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The Plant Kingdom and Hallucinogens (part III) An Ethnobotanical Perspective on Ayahuasca.


Web link: ipv6.catbull.com/alamut/Bi...

Pages: 25 - 31

Abstract

One of the weirdest of the hallucinogens is the drink of the western Amazon known as ayahuasca, caapi, natema or yagé. Although not nearly so popularly known as peyote or, nowadays, as the sacred mushrooms, this narcotic has nonetheless had an undue share of sensational articles that have played fancifully with unfounded claims, especially with regard to its "telepathic" powers. Notwithstanding its extraordinarily bizarre psychotomimetic effects, this narcotic preparation was hidden from European eyes until just a little over a century ago. The earliest report of ayahuasca appears to have been that of Villavicencio in his geography of Ecuador, written in 1858.