Indole Alkaloids in Amazonian Myristicaceae: Field And Laboratory Research

Abstract

Indians of the Amazon-especially of the northwest Amazon -and of adjacent parts of the Orinoco have employed various species of the myristicaceous genus Virola for many years as the bases of hallucinogenic preparations.A resin-like liquid of the inner bark of the trees is elaborated into an intoxicating snuff and is prepared in pellets for oral consumption; it is even on occasion ingested raw without any preparation.Although undoubtedly a custom of great age, discovery of the use of Virola as an important hallucinogen is recent.In the early part of this century, the German anthropologist Theodor Koch-Griinberg reported that the Yekwana Indians of the Orinoco of Venezuela were utilizing an intoxicating snuff prepared from the "bark of a tree."He wrote that, when the bark was "pounded up, it is boiled in a small earthenware pot, until all the water has evaporated and a sediment remains at the bottom of the pot.This sediment is toasted in the pot over a slight fire and is then And Laboratory Research.