Psychotria viridis

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Psychotria viridis
Hojas de chacruna (Psychotria viridis).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Genus: Psychotria
Species:
P. viridis
Binomial name
Psychotria viridis
Synonyms
  • Palicourea viridis (Ruiz & Pav.) Schult.
  • Psychotria glomerata Kunth
  • Psychotria microdesmia Oerst.
  • Psychotria trispicata Griseb.
  • Uragoga glomerata (Kunth) Kuntze
  • Uragoga microdesmia (Oerst.) Kuntze
  • Uragoga trispicata (Griseb.) Kuntze
  • Uragoga viridis (Ruiz & Pav.) Kuntze [1]

Psychotria viridis, also known as chacruna, chacrona, or chaqruy in the Quechua languages, is a perennial, shrubby flowering plant in the coffee family Rubiaceae. It is a close relative of Psychotria carthagenensis (a.k.a. samiruka or amiruca) of Ecuador. It is commonly used as an ingredient of ayahuasca, a decoction with a long history of its entheogenic (connecting to spirit) use and its status as a "plant teacher" among the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest.

Contents

Description

Vegetative Characteristics Mjournal fig6.gif
Vegetative Characteristics

P. viridis is a perennial shrub that grows to a height of approximately 5 m (16 ft). Its branches span a diameter of about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) [2] [ unreliable source? ]

Stems

In the middle and lower parts of the stem, situated between the insertion points of the two opposite leaves there is a horizontal scar 0.3–1 mm (0.012–0.039 in) wide that extends between the leaves (or leaf scars) and sometimes also connects over the tops of these scars, and along the top side of this scar there is a dense, usually furry line of fine trichomes (i.e., plant hairs) usually 0.5–1 mm (0.020–0.039 in) long that are reddish brown when dried. This combination of features is diagnostic for many species in the genus Psychotria, though not for any individual species. These features distinguish Psychotria L. Subg. Psychotria; other subgenera of Psychotria lack the well developed reddish brown trichomes inserted above the stipule scars. On the upper stems of P. viridis these features are obscured by a stipule (see below), which covers the trichomes; the scar actually marks the point where this structure has fallen off.[ citation needed ]

Stipules

Psychotria viridis Psychotria viridis.gif
Psychotria viridis

Stipules are leafy structures that cover and protect the young developing leaves. They may persist or fall off, leaving scars on the stem. The stipules in P. viridis are produced in pairs and their form is distinctive. They are 5–25 mm (0.20–0.98 in) by 4–12 mm (0.16–0.47 in), elliptic in outline, sharply angled at the apex, papery to membranaceous in texture, ciliate (i.e., fringed) along the upper margins, and longitudinally flanged or winged along the middle.[ citation needed ]

Leaves

Psychotria viridis leaves Psychotria viridis leaves.jpg
Psychotria viridis leaves

Leaves are opposite in arrangement (i.e., produced in pairs along the stems), generally 5–15 cm (2.0–5.9 in) by 2–6 cm (0.79–2.36 in), in outline generally elliptic or often widest above the middle, usually sharply angled at base and apex, papery in texture, overall smooth or infrequently with microscopic plant hairs on the lower surface, have 5–10 pairs of secondary veins, and on the lower surface usually have foveolae (see next item). The leaves are borne on petioles (i.e., leaf stalks) generally 1–10 mm (0.039–0.394 in) long. When dry, the leaves of Psychotria viridis usually are gray or reddish brown and are similar to those of a few other New World species of Psychotria .[ citation needed ]

Foveolae

Psychotria viridis flower. Psychotria viridis Ruiz & Pav.jpg
Psychotria viridis flower.

These are small pockets found on the lower leaf surface near the junction of the secondary (i.e., side) veins with the central vein. They function as shelter for tiny invertebrates such as mites that live on the plant leaf. These mites apparently often are symbiotic with the plant, taking shelter in these structures and eating fungi and herbivorous invertebrates that can damage the leaf. The foveolae (also called domatia) are distinctive for Psychotria viridis and a few related species: They are generally 1.5–5 mm (0.059–0.197 in) long and 0.5–1 mm (0.020–0.039 in) wide at the top, conical and tapered to a closed base, open and truncate or variously ornamented at the top, and situated along the sides of the central vein with the opening usually near a secondary vein . These foveolae vary in shape among different plants, and in number on individual leaves, and may not even be present on some leaves. Most often each leaf bears at least one pair of foveolae, which may be close to the apex; the foveolae are often more numerous on leaves from vegetative stems than on those from reproductive stems. [3] [ unreliable source? ]

