Erowid Salvia divinorum Vault : Timeline

Get the Erowid "Words" T-shirt

Contribute $50 and show support for accurate drug information!

Salvia

Timeline

by Erowid

Unknown		Salvia divinorum may have a long history of use in divination and healing ceremonies in Central America, but how far back its history goes is unknown. [Details] By the time S. divinorum was first described by ethnobotany in 1938, its cultivation appears to have been well established in parts of Mexico. The first published report of S. divinorum describes a cultivated plant grown in gardens for ceremonial/entheogenic use. There is also speculation that S. divinorum is a cultigen, meaning that it is a domesticated strain that does not grow wild. Both of these suggest its use by humans may be considerably older than the twentieth century, but there is no strong evidence. R. Gordon Wasson's hypothesis that S. divinorum was ritually used by the Aztecs also supports a theory of antiquity. However, even Wasson himself was tentative about his hypothesis, and his identification of S. divinorum as the pipiltzintzinli of the Aztecs is far from certain.
1938		Jean B. Johnson reports learning of a Mazatec tea made from the beaten leaves of a "hierba Maria", and used for divination. 1
1945		Blas Pablo Reko reports a "magic plant" called “hoja de adivinación” (leaf of prophecy), used by Cuicatecs and Mazatecs to produce visions. It was probably S. divinorum. 1
1952		Roberto Weitlaner reports a "yerba de María" in Oaxaca. It is said to be used by curanderos (shamans or healers). 2
1957		Mexican botanist A. Gómez Pompa collects specimens of a hallucinogenic Salvia plant he describes as "xka [sic] Pastora". His specimens cannot be identified at the species level. 3
1960		R. Gordon Wasson collects samples of S. divinorum, but they are inadequate for botanical identification. 4 [Details] He observes that the plant is cultivated throughout Mazateca, where it is called "hojas de la Pastora”, or “hojas de María Pastora” (leaves of the Shepherdess or leaves of Mary the Shepherdess).
Jul 12, 1961		Wasson ingests S. divinorum, and experiences effects. 4
Jun 1962		Sterling Bunnel brings the first live S. divinorum plants to the United States from Huautla de Jiménez. Cuttings from this sample are widely-propagated and are commonly available to this day. 5 [Details] For decades the strain he introduced to the United States has been misidentified as the "Wasson and Hofmann Strain", based on the erroneous belief that it was propagated from samples these two gave to Carl Epling for identification. The record was corrected by Daniel Siebert in 2003.
Oct 9, 1962		Wasson and Anita Hofmann, wife of Albert Hofmann, ingest juice of S. divinorum in a ceremony conducted by curandera Consuelo Garcia. Two days later Albert Hofmann also tried the leaves. 6
Dec 1962		Wasson and Hofmann collect flowering samples for identification. Carl Epling and colleagues identify it as a novel species and give it the name "Salvia divinorum". 7
1963		Wasson tentatively proposes S. divinorum as a candidate for the unidentified Aztec plant sacrament "pipiltzintzinli". If correct, this widely-contested hypothesis would imply a long history of cultivation and use. 8
1963		Dr. Shulgin begins evaluating the oral use of Salvia Divinorum leaves. At doses ranging from 5-15 mg little to no effects were felt. Just over a year later in 1964 he would try what he referred to as "Salvose" and described as a "glassy extract". Once again no effects were perceived. Salvia Divinorum does not appear in the lab books again after this. 9 [More Info]
1975		Ott and Diaz contemporaneously observe persons smoking dried S. divinorum leaves in Mexico City. There is no known report of S. divinorum being smoked prior to this time, and it appears to be a novel use of the plant. 10
1982		Ortega et al. publish a paper describing their isolation of a novel compound from S. divinorum, which they call salvinorin. 11
1984		Valdes et al. identify two S. divinorum derivatives which they call divinorin A and B. Divinorin A is found to be identical to the Ortega's salvinorin, so the compounds are re-named salvinorin A and B. 12
1994		Siebert sponsors investigation into several possible mechanisms of action for salvinorin A, but finds no evidence that it interacts with any of a few dozen common neurotransmitters and peptides. Several possibilities are eliminated, but its mechanisms of action remain unknown. 13
Late 1990s		Salvia becomes available commercially online and its public visibility dramatically increases.
Dec 11-13, 1998		1st Annual Ska Pastora, Leaves of the Shepherdess: Salvia Divinorum and Salvinorin-A [Details] Held at Breitenbush Hot Springs and produced by the Botanical Preservation Corps. Speakers included Bret Blosser, Storm Jecker, Robert Montgomery, Jonathan Ott, Ann Shulgin, Sasha Shulgin, and Daniel Siebert.
Dec 9-12, 1999		2nd Annual Ska Pastora, Leaves of the Shepherdess: Salvia Divinorum and Salvinorin-A [Details] Held at Breitenbush Hot Springs, produced by the Botanical Preservation Corps. Speakers included Bret Blosser, Kat Harrison, Ralph Metzner, Rob Montgomery, Jonathan Ott, Dale Pendell, and Daniel Siebert.
2002		Roth et al. report that salvinorin A is a highly-selective kappa-opioid agonist, solving the long mystery of its site of action. 14 [Details] Most of the classical hallucinogens (mescaline, LSD, DMT, etc.) are serotonergic agonists. Salvinorin A is therefore both chemically and pharmacologically distinctive.
Aug 2005		Louisiana becomes the first state in the US to ban human consumption of S. divinorum. Several other states follow suit. [More Info]

