Beyond Phytochemistry

Abstract

The shrub Tabernanthe iboga (Apocynaceae) has great ethnomedical and spiritual importance in Central Africa due to its stimulant and oneirogenic properties, which can be attributed to the presence of ibogan type alkaloids, particularly ibogaine. Several Mexican Tabernaemontana (Apocynaceae) species also produce ibogaine type alkaloids and are used in traditional medicine against dermatological ailments, as well as analgesic and anti-inflammatory agents. However, and in contrast to Tabernanthe iboga , they are not known as entheogenic plants. Certain Tabernamontana species from the Amazon basin lie in between these two extremes, as they contain ibogaine type alkaloids and are occasionally employed as admixtures to the well-known psychoactive brew Ayahuasca whose main ingredients are Banisteriopsis caapi (Malpighiaceae) and at least one N,N-dimethyltryptamine-containing plant. By analogy with Mexican traditional medicine, Amazonian Tabernaemontana species are generally utilised to treat wounds. It is therefore proposed that different regional patterns of ethnobotanical use of chemotaxonomically related plants are best explained by specific biocultural and historical factors, rather than phytochemical aspects. On the other hand, several plants containing ibogaine type alkaloids may simply not be known as entheogens because the respective traditional knowledge has been lost or concealed from outsiders. It is also possible that in some cases, ethnobotanical research efforts have been insufficient or that the plants’ psychoactive properties have never been discovered by the local population. The aim of this literature review was to interpret the ethnobotanical uses of ibogaine type alkaloid-producing species of the American and African continents in consideration of sociocultural, historical, and environmental factors.