The leaves differ from Psychotria carthagenensis in having leaf edges that extend all the way to the base of the leaf stem. [4]

Cultivation

Psychotria viridis is hardy in USDA zone 10 or higher. [5] [ unreliable source? ]

Cultivation from cuttings is easiest. [6] A single leaf (or even part of a leaf slightly covered with soil) can be sufficient for a cutting. [6] Propagation from seed is reliable and easy when freshly harvested seed is used. Older seed which has not been stored properly can have a very low germination rate after 6 months. Even while fresh, because P. viridis has an immature embryo, the germination process can take 2–6 months. . [6] There are approximately 50 seeds/g. [5] [ unreliable source? ]

Indoor hydroponic cultivation of Psychotria viridis requires a light cycle. The plant will not utilize its root system as often in daylight hours. Optimal water garden pH is 5.5 to 6.1. The level of nutrient in the solution should be 300 to 500 parts per million (ppm). Nutrient solution burning can occur at levels as low as 800 ppm.[ citation needed ]

Alkaloids

Dried P. viridis contains approximately 0.3% dimethyltryptamine (DMT). [3] Other alkaloids such as beta-carbolines and N-methyltryptamine (NMT) have been found. The alkaloid content is said to be highest in the morning (approx 6am), although there is another peak at night (approx. 6pm). [6]

Traditional medicine

The Machiguenga people of Peru use juice from the leaves as eye drops to treat migraine headaches. [6]

Hallucinogenic

P. viridis contains the hallucinogenic—or entheogenicindole alkaloid dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in levels varying from 0.1% to 0.61% dried mass. [7] [ unreliable source? ] It is known primarily as an additive to the ayahuasca brew used in South and Central America. The mechanism of action is via the monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) present in Banisteriopsis caapi , which allows ayahuasca to be effective in oral doses (unlike smoking DMT crystals which requires no conditioning partner substance). This use was made legal in Brazil in 1992 when B. caapi, P. viridis, and the ayahuasca tea were exempted from the list of illicit drugs. [8]

Vegetalistas, healers in the Amazon regions of Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, recognize different sub-varieties of Psychotria viridis, based on the location of glands on the back of the leaves. [9]

Hybridisation

P. viridis has been hybridised with the closely related species, Psychotria carthagenensis . In 2008, Darren Williams, an Australian nurseryman and scientist, created the first recorded interspecific hybrid of Psychotria viridis, by crossing P. carthagenensis with P. viridis. This plant was multiplied and sold as Psychotria cv. Nexus by the nursery Herbalistics, located in Australia, which was established in 2003 and run by Mr. Williams. By creating an interspecific hybrid of these two Ayahuasca plants, the climatic tolerance of this important Ayahuasca additive has been expanded due to the greater cold tolerance of P. carthagenensis. Darren Williams has now created over 150 new cultivars by intercrossing P. viridis accessions, backcrossing and sib crossing, resulting in various new genotypes, given the prefix DW, eg. DW07. Leaf shape and size, height, alkaloid content and cold tolerance are examples of new attributes. Psychotria cv. Nexus is now grown in many countries around the world.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayahuasca</span> South American psychoactive brew

Ayahuasca is a South American psychoactive brew, traditionally used by Indigenous cultures and folk healers in the Amazon and Orinoco basins for spiritual ceremonies, divination, and healing a variety of psychosomatic complaints. Originally restricted to areas of Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, in the middle of the 20th century it became widespread in Brazil in the context of the appearance of syncretic religions that use ayahuasca as a sacrament, like Santo Daime, União do Vegetal and Barquinha, which blend elements of Amazonian Shamanism, Christianity, Kardecist Spiritism, and African-Brazilian religions such as Umbanda, Candomblé and Tambor de Mina, later expanding to several countries across all continents, notably the United States and Western Europe, and, more incipiently, in Eastern Europe, South Africa, Australia, and Japan.