References

Valdes LJ III, Diaz JL, Paul AG. "Ethnopharmacology of ska Maria Pastora (Salvia divinorum, Epling and Jativa-M.)". J Ethnopharmacol. May 1983;7(3):287-312.
Weitlaner RJ. "Curaciones Mazatecas". Anales del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (México). 1952;4:279-285.
Pompa AG. "Salvia divinorum herbarium sheets". A Gómez Pompa 87556 and 93216, National Herbarium (UNAM) México, D.F.
Wasson RG. "A New Mexican Psychotropic Drug from the Mint Family". Harvard University Botanical Museum Leaflets. Dec 28, 1962;20(3).
Siebert DJ. "The history of the first Salvia divinorum plants cultivated outside of Mexico". The Entheogen Review. 2003;7(4).
Wasson RG. "A New Mexican Psychotropic Drug from the Mint Family". Harvard University Botanical Museum Leaflets, 1962.
Epiling C, Jativa-M CD. "A New Species of Salvia from Mexico". Harvard Botanical Museum Leaflets. Dec 28, 1962;20(3).
Wasson RG. "Notes on the present status of ololiuhqui and the other hallucinogens of Mexico". Harvard Botanical Museum Leaflets. 1963;20(6):161-193.
Shulgin AT. Pharmacology Notes I. Page 63 and 96.
Ott J. Pharmacotheon, The Natural Products Co. 1993.
Ortega A, Blount JF, Marchand PS. "Salvinorin, a new trans-neoclerodane diterpene from Salvia divinorum (Labiatae)". J Chem Soc Perkin Trans. 1982;2505-8.
Valdes JL III, Butler WM, Hatfield GM, et al. "Divinorin A, a Psychotropic Terpenoid, and Divinorin B from the Hallucinogenic Mexican Mint, Salvia divinorum". Journal of Organic Chemistry. 1984;49:4716.
Siebert DJ. "Salvia divinorum and salvinorin A: new pharmacologic findings". J Ethnopharmacol. Jun 1994;43(1):53-6.
Roth BL, Baner K, Westkaemper R, et al. "Salvinorin A: a potent naturally occurring nonnitrogenous kappa opioid selective agonist". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Sep 3 2002;99(18):11934-9.