DOSE:

oral

Various

(tea)

BODY WEIGHT:

140 lb

Hedgeahuasca – Recollections of an Anomalous Herbal Tea Experience

It seemed like a fairly normal evening cup of herb tea – a couple of 2“ flowering tips of Hedge Bedstraw [Galium album] (OK, a bit weird), about three tips of Sage [Salvia officinalis]– ordinary garden sage plucked straight from the bush- and the petals of two pink roses [Rosa sp.?], the bright magenta ones with the light green glossy foliage sometimes favoured in municipal planting. The herbs were all stuck in a mug with boiling water poured on top.

This was consumed as one might a normal cup of tea. The mug was refilled with a second batch of boiling water, using the same herbs which were kept in the mug all along. This second extraction was duly drunk in the same manner. The intention was merely to have a pleasing cup of herb tea before retiring to bed.

It may be noteworthy that earlier in the afternoon - about 5 hours previously - I had consumed a strong cup of yerba mate'. Whether this had any connection to the curious experience that followed remains to be seen.

I laid down to sleep about a half to one hour after drinking the herb tea. Upon closing my eyes in the darkness I was greeted by colourful sparkling patterns of a mild but nonetheless insistent intensity. They seemed to have more than a hint of floral/herbal theme. Over the course of the next, at a guess, fifteen minutes this unfolded into scenes involving places and people although I do not particularly recall the content beyond that.

This was not normal hypnogogia, as it was definitely keeping me from sleeping. I laid back and enjoyed the pretty pictures for a further two hours before the mild visionary state dissipated and I drifted off to sleep. I awoke the following morning feeling fairly good apart perhaps from needing the extra two hours' sleep that were missed.

On mentioning the experience to my friends that morning, they speculated about the properties of sage and to a lesser extent about the roses. None of us really considered the hedge bedstraw. On reflection there must have been some hidden rationale behind my selection of that particular plant.

It was not until much later in the year that some of the pieces clicked into place. While re-reading a notable relevant textbook I noticed something that I had previously overlooked, or at least completely forgotten about. There in a list of harmine containing plants was Galium aparine, better know as goosegrass, cleavers or sticky willie and a close relative of hedge bedstraw.

This was one of those “aha!” moments. Suddenly the by then largely forgotten experience came flooding back and made a lot more sense. Both these bedstraws are in the family Rubiaceae, along with coffee and the known ayahuasca admixture plants Psychotria viridis (Chacruna) and P. carthaginensis. This is a plant family of proven track record. The Madder [sic!] family counts at least a dozen members with some kind of harmaloid present in addition to a couple with tryptamines. And besides coffee, goosegrass is also said to contain caffeine in small quantities.

The apparent oral activity of hedge bedstraw suggest the presence of beta carbolines and maybe more, notwithstanding the unknown contribution of the sage and the rose petals. Of course, I may draw one or other conclusion from all this – more research needs to be done come the return of the plants in the spring, or this was a little glimpse of the mystery and it shall be gratefully received as such and remain evermore mysterious.

Which would you choose?

Exp Year: 2012	ExpID: 98666
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 39
Published: May 20, 2020	Views: 640
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Salvia officinalis (475), Various (136) : Combinations (3), Alone (16)