Sacred datura flowers are night bloomers. They’re usually just barely starting to open by the time the sun goes down, and they begin to close as soon as the sun hits them in the morning.
Sacred datura is hallucinogenic and has been used for centuries by Native Americans for ceremonial purposes. It’s also been abused by those seeking easy and organic highs. One of my friends has this to say about datura:
Eat a little, sleep a little.
Eat a lot, sleep a lot.
Eat more, sleep forever.
Apparently it most often becomes fatal when used recreationally.
Still, it’s not nearly as poisonous or scary as monkshood — brushing against this plant almost certainly wouldn’t be a fatal error. Ingesting any part of it, on the other hand….
Datura blossoms are usually rather substantial; my guess is that many are from 3 to 5 inches in diameter. Their size, and the shadows the sun throws on them as it comes up, make them completely irresistible to me and my camera.