textfiles/drugs/botanica.txt

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The following listing comes from information gathered through the
Haight-Ashbury Journal of Psychedelic Drugs (later titled H-A J. of Psycho-
active Drugs) and some personal interviews. Notes on the drug experiences
follow the listing.
* WARNING * WARNING * WARNING *
Publication of this list is intended for education, and ingestion of
many, if not all, of the plants described is not recommended. Things that
should concern anyone who might consider such an action should include: toxi-
city levels of the plant in question, research on long- and short-term side-
effects, the type of experience encountered in use of the drug, purity of the
plant (eg, most morning-glory seeds are sprayed with pesticides, mainly at the
request of the gov't to discourage personal use), to _start_ with.
A listing marked by a ? indicates that the plant may have either a psy-
chedelic effect _or_ narcotic, and that there is insufficient evidence to de-
termine which class it belongs to (the plant listings were obtained largely
from the examination of their mood-altering use in other cultures, which tends
to fall into either narcotic or entheogenic action). I haven't had time to
track the legal status of these plants, but most are undoubtedly legal, al-
though a few aren't, and some of the regulations are really screwy (One can own
a San Pedro Cactus, but there's a law against its ingestion, I believe).
Those that I do know are illegal, are marked with an asterisk. There
may be some spelling errors, the info is somewhat dated, and some plants are
known under several names (I list the others with aka). The use of a quote
mark indicates repitition of genus or specie above (or, parenthetically, repe-
tition of the genus or specie outside the parentheses), dependent on position
in the Genus and specie listing. Finally, I substitute the word "entheogen"
and "entheogenic" for "psychedelic". The latter has poor connotations, as
while as being etymologically incorrect. "Entheogenic" connotes transcendence,
release of the "God within" or of the "human potential", take your pick.
sp. = species
var. = variety
Plant Family Genus and species
------------ -----------------
Acanthaceae Justicia Pectoralis var. stenophylla
Aizoaceae Mesembryanthemum expansum?
" tortuosum?
Apocynaceae Alstonia venenata?
Araceae Acora calama (-us)?
Ariocarpus retusus?
Homalomena sp.
Cactaceae Anhalonium lewinii (and williamsii, more popu-
larly known as Lophophora williamsii, Peyote)*
Ariocarpus fissuratus
Coryphantha compacta
" macromeris
" palmerii
Echinocereus salm-dyckianus?
" troglochidiatus?
Epithelantha micromeris
Lophophora diffusa
Mammilaria craigii
" grahamii var. oliviae
" senilis
Campanulaceae Lobelia tupa?
Compositae Calea zacatechichi
Convolvulacea Ipomoeae vioacea
(Morning Glory, known under the following names
Heavenly Blues, Pearly Gates,
Wedding Bells, Blue Star and Summer Skies)
Coriariaceae Coriaria thymifolia
Desfontainaceae Desfontainia spinosa
Ericaceae Gaultheria?
Euphorbiaceae Alchornea floribunda
Elaeophorbia drupiferia
Gomortegaceae Gomortega keule?
Labatiae Coleus blumei?
" pumila?
Lagochilus inebrians?
Leguminosae Anadenanthera colubrina var. Cebil
" peregrina (aka Piptadenia ")
Aragullus besey?
Caesulpinia sepiaria
Canavalia maritima?
Cytisus canariensis
Erythrina coralloides?
" flabelliformis?
Mimosa hostilis
" verrucosa?
Mucuna pruriens?
Piptadenia macrocarpa (aka var. of Anad. col.?)
Sophora secundiflora (I know I've heard it be-
fore, I don't remember where... *?)
Lythyroceae Heimia salicifolia?
Malpighiaceae Banisteriopsis caapi
" cabrerana
" inebrians
" rusbyana
Mascagnia glandulifera
" psilophulla var. antifebrilis?
Moraceae Cannabis sativa*
Cannabis ondica*
Olmedioperbea sclerophylla
Helicostylis pedunculata
" fomentosa
Myristicaceae Myristica fragrans?
Iryanthera macrophylla
Solanaceae Atropa belladonna
(* WARNING! *) Brugmansia x insignis
(Many plants of the) " versicolor
(Solanaceae family) Brunfelsia chiricaspi
(in general, and the) " grandiflora
(Datura genus in) Cestrum laevigatum
(particular, are) Datura aurea
(potentially dan-) " candida
(gerous, and should) " ceratocaula
(be handled with) " discolor
(care and treated) " dolichocarpa
(with respect) " inoxia (aka, " meteloides)
" kymatocarpa
" metel
" pruinosa?
