argia.eus
INPRIMATU
Burundanga of asthmatic herb
Jakoba Errekondo 2019ko uztailaren 19a

In the pile of manure and waste there is usually a guest in summer, although not always: estrammonium or estrammonium, Datura stramonum. Some have also received the names of “carbonero” or “higuzoro” for this plant. It is a striking, upright plant, with a glowing foliage, large white flowers and prickly nuts. Flamenco botanist and physician Rembert Doens (1517-1585) said it was pomum spinosum for the fruit. Later, in Spanish, in Spanish, in Portuguese and in Galician it is called a spinning pomo, in French tête de hérisson or hérisson, in Catalan castanyer and castanyes, in English thornapple and in German Dornapfel. It was long talked about whether it was brought or arrived from the Caspian Sea or America. Apparently, he came from Mexico in the 16th century. In Guarani they call Yua here: the thorn “yu”, the fruit organism “a” or being organic, do “ha” and sleep “que”, that is, the dormed extractor plant with spiny fruit.

It's a very toxic plant. In all its parts it has hyosciamine, atropine and scopolamine. The poison depends on the dose, and these substances have been widely used and are used in medicine. But the poison is scary and has been given ugly names of all kinds in the languages of our environment: devil's weed, stench weed, devil's peppers, peak of hell, crazy beak, sorcerer's herb, herb of the dead, butcher's meat, sardine, gypsy apple, poison, etc. It's called the shaman devil, crazy or crazy.

The farmers know it very well and do not want to see it. However, some use it for their own sake, because they know that most other animals don't love it. It is also known in Spanish as eskolobos (repellent wolf), ratonera yerba (mouse herb), matatopos (topo matador). The French call it herbe des taupes. The asthma herb drives away the “bad” animals around us.

Scopolamine stands out among its poisons. It is used in medicine as a tranquilizer, cure of dizziness, etc., but also as a drug, although with significant collateral damage. Among them there is great drowsiness and deep amnesia. It is the main ingredient of the famous burundanga that is suspected of increasing use of sexual rape. Care must be taken with stacks of manure and spoilage.