<i>N</i>,<i>N</i>-Dimethyltryptamine Chemical compound

N,N-Dimethyltryptamine is a substituted tryptamine that occurs in many plants and animals, including humans, and which is both a derivative and a structural analog of tryptamine. DMT is used as a psychedelic drug and prepared by various cultures for ritual purposes as an entheogen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rubiaceae</span> Family of flowering plants including coffee, madder and bedstraw

Rubiaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules and sympetalous actinomorphic flowers. The family contains about 13,500 species in about 620 genera, which makes it the fourth-largest angiosperm family. Rubiaceae has a cosmopolitan distribution; however, the largest species diversity is concentrated in the tropics and subtropics. Economically important genera include Coffea, the source of coffee; Cinchona, the source of the antimalarial alkaloid quinine; ornamental cultivars ; and historically some dye plants.

<i>Banisteriopsis caapi</i> Species of plant

Banisteriopsis caapi, also known as, caapi, soul vine, or yagé (yage), is a South American liana of the family Malpighiaceae. It is commonly used as an ingredient of ayahuasca, a decoction with a long history of its entheogenic use and its status as a "plant teacher" among the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest.

<i>Anadenanthera peregrina</i> Species of plant

Anadenanthera peregrina, also known as yopo, jopo, cohoba, parica or calcium tree, is a perennial tree of the genus Anadenanthera native to the Caribbean and South America. It grows up to 20 m (66 ft) tall, and has a thorny bark. Its flowers grow in small, pale yellow to white spherical clusters resembling Acacia inflorescences. It is an entheogen which has been used in healing ceremonies and rituals for thousands of years in northern South America and the Caribbean. Although the seeds of the yopo tree were originally gathered from the wild, increased competition between tribes over access to the seeds led to it being intentionally cultivated and transported elsewhere, expanding the plant's distribution through introduction to areas beyond its original native range.

<i>Phalaris arundinacea</i> Species of Plant

Phalaris arundinacea, or reed canary grass, is a tall, perennial bunchgrass that commonly forms extensive single-species stands along the margins of lakes and streams and in wet open areas, with a wide distribution in Europe, Asia, northern Africa and North America. Other common names for the plant include gardener's-garters and ribbon grass in English, alpiste roseau in French, Rohrglanzgras in German, kusa-yoshi in Japanese, caniço-malhado in Portuguese, and hierba cinta and pasto cinto in Spanish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harmala alkaloid</span> Group of chemical compounds

Harmala alkaloids are several alkaloids that act as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). These alkaloids are found in the seeds of Peganum harmala, as well as Banisteriopsis Caapi (Ayahuasca), leaves of tobacco and coffee beans. The alkaloids include harmine, harmaline, harmalol, and their derivatives, which have similar chemical structures, hence the name "harmala alkaloids". These alkaloids are of interest for their use in Amazonian shamanism, where they are derived from other plants. Harmine, once known as telepathine and banisterine, is a naturally occurring beta-carboline alkaloid that is structurally related to harmaline, and also found in the vine Banisteriopsis caapi. Tetrahydroharmine is also found in B. caapi and P. harmala. Dr. Alexander Shulgin has suggested that harmine may be a breakdown product of harmaline. Harmine and harmaline are reversible inhibitors of monoamine oxidase A (RIMAs). They can stimulate the central nervous system by inhibiting the metabolism of monoamine compounds such as serotonin and norepinephrine.

Harmine is a beta-carboline and a harmala alkaloid. It occurs in a number of different plants, most notably the Syrian rue and Banisteriopsis caapi. Harmine reversibly inhibits monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A), an enzyme which breaks down monoamines, making it a Reversible inhibitor of monoamine oxidase A (RIMA). Harmine does not inhibit MAO-B. Harmine is also known as banisterin, banisterine, telopathin, telepathine, leucoharmine and yagin, yageine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harmaline</span> Chemical compound

Harmaline is a fluorescent indole alkaloid from the group of harmala alkaloids and beta-carbolines. It is the partly hydrogenated form of harmine.

<i>Mimosa tenuiflora</i> Species of plant

Mimosa tenuiflora, syn. Mimosa hostilis, also known as jurema preta, calumbi (Brazil), tepezcohuite (México), carbonal, cabrera, jurema, black jurema, and binho de jurema, is a perennial tree or shrub native to the northeastern region of Brazil and found as far north as southern Mexico, and the following countries: El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. It is most often found in lower altitudes, but it can be found as high as 1,000 m (3,300 ft).

