Banisteriopsis caapi :: Botany

Banisteriopsis caapiIt was thirty minutes before I felt the rootage sensation, a numbness on the lips, and a warmth in my yield that spread to my chest and shoulders even as a distinct chill moved down my waist and lower limbs...I opened my eyes to a flash of light, a passing headlight on the road, harsh and intrusive. I retreated again and felt myself fade into an uncomfortable physical body, mat on the mat, and tormented by vertigo and a mounting unwellness (Davis 1996). This account describes the beginning feelings and affects of an experience between Wade Davis and yage, a crapulence whose main component is the plant Banisteriopsis caapi. Banisteriopsis caapi is a plant bring in the tropical regions of South America, including the countries of Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and more. It is a liana that grows in the tropical forests of these regions and is often employ in native tribe cultures. Many varied aboriginal tribes of the amazon rainforests use beverages prepared from t his plant under numerous different name calling ayahuasca, caapi, yage, yaje, natem, datem, pinde, dapa, and more. It has been used in unlike tribe cultures for years and still has a place in todays societies and religions.Banisteriopsis of the Malpighiaceae, is a genus of around one hundred species of plants in tropical America. Three of these are known for their hallucinogenic affects in ayahuasca. These terce plants are B. inebriens, B. caapi (Schultes 1970) and B. quitensis (Schultes 1995). The best known of these ternary species and the main component of ayahuasca is B. caapi. When the drink ayahuasca is made, it is often supplemented with other plants that provide hallucinogenic properties to the drink. There are many species of plants, stretching across genera, that are added. Some of the plants included in these various admixtures are Diplopterys cabrerana, Psychotria viridis, and Psychotria carthaginensis. There are also members of the family Solanaceae that are common ly used, Nicotiana species, Brugmansia species, and Brunfelsia species (Schultes and von Reis 1995). These plants bring different chemical constituents to the drink.The chemical components of Banisteriopsis caapi that cause the hallucinogenic effect are beta-carboline alkaloids found in the bark. More than nine alkaloids have been isolated in B. caapi. The three main active constituents, and most well known from this plant, are harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine. early(a) beta-carboline alkoloids include harmine-N-oxide, harmic acid methylester, harmalinic acid, harmic amide, and more (Kawanishi et al 1982).