EVERETT
Desfontainia spinosa
The New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture; rSB317.58
DESFONTAINIA (desfont-ainia): One of the handsomest of temperate South American flowering shrubs. the only cultivated Desfontainia is one of possibly five species of the Andes of Chile and Peru. It belongs in the logania family, Loganiaceae. Its name, often spelled Desfontainea, commemorates the French botanist Rene Louiche Desfontaines, who died in 1833. Hardy only in mild climates, such as that of California, Desfontainia spinosa when out of bloom looks much like an evergreen English holly (Ilex aquifolium), but is immediately distinguishable because its leaves are opposite instead of alternate. The shrub is bushy and attains a maximum height of about 10 feet, but is often smaller. It has pale, glossy branches and broad-elliptic to ovate, lustrous, spiny leaves 1 inch to 2 1/2 inches long. The flowers, which come in summer and fall, are quite astonishing on such a holly-like plant. They are in terminal clusters and because of their shape and striking colors have a decided fire-cracker or decorative candy appearance. They are tubular-funnel-shaped, about 1 1/2 inches long, bright crimson-scarlet, and tipped with five small yellow corolla lobes (petals). Each has a five-lobed, green calyx with its margins fringed with hairs. There are five stamens. The fruits are egg-shaped, many-seeded berries. GARDEN AND LANDSCAPE USES: This choice evergreen is admirable for displaying prominently in shrub borders, foundation plantings, and other landscape settings, and as an individual specimen. When well placed and thriving it is a splendid addition to almost any garden. For its best satisfaction it needs a little broken shade as protection from the hottest sun, and deep, moderately fertile, encouraging soil, never excessively dry. CULTIVATION: Desfontainias can be raised from cuttings, about 3 inches long, taken in summer and rooted under mist or in a greenhouse propagating bed, but the best results are had from seeds sown in sandy peaty soil kept moderately moist. The seedlings should be shaded lightly from strong sun. Established specimens are grateful for an organic mulch maintained around them and for watering thoroughly and regularly during dry weather. They need no pruning, except the occasional shortening of an unruly shoot to keep them shapely, and any cutting necessary to limit their size. Spring is the season to attend to this.
FUCHS, ANDREW
Coca chewing and high-altitude stress: Possible effects of coca alkaloids on erythropoiesis.
Current Anthropology; 1978 Jun Vol 19(2) 277-291
Contends that there is a relationship between the use of coca by Andean Indians and high-altitude hypoxia stress. Where there are exceptions to a strict altitude/coca-chewing correspondence, an explanation which also emphasizes polycythemic stress rather than either cold or hypoxia alone is indicated. It is proposed that the antimuscarinic ingredients in the coca leaf act upon critical areas of the posterior hypothalamus to depress erythropoiesis. By so doing they are antagonists to the hypoxia which stimulates excessive red blood cell production. A strength of this explanation is that some of the symptoms of chronic polycythemia are identical to those conditions which chewers seek to alleviate by their use of coca (fatigue and pain). Further support is derived from the existence of data which indicate that when nutrition and disease are taken into account as influencing factors, coca chewers present lower red blood cell levels than matched controls. More research regarding the effect of long-term coca chewing on erythropoiesis is needed. Review comments and a reply by the author are included.
SCHULTES, RICHARD EVANS; HOFMANN A
Ayahuasca, Caapi, Yaje
Plants of The Gods: Origins of hallucinogenic use. (1979) p 66
COMMON NAME: Ayahuasca, Caapi, Yaje'. BOTANICAL NAME: Banisteriopsis caapi, B. inebrians, B. rusbyana. USAGE HISTORY AND ETHNOGRAPHY: Used in the western half of the Amazon Valley and by isolated tribes on the Pacific Slopes of the Colombian and Ecuadorian Andes. USAGE CONTEXT AND PURPOSE: Usually drunk in religious ceremonies. In the famous Tukanoan Yurupari ceremony in Colombia - an adolescent initiation for boys. The Jivaro believe that Ayahuasca makes possible communication with ancestors and that, under its influence, a man's soul may leave the body and wander free. PREPARATION: The bark, prepared in cold or boiling water, may be taken alone or with additives - especially the leaves of B. rusbyana and of Psychotria viridis - which alter the effects. The bark can also be chewed. Recent evidence from the northwestern Amazon suggests that the plants are also used in the form of snuff. CHEMICAL COMPONENTS AND EFFECTS: The hallucinogenic activity is primarily due to harmine, the major beta-carboline alkaloid in the plants. Effects of taking the bitter and nauseating drink range from pleasant intoxication with no hangover to violent reactions with sickening after-effects. Usually, visual hallucinations in color occur. The intoxication ends with a deep sleep and dreams.
SCHULTES, RICHARD EVANS; HOFMANN A
Banisteriopsis
Plants of The Gods: Origins of hallucinogenic use. (1979) p 35
BANISTERIOPSIS C.B. Robinson et Small., B. caapi (Spruce exGriseb.) Morton., Malphigiaceae. Tropical zones of N-S America, West Indies. These giant forest lianas are the basis of an important hallucinogenic drink ceremonially consumed in the western half of the Amazon Valley and by isolated tribes on the Pacific slopes of the Colombian and Ecuadorian Andes. The bark of Banisteriopsis caapi and B. inebrians, prepared in cold water or after long boiling, may be taken alone, but various plant additives - especially the leaves of B. rusbyana, known as Oco-Yaje, and of Psychotria viridis - are often used to alter the effects of the hallucinogenic drink. Both species are lianas with smooth, brown bark and dark green, chartaceous, ovate-lanceolate leaves up to about 7 inches (18 cm) in length, 2-3 inches (5-8 cm) wide. The inflorescence is many-flowered. The small flowers are pink or rose-colored. The fruit is a samara with wings about 1 3/8 inch (3.5 cm) long. Bansiteriopsis inebrians differs from B. caapi mainly in its thicker ovate, more attenuate leaves and in the shape of the samara wings.
SCHULTES,RE
De Plantis Toxicariis E Mundo Novo Tropicale Commentationes.xv.desfontainia:a New Andean Hallucinogen.
Bot Mus Leafl Harv Univ 25 3: 99- (1977) English
SCHULTES; HOFMANN
Seeds of the Hekula Spirit.
Plants of the Gods. p 116
PHOTO:Boa Vista, Rio Branco. Open grasslands or 'campos' of the northern Amazon of Brazil 'Colombian Andes, east across the 'llanos' or plains to the upper Orinoco. Parts of southernmost Venezuela, northernmost Brazil. 'Anandenanthera peregrina occurs naturally and sometimes apparently cultivated in the plains or grassland areas of the Orinoco basin of Colombia and Venezuela, in light forests in southern British Guiana, and in the Rio Branco area of the northern Amazonia of Brazil. It may also occur in isolated savanna areas in the Rio Madiera region.
WEIL, ANDREW T
Observations on consciousness alteration: Why coca leaf should be available as a recreational drug.
Journal of Psychedelic Drugs; 1977 Jan-Mar Vol 9(1) 75-78
Advocates legalization of coca leaf. Coca leaf contains many ingredients other than cocaine, and if masticated, produces a mild stimulant effect. In the Amazon-Andes region, where coca chewing is customary, there is no evidence of developing tolerance, withdrawal syndrome, or any physical deterioration caused by coca. Prohibition of coca in the US resulted in abuse of cocaine, particularly among the affluent section of society. By making coca leaf available, cocaine abuse will diminish, and coca will be accepted as a recreational substance like coffee.