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(Hierba de la Pastora)
INTRODUCTION :
Salvia divinorum is a vision inducing mint used only by the Mazatec indians of oaxaca, mexico. The plant, locally known as 'Hierba de la pastora', is valued for its hallucinogenic effects and is used