The Beneficent Spiritist Center União do Vegetal is a religious society founded on July 22, 1961 in Porto Velho (Rondônia) by José Gabriel da Costa, known as Mestre Gabriel. The UDV seeks to promote peace and to "work for the evolution of the human being in the sense of his or her spiritual development", as is written in its bylaws. The institution today has over 18,000 members, distributed among more than 200 local chapters located in all the states of Brazil, as well as in Peru, Australia, several countries in Europe, and the United States. The translation of União do Vegetal is Union of the Plants referring to the sacrament of the UDV, Hoasca tea, also known as Ayahuasca. This beverage is made by boiling two plants, mariri and chacrona, both of which are native to the Amazon rainforest.

Pharmahuasca is a pharmaceutical version of the entheogenic brew ayahuasca. Traditional ayahuasca is made by brewing the MAOI-containing Banisteriopsis caapi vine with a DMT-containing plant, such as Psychotria viridis. Pharmahuasca refers to a similar combination that uses a pharmaceutical MAOI instead of a plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santo Daime</span> New religious movement

Santo Daime is a syncretic religion founded in the 1930s in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Acre by Raimundo Irineu Serra, known as Mestre Irineu. Santo Daime incorporates elements of several religious or spiritual traditions including Folk Catholicism, Kardecist Spiritism, African animism and indigenous South American shamanism, including vegetalismo.

<i>Diplopterys cabrerana</i> Species of plant

Diplopterys cabrerana is a shrub native to the Amazon Basin, spanning the countries of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In the Quechua languages it is called chaliponga or chagropanga; in parts of Ecuador it is known as chacruna—a name otherwise reserved for Psychotria viridis.

<i>Psychotria carthagenensis</i> Species of plant

Psychotria carthagenensis, also known as amyruca, is a South American rainforest understory shrub from the coffee family, Rubiaceae. It grows from the tropics of South America to Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indole alkaloid</span> Class of alkaloids

Indole alkaloids are a class of alkaloids containing a structural moiety of indole; many indole alkaloids also include isoprene groups and are thus called terpene indole or secologanin tryptamine alkaloids. Containing more than 4100 known different compounds, it is one of the largest classes of alkaloids. Many of them possess significant physiological activity and some of them are used in medicine. The amino acid tryptophan is the biochemical precursor of indole alkaloids.

Drosera peruensis is a carnivorous plant of the genus Drosera, commonly known as the Peruvian sundew. This Drosera species was first identified in Peru in 2002 by Tânia Regina dos Santos Silva and Mireya D. Correa following work to update the genus Drosera for the reference text, Flora Neotropica..

Callaeum antifebrile is a South American jungle vine of the family Malpighiaceae which occurs predominantly throughout the Upper Amazon basin, and less frequently along the Lower Amazon. Occasionally a component in ayahuasca decoctions, it is used as a folk medicine in some parts of Brazil, often as an antifebrile (anti-fever) remedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Changa (drug)</span> DMT-infused smoking blend

Changa is a blend of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) mixed with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). The addition of MAOIs extends the DMT experience in duration and intensity when compared with smoking DMT freebase alone. Typically, extracts from DMT-containing plants are combined with a blend of different MAOI-containing herbs, such as the ayahuasca vine, and/or leaf or harmala alkaloids from Peganum harmala to create a mix that is 25 to 50% DMT.

References

  1. "Catalogue of Life : 2008 Annual Checklist : Psychotria viridis Ruiz & Pav". www.catalogueoflife.org. Archived from the original on 2008-04-03. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  2. "Psychotria viridis" . Retrieved 2008-05-04.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. 1 2 Psychotria Viridis – My Ayahuasca Experience
  4. "Psychotria viridis Information". www.kadasgarden.com. Archived from the original on 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2017-04-07.
  5. 1 2 "Psychotria viridis in Profile". www.b-and-t-world-seeds.com. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Rätsch, Christian (1998). Enzyklopädie der psychoaktiven Pflanzen. Botanik, Ethnopharmakologie und Anwendungen. AT-Verlag. p. 15. ISBN   978-3-85502-570-1.
  7. Amazing Nature Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Legal Status of Ayahuasca in Brazil". Erowid.org. March 2001. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  9. "growing P. viridis" . Retrieved May 6, 2020.