Georgia O'Keeffe’s 1932 painting Jimson Weed shows a jimson weed flower.
Jimson weed is a common name for plants in the genus Datura, including Datura stramonium. O'Keeffe enlarged the white trumpet-shaped blossom so dramatically that viewers may initially read it as a lily or another cultivated flower.
The painting is often discussed with O'Keeffe’s broader series of close-up flowers. She rejected the idea that these works were simply coded symbols, explaining that enlarging flowers helped people notice forms they might otherwise overlook.
Jimson weed is also known as thornapple and is poisonous if ingested. That botanical fact is separate from the painting’s subject and does not mean O'Keeffe intended the image as a warning. The title identifies the plant rather than a symbolic message.