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The Other Psychoactive Salvias |
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Written by (edot)
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Friday, 21 December 2001 |
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Page 3 of 3
Other reports came in from other forums and newsgroups regarding the effects of S. greggii, S. lyrata, S. farinacea and S. guaranitica, all of them positive.
Many of the Salvias on this list have not yet been tested, to my knowledge, and while so far no one of those tested has come close to the effects of S. divinorum, all tested have been found to be worthy of further study.
One more note: A compound known as forskholin extract, isolated from Coleus barbatus (=Coleus forskholii) also in the class of neo-clerodane diterpenoids and having a chemical structure similar to that of Salvinorin A was also tested in the above series of experiments and was found to be similar to smoking the flowers of S. splendens which are considered to be somewhat stronger than the leaves but otherwise alike in effects. The feeling of “clarity” was more noticable, also.
There is a report of use of a 5X extract of S. splendens leaf which states; “Too much of a good thing can definitely put you to sleep. I only lasted about an hour, but the effects were distinctly stronger, more like cannabis, and like it, too much will put you right to sleep. It was more than before, but still nothing like the world shattering of S.D. I had a similar experience with the flowers a week ago. They seemed stronger than the leaf and put me to sleep”.
There are approximately 900 different species of Salvia. Only a very few of them have been tested and of those the great majority has been found active.
The above list only represents a small fraction of the Salvia family; those from the Americas which have been chemically analyzed. For the most part these remain to be bio-assayed. There may be another Salvia divinorum out there still. The success so far can only be looked at as encouraging.
I have seen reports on various newsgroups and forums mentioning skullcap and other members of the mint family, such as the basils, as having psychoactive activity. This is another promising direction for experimentation, one which I hope to explore more fully as soon as possible.
In closing, let me state that it appears the mint family-which has more medicinal plants in it than any other plant family-has great potential for new and unusual entheogens yet to be discovered and the availability is such that anyone can be a pioneer in this field. Let me also state that I do not advise anyone to attempt to duplicate or expand upon these experiments unless they are a qualified researcher. To blindly go into the garden or anywhere for that matter and just break off and chew or smoke leaves from plants without first knowing the chemistry of that plant adequately enough is asking for a trip to the hospital or worse.
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