" quercifolia?
" reburra
" sanguinea
" stramonium
" suaveolens
" vulcanicola
" wrightii
Hyoscyamus niger
Iochroma fuchsioides
Juanulloa ochracea?
Latua pubiflora
Mandragora officinarum (-is)
Markea fornicarum
Methysticodendron amesianum
Nicotiana rustica
Zingiberaceae Kaempferia galanga?
NOTES
-----------
Junkies In Silicon Valley?
GQ did an article (sorry, issue not to hand) about Silicon Valley and
use of entheogens. One of the wiser things mentioned in the article is the use
of a "co-pilot" to help guide the trip. The idea was the use of entheogens to
release creativity, not for joyriding on the sensations (well... maybe a lit-
tle, grin). But it's stupid to have such an experience alone, as it not only
wastes a potentially valuable state of mind, but also subjects the hardware to
possible termination. If one wishes to have an entheogenic experience, set and
setting, guidance are all important. I would particularly recommend reading
Masters' and Houston's book, _The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience_ among
others. "Co-piloting"'s been around for a while, you ought to be able to dig
up quite a bit of material on it. Experience helps, but the primary requisite
is the ability to engage in storytelling, and to be as non-threatening as poss-
ible.
Mind Your Mind
The Gestalt Assassins seem intent on outlawing (they'd call it "main-
streaming") experience, both natural and unnatural, except, of course, for Pop
Kultur. Psycho-fusion is outlawed, and the mediocracy rules. Its bad enough
to try legislating morality, but their actions, such as the restriction on the
use of stevia extract as a natural sweetener, and the continued prohibition of
pot, peyote and the like, take it a step further... they're outlawing Nature.
Think about it.
...Of the Jungle
Included is a file, called just plain _Jungle_. It's a catalog of the
more exotic plants, prices, etc. offered through this store. The store parti-
cipates in botanical projects and efforts to save the rainforest. Good people.
Miscellaneous
Myristica fragrans comes from nutmeg, it has been used by students,
prisoners, poor people, and some just generally curious people. The level
at which effects occur, however, is sufficiently toxic to give one pounding
headaches, hyper-rhythmia, a general toxic response in the body (aches, etc.)
and has a delay time of about five hours. Further, depending on individual
body chemistry, these effects may be heightened or near non-existent (rare) and
the "psychedelic" experience may, or may not occur, and with variations in in-
tensity. Not at all recommended. I hope this will give you some respect for
the plants.
The Banisteriopsis genus is used in mixtures used for divinations, &c.
by various Indian tribes of Brasil. You may have, at one time or another,
heard references to yage or yaje (pronounced ya-HAY), cohoba, or ayahuasca.
This is it. Banisteriopsis caapi (the one mainly used) contains a family of
alkaloids called harmalines (once, curiously enough, thought to be a substance,
telepathine, as the visions did seem to be psychically-linked, in prophecy,
clairvoyance, etc.). And Di-Methyl Tryptamine (DMT aka "The businessman's
trip", a psychic three-martini meltdown) is suspected as well, though I am not
sure if it is in caapi per se, and not rusbyana. The stuff is usually ingested
as a snuff, because the tryptamine family cannot be absorbed into the blood-
stream through the stomach and passes through quite harmlessly. Alternately,
there are brews of the stuff containing other plants that seem to act as
carriers for the tryptamines. But because the preparation of plants and number
of materials used is quite complicated, it can be difficult to ascertain the
separate actions of the plant materials. To top that, mixes change from one
region to another. Make of it what you will.
Coleus I have tried myself. It's a mint, but had a particularly odious
taste (to me), and requires a good number of leaves, fresh, as the active che-
mical loses its potency as the plant dries out. It's also a common house-plant
with spade shaped leaves and a bright patch of fluorescent color emanating out
from the leaf's center (I've mainly seen blue and pink). My experience was
a "night-time" trip -- visual distortions were largely kept to unilluminated
space. Some time distortion, but not much overall effect on the functioning
of the brain. No real amplification of emotional feedback or other effects
you get with the more notorious entheogens.
-= NEW ROMANCER =- Cestrum laev