Along parts of I-5 when I was driving home on Friday were Datura plants blooming along the pavement. They get more runoff water there - when there is water - but they live in very dry conditions and are found throughout the great Southwest. The pavement you see in this picture is a frontage road that parallels the highway which is on the right beyond the fence.
Datura inoxia has a number of common names, including jimsonweed, angel's-trumpet, thorn-apple, Indian-apple, moonflower, sacred datura, prickly-burr and toloache (via Wikipedia and the USDA PLANTS database)
When the flowers die back the prickly seed pods develop, inside are four compartments that contain the seeds. The Native Indians used the seeds in their rituals and, of course, they were very popular with the Hippie culture of the 70s. One must be careful to treat the plant with respect because all parts of the plant are toxic along with the smoke and if ingested it can kill. I don't know how it is smoked and doesn't kill everyone, but some do die from the smoke.
You may recognize the similarity with Brugmansias, commonly called Angels Trumpet, the garden shrub with the hanging trumpet shaped blossoms that is blooming now in our gardens. The plants are both members of the solanaceae family (also known as the nightshade or potato family), as are mandrake, deadly nightshade (belladonna), capsicum (paprika, chili pepper), potato, tobacco, tomato, eggplant and petunia.
Every plant was alive with bees which, as you can see, burrow deep into the flowers and then come up to walk around on the stamens - they collect pollen on their hairy bodies and carry it between plants to pollinate them.
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