Modern botanical authorities recognise Mexico as the native range of Datura stramonium. From there, human movement carried the species far beyond its original home and it is now naturalised throughout many temperate and subtropical regions of the world.
Carl Linnaeus formally published Datura stramonium in Species Plantarum in 1753, establishing the scientific name still accepted today. Over subsequent centuries, the plant became so widespread that its geographical origins were debated, but modern taxonomic evidence places its native range in Mexico.
Australia became part of that dispersal story very early. Historical records place Common Thornapple in Sydney in the early nineteenth century and growing in Adelaide by 1839, where it was likely introduced accidentally amongst agricultural seed.
It subsequently became established in disturbed ground, cultivated areas, roadsides and other open habitats across parts of Australia. Today, Jimsonweed stands as a striking example of a Mexican annual that travelled with human activity, entered formal botanical literature and became naturalised across much of the world.
