Datura metel is a poisonous plant, but some people plant it around their compounds. Why?
Datura metel is a sacred plant in India. Moreover in Asia and Africa some people use the seeds and leaves of this plant for smoking in ritual actions. I think it is not snake repellent.
You may be interested in this paper, which addresses your question: Jagtap SD, Deokule SS and Bhosle SV 2006 Some unique ethnomedicinal uses of plants used by the Korku tribe of Amravati district of Maharashtra, India. J. Ethnopharmacol. 107:463-469
While the provided paper provided some interesting information I could not find any reference to the use of Datura as a repellant. It has been shown that Datura stramonium (which contains scopolamine and other tropanes as do all Datura) acts as an insect repellant as well as showing large amounts of alleopathic potential. This is believed to be due to tropanes and possibly other phytochemicals.
If Datura does repel snakes I might suspect it would be due to aromatic chemicals. Many Datura plants are described as smelling "rank", as snakes utilise their tongue to sense the local environment it might be that the smell (due to aromatic compounds) interferes with the snakes smell/taste therefore leading the snake to avoid the area
In some African countries such as Tanzania, Sierra Leone extract made from the roots of Datura metel is sprinkled in houses to repel snakes.
http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Datura+metel
https://www.prota4u.org/database/protav8.asp?&g=pe&p=Datura+metel+L.
ethnobotanical studies suggest use of Datura as snake repellent as well as antidote to snake bite but what makes it so is not known clearly.
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