Ayahuasca: alkaloids, plants & analogs
Section 3 : Part 2 :
Some of the Mimosa species
As Jinjani; its pounded seeds are boiled in buffalo milk and used as a puerperal blood purifier in Jaiselmer and Jodhpur, India: Shekhawat & Anand 1984.
Mehta et al. 1988 isolated 4-Ethylgallic acid from the fresh flowers. [Ethyl gallate and Gallic acid had earlier been reported from the leaves by Hussian et al. 1979. Leaf extract was shown to possess significant antimicrobial and fungistatic activities by Mukadam 1978 and Umalkar et al. 1977.]
Mimosa ophthalmocentra Mart. ex Benth.1875. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 30(3): 415.
Said by Barneby to be called by the common name of Jurema preta (oddly only as an aside; under the entry for M. verrucosa rather than within the ophthalmocentra entry itself.)
Batista et al. 1999 made the claim that it is used for preparing jurema in northeast Brazil. In their analysis they isolated and identified 0.0012% N-Methyltryptamine, 1.6% Dimethyltryptamine & 0.0065% Hordenine from its roots.
Batista & Almeida 1997 had also noted that it was called Jurema Preta and that the species is widespread in northeastern Brazil. They further commented that it was used in "mystico-religious ceremonies" and employed in folk medicine as an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory agent.
& Almeida 1997 isolated DMT, MMT & Hordenine from the stem bark but gave no percentages; only details of a toxicological evaluation involving the alkaloids they isolated.
As Amor dormido, Sleeping love, Vergonsosa; flower infusion is used as sedative for insomnia and "nerves". Duke & Vasquez M. 1994, page 117.
Three light bands were observed, during TLC, in the twigs and leaves; also in pods and twigs. SUSPECTED identities DMT, MMT and 5-MeO-DMT. (TLC assay by J. Appleseed; March 1995 using known reference standards for DMT and 5-MeO-DMT with Xanthydrol to visualize) Commercial plant material courtesy of JLF.
Widely used in folk medicine.
A very few examples:
- As Chhuimui, leaves used for increased sexual potency in men in Kurukshetra District (Haryana), India: Lal & Yadav 1983.
- As Lajjavanti; its leaves and roots are used for gravel and other kidney diseases, also for piles and fistula in the Sagar District, Madhya Pradesh, India. The roots are also used in an oral snakebite remedy: Bhalla et al. 1982.
- As Lazaoni, root decoction is gargled for gum trouble and toothache by Rahba in West Bengal: Molla & Roy 1985.
- As Punyo-sisa; leaves are used in pillows to induce sleep in children and the elderly in Ecuador: Schultes 1983. [Ed. ? Correct identification? Schultes noted the presence of white flowers. Contrast with the normally encountered pink flowers frosted with gold.]
- As Sensitive plant; Pulverized dry leaf given for insomnia. The Chami claim strong doses may cause madness: Duke & Vasquez M. 1994, page 117.]
[Mimosine, a toxic non-protein amino acid, is well known to be present in the foliage; See Bell 1981.]
DMT is widely rumored to be in the roots.
Assays of second year plants showed small amounts of alkaloids both co-chromatographing with reference samples of DMT and 5-MeO-DMT as well as showing identical chromophores (purple and blue respectively) when sprayed with Xanthydrol.
Traces of what appeared to be 5-MeO-DMT were also seen in seedlings.
Alkaloid concentrations appeared low but present in both roots and aerial parts.
All tlc was by Appleseed (Unpublished research).
Roots and leaves are widely used in Indian folk medicine for treating piles, bruises and burns. 4-Ethylgallic acid was isolated from the fresh flowers by Mehta et al. 1988.
= Mimosa bracaatinga = Mimosa bracaatinga var. aspericarpa = Mimosa secunda
AKA bracaatinga, abaracaatinga, paracaatinga)]
DMT has been reported at <0.036% in the stem bark; co-occurring with Tryptamine, N-Methyltryptamine and 2-Methyl-THbC, by De Moraes et al. 1990.
It might be noted that this implies that a dosage of this plant (in an ayahuasca analog) would be around 4 and a half ounces (or so) of the dried stem bark.
Tropical Brazilian tree, widely cultivated for charcoal, firewood and wood pulp, found by Gnostic Gardens to be hardy in the north of England.
Roots appear unexamined and in serious need of analysis. It is possible they are potent.
Called by the common name of Jurema preta. (Many sources.)
Frequently listed as containing DMT but as far as I can determine this is based entirely on its purported application. It appears to need a published analysis.
Called Jurema branca, (or Jurema blanca) Said by Da Mota to be used for vinho de Jurema, but to have sedative not hallucinogenic effects.
Jurema, Jurema branca, Jurema negra (variable; according to tribe) Silveira Barbosa 1998
Silveira Barbosa found that jurema's traditional and ritual use had been `reconstructed' after having been destroyed or nearly destroyed.
She encountered two groups of people (Truka & Atikum) practicing the ritualized ceremonial use of what Silveira Barbosa described as an apparently inactive jurema brew prepared from the roots of Mimosa verrucosa This was used in connection with traditional jurema songs and trance.
Despite the literature on jurema clearly indicating it should have oral activity on its own, she mistakenly but quite serendipidously assumed that an MAOI was formerly employed and this knowledge lost.
When these jurema using people were introduced to use of the MAO inhibiting Peganum harmala seeds to orally activate their jurema, it was found to be fully active strongly supporting the belief that DMT is present in the roots. From her account, it appeared that her efforts enabled these people to experienced active jurema for the first time and she found them most grateful for the knowledge.
Why this species would be nonhallucinogenic without an MAOI, and would be active with one, and why Mimosa hostilis appears to be active even without one; and what role cooking, or not cooking, might play in its oral activity, remains a tantalizing mystery that is begging for some professional pharmacological investigations.
Ott steadily hints at providing some answers in a new book that will not be published in the English language.