Lee Moore, age 9,of Dallas, Texas, for the question:

What is Jimson weed?

Jimson weed rates as one of North America s poisonous plants. It is a tall, rangy plant with coarse, ragged leaves. It gives off a rank, unpleasant smell which should tell us to avoid it and keep it away from the cattle. The blossoms are large and shaped like trumpets and they may be white or violet colored. Later, the unfriendly weed bears round, prickly fruit. The name Jimson weed is a shortened form of its older name, which was Jamestown weed. Some people also call it the thorn apple.

Jimson weed is a member of tine potato family. Since it is a poisonous plant, we should learn to recognize it and not fool with it. But expert chemists have found that Jimson weed contains a useful drug called stramonium. Dried Jimson weed leaves were once used to relieve asthma.