AGURELL,S: HOLMSTEDT,B: LINDGREN,JE: SCHULTES,RE
Alkaloids in Certain Species of Virola and Other South American Plants of Ethnopharmacologic Interest.
Acta Chem Scand 23:903-916 (1969)
KAWANISHI,K: UHARA,Y: HASHIMOTO,Y:
Alkaloids from the Hallucinogenic Plant Virola Sebifera.
Phytochemistry 246:1373-1375 (1985)
LAI,A: TIN-WA,M: MIKA,ES: PERSINOS,GJ: FARNSWORTH,NR
Phytochemical Investigation of Virola Peruviana, A New Hallucinogenic Plant.
J Pharm Sci 62:1561-1563 (1973)
LAI,A: TIN-WA,M: MIKA,ES: PERSINOS,GJ: FARNSWORTH,NR
Virola Peruviana, A New Hallucinogenic Plant: Phytochemical Investigation.
Lloydia 36:437-438 (1973)
PLOTKIN MJ; SCHULTES RE
Virola: a promising genus for ethnopharmacological investigation.
J Psychoactive Drugs. 1990 Jul Sep; 22(3): 357-61
Data are now available on the antifungal use of Virola from four countries and some 14 different tribes of Indians in these countries who employ the Virola exudate for the same or similar purposes. Three of the five methods of ethnobotanical investigation proposed by Schultes and Swain in 1976 have been employed in this ethnobotanical research. Furthermore, both of the present authors have successfully employed this antifungal treatment themselves. Given that deep fungal infections of the skin are often considered incurable with medications currently in use, further laboratory analysis of Virola resin should be undertaken as soon as possible.
PLOTKIN,MJ: SCHULTES,RE:
Virola: A Promising Genus For Ethnopharmacological Investigation.
J Psychoactive Drugs 22 3: 357-361 (1990) English
SCHULTES R E; HOFMANN A
Epena, Nyakwana, Yakee
Plants of the Gods: Origins of hallucinogenic use; p 68
COMMON NAMES: Epena, Nyakwana, Yakee. BOTANICAL NAME: Virola calophylla, V. elongata, V. theiodora. USAGE HISTORY AND ETHNOGRAPY: In Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Peru a number of species of Virola are used, the most important of which appears to be V. theiodora. The hallucinogenic snuff has vairious names depending on the locality or tribe, with the most commonly recognized terms being Parica, Epena, and Nyakwana in Brazil, Yakee and Yato in Colombia. USAGE CONTEXT AND PURPOSE: Epena or Nyakwana may be snuffed cermonially by all adult males, occasionally even without any ritual connection. The medicine men use the drug in diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. The use of Yakee or Parica is restricted to shamans. PREPARATION: Some Indians scrape the inner layer of the bark and dry the shavings over a fire. When pulverizedm powdered leaves of Justicia, the ashes of Amasita, the bark of Elizabetha princeps, my be added. Other Indians fell the tree, collect the resin, boil it to a paste, sun-dry the paste, crush and sift it. Ashes of several barks and the leaf powder of Justicia may be added. A further method is to knead the inner shavings of freshly stripped bark and to squeeze out resin and boil it to a paste which is sun-dried and prepared into snuff with ashes added. A group of very primitive Maku Indians in the Colombian Vaupes ingest the unprepared resin as it is collected form the bark. CHEMICAL COMPONENTS AND EFFECTS: Tryptamine and beta-carboline alkaloids, 5-methoxy-dimethyltryptamine and dimethyltryptamine, being the main constituents, are repsonsible for the hallucinogenic activity. Effects of the intoxication vary. They usually include intial excitability, setting in within several minutes from the first stuffing. Then follows numbness of the limbs, twitching of the facial muscles, inability to coordinate muscular activity, nausea, visual hallucinations, and finally, a deep, undisturbed sleep.
SCHULTES, RICHARD E; SWAIN, TONY
De plantis toxicariis e Mundo Novo tropicale commentationes XIII: Further notes on Virola as an orally administered hallucinogen.
Journal of Psychedelic Drugs; 1976 Oct-Dec Vol 8(4) 317-324
Describes a method of preparing a hallucinogenic resin from the cambial sap of trees of the genus Virola , as practiced by Indian tribes of the Colombia-Peru region. Pellets of the resin are ingested immediately or coated with an ash filtrate and stored.
SCHULTES; HOFMANN
The Chemistry of Epena
Plants of the Gods; pg 170
THE CHEMISTRY OF EPENA: The chemical analysis of various Virola snuffs revealed about a half-dozen closely related indole alkaloids belonging to the simple, open-chained or closed-ring tryptamine derivatives with a tetrahydro-beta-carboline system. The main constituents of these snuffs are 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine and N,N-dimethyltryptamine. 6-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, monomethyltryptamine, and 2-methyl- and 1,2-dimethyl-6-methoxy-tetrahydro-beta-carbolene usually occur only in trace amounts. The alkaloid mixtures are almost identical to those isolated from the Anadenanthera snuffs.
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