Skip to main content

Osteophloeum platyspermum andVirola duckei (myristicaceae): newly reported as hallucinogens from Amazonian Ecuador

Osteophloeum platyspermum y Virola duckei (Myristicaceae): Alucinógenicos Nuevamente Recordado de Amazonia Ecuatoriana

Economic Botany volume 48, pages 152–158 (1994)Cite this article

Abstract

Quijos Quichua collaborators identifiedOsteophloeum platyspermum andVirola duckei (Myristicaceae) as sources of a psychoactive sap. This is the first reported hallucinogenic use of Myristicaceae from Ecuador. Species in Malpighiaceae and Solanaceae are more common sources of hallucinogens, but older Quichua still employ these myristicaceous species.Virola is used widely as a hallucinogen in other parts of Amazonia but there are no previous reports on the psychoactive use ofO. platyspermum. Field tests for the presence of alkaloids using Dragendorffs reagent were positive for both species. Like the Bora and Witoto in Peru, the Quijos Quichua consume myristicaceous hallucinogens orally. Most other indigenous peoples prepare psychoactive snuffs from the bark and sap.

Zusammenfassung

Quijos Quichua colaboradores identificaronOsteophloeum platyspermum yVirola duckei (Myristicaceae) como fuentes de una savia psicoáctivo. Éste es el primer reporte de uso alucinógenico de Myristicaceae en Ecuador. Especies de Malpighiaceae y Solanaceae son fuentes más comúnes de alucinógenos, pero los viejos Quichua todavía emplean especies de Myristicaceae. Virola es usado frecuentemente como un alucinógeno en otras panes de Amazonía pero no hay ningunos informes anteriores sobre el uso psicoáctivo deO. platyspermum. Pruebas de campo para la presencia de alcaloides empleando el reactivo Dragendorff eran positivas para ambos especies. Como el Bora y Witoto en Perú, los Quijos Quichua consumen alucinógenos de Myristicaceous oralmente. La mayoría de otras gentes indígenas preparan rapés psicoáctivo desde la corteza y savia.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Literature Cited

  • Alarcón, R. 1988. Etnobotánica de los Quichuas de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana. Miscelánea Antropologica Ecuatoriana Serie Monografica 7. Museos del Banco Central del Ecuador, Guayaquil, Ecuador.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benítez, L. and A. Garcés. 1988. Culturas Ecuatorianas: Ayer y hoy. Ediciones Abya-yala, Quito, Ecuador.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, B. C. 1992. Hallucinogenic plants of the Shuar and related indigenous groups in Amazonian Ecuador and Peru. Brittonia 44:483–493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, B. C., M. A. Baker, and P. Gomez Andrade. n.d. Ethnobotany of the Untsuri Shuar. Advances in Economic Botany.

  • Buol, S. W., F. D. Hole, and R. J. McCracken. 1980. Soil genesis and classification. The Iowa State University Press. Ames, IA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, E. W., and J. A. Yost. 1983. The ethnobotany of the Waorani of eastern Ecuador. Botanical Museum Leaflets 29:159–217.

    Google Scholar 

  • González Artieda, A., F. Maldonado Paredes, and L. Mejia Vallejo. 1986. Mapa general de suelos del Ecuador. Sociedad Ecuatoriano de la Ciencias del Suelo. Quito, Ecuador.

  • Lescure, J. P., H. Balslev, and R. Alarcon. 1987. Plantas utiles de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana. ORSTOM, PUCE and INCRAE, Quito, Ecuador.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, W. H., and M. P. F. Elvin-Lewis. 1977. Medical botany: plants affecting man’s health. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luna, L. E. 1986. Vegetalismo: shamanism among the mestizo population of the Peruvian Amazon. Almquist & Wiksell International, Stockholm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maries, R. J. 1988. The ethnopharmacology of the lowland Quichua of eastern Ecuador. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago.

  • Martin, E. W., E. F. Cook, E. E. Leuallen, A. Osol, L. F. Tice, and C. T. van Meter, eds. 1961. Remington’s practice of pharmacy, 12th ed. Mack Publishing Company, Easton, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKenna, D. J., G. H. N. Towers, and F. Abbott. 1984. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors in South American hallucinogenic plants: tryptamine and beta-carboline constituents of ayahuasca. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 10:195–223.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mori, S. A., B. M. Boom, A. M. de Carvalho, and T. S. dos Santos. 1983. Southern Bahian moist forests. Botanical Review 49:155–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neill, D., and W. Palacios. 1989. Arboles de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana. Directión Nacional Forestal, Quito, Ecuador.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orr, C., and B. Wrisely. 1965. Vocabulario Quichua del Oriente del Ecuador. Instituto Linguístico de Verano, Quito, Ecuador.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinkley, H.V. 1973. The ethnoecology of the Kofán. Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prance, G. T. 1972. Ethnobotanical notes from Amazonian Brazil. Economic Botany 26:221–237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultes, R. E. 1969. De plantas toxicariis e mundo novo tropicale commentationes XVII:Virola as an orally administered hallucinogen. Botanical Museum Leaflets 22:229–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • —,T. Swain, and T. C. Plowman. 1977. De plantas toxicariis e mundo novo tropicale commentationes XVII:Virola as an oral hallucinogen among the Boras of Peru. Botanical Museum Leaflets 25: 259–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • —,and R. F. Raffauf. 1990. The healing forest: medicinal and toxic plants of the Northwest Amazonia. Dioscorides Press, Portland, OR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vickers, W. T., and T. Plowman. 1984. Useful plants of the Siona and Secoya Indians of Eastern Ecuador. Fieldiana, Bot. n.s. 15:1–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitten, N. E., Jr. 1976. Sacha Runa: ethnicity and adaptation of Ecuadorian jungle Quichua. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Science, Florida International University, 33199, Miami, FL

    B. C. Bennett

  2. Institute of Economic Botany, The New York Botanical Garden, 10458, Bronx, New York

    B. C. Bennett

  3. Ecociencia: Fundación Ecuatoriana de Estudios Ecológicos, Quito, Ecuador

    Rocío Alarcón

Authors
  1. B. C. Bennett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rocío Alarcón
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bennett, B.C., Alarcón, R. Osteophloeum platyspermum andVirola duckei (myristicaceae): newly reported as hallucinogens from Amazonian Ecuador. Econ Bot 48, 152–158 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02908205

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02908205

Key Words

  • psychoactive
  • hallucinogen
  • Virola
  • Osteophloeum
  • Ecuador
  • Quijos Quichua