barbarum
  • Lycium carolinianum

Subfamily Solanoideae
Tribe Physaleae

  • Iochrominae: Iochroma cyaneum Royal Blue
  • Iochrominae: Iochroma fuchsioides
  • Withaninae: Withania riebeckii W/C
  • Withaninae: Withania somnifera

Subfamily Solanoideae
Tribe Solaneae

  • Jaltomata quipuscoae
  • Solanum conocarpum
  • Solanum conocarpum
  • Solanum ensifolium
  • Solanum ensifolium W/C
  • Solanum seaforthianum
  • Solanum wendlandii
W/C = Wild Collected
= indicates flowering in past 14 days
= images available for this accession
= map available for this accession
= accession added within past 90 days
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