It sounds like Datura. Did you take a picture? Al

Was it herbaceous, woody, vine? How big were the flowers? You also described bindweed.

Moonflower

Pic would be helpful --> search for Datura on the 'net and see if that is it (I'm guessing Datura based on round seed pods, but OTOH those pods look like Medieval torture devices so not sure if you could even get the seeds out of there with your bare hands)

Oops. I thought I had included the photo. Here it is. I googled Datura, and I think you're right!

Dang, you guys are good - even without a photo. I'm impressed!!

if you have kids.. the link says:

All Datura plants contain tropane alkaloids such as scopolamine, hyoscyamine, and atropine, primarily in their seeds and flowers. Because of the presence of these substances, Datura has been used for centuries in some cultures as a poison and as a hallucinogen.[2][4]

if you are an adult.. enjoy??? .. i guess ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Round seed pods make me think maybe they were moonflower vine, which has round pods and hard black seeds. The flower looks like the datura except it is a vine.

Sandy

Good point, Sandy. Also, if it was the middle of the day, not cloudy, that would lean toward Datura because the moonflowers would be closed. The fact that it wasn't mentioned that the pods were covered in spikes made me think other than Datura but if one is focusing on the flowers, a glance at the pod would just register as "round." If they were hanging down instead of pointing up, could have been Brugmansia. (Same seed pods as Datura.)

If the poster had gathered seeds, the pod would have been painful to handle, I would think she would have mentioned it. If it was a perennial, datura would not be hardy in northern Michigan, I wouldn't think. Nor would brugmansia, unless it was in a pot. Which made me think moonflower.

Sandy

If the poster had gathered seeds, the pod would have been painful to handle, I would think she would have mentioned it. If it was a perennial, datura would not be hardy in northern Michigan, I wouldn't think. Nor would brugmansia, unless it was in a pot. Which made me think moonflower.

Sandy

Very good points, none of these 3 plants are hardy there. If it looked like a perennial display, may have been something else.

ha, Thornapple, aka Jimson Weed - those of us familiar with Carlos Castaneda, back in the 60s and 70s may well have tales of various drug experiments. Having tried datura once, never again. 72 hours of twitchy, half-blind paranoid hallucinatory anxiety. I remember us all rushing to the pub, with terrible thirsts....and being unable to manage more than the tiniest sip. A couple of us were having parties in their heads, one of us was found some 13 miles away, eating a dandelion in a ditch, another was arrested but was having a made -up party in the police cell (passing imaginary joints and chatting with invisible mates). Once the weird twitches and neck jerks passed off, it was fairly eye-opening (I couldn't, in all honesty claim my consciousness was raised or anything) but it was a loooooong trip.
Course, that was all back in the day - wouldn't dream of doing it now (I am so repressed, I would probably rush, nakedly into the street, shouting 'out, demons out' or summat like).

72 hours of twitchy, half-blind paranoid hallucinatory anxiety.

==>> sounds like my teenager.. on a NORMAL day ... lol

well campy.. that story gets the gold star of the day ...

sounds like it sums up that old Grateful Dead mantra: what a long, strange trip its been

all the things you peeps are talking about are annuals in MI ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: Sometimes the lights all shinin on me; Other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.

Hippie druggies not withstanding (haha), moonflower is usually grown as an annual. Datura could be also. Doubt very much if it was brugmansia, tho that could be grown in a greenhouse and brought out in the summer. One point: datura flowers are upright, while brugs hang down. Moonflower is also upright, and opens up in the evening. On a cloudy day, they could be open until nearly noon.

Never tried jimson weed myself. The idea scared hell out of me, pretty toxic. Ha never smoked pot either. I missed that whole hippie free love thing. I was busy raising kids while that was going on.

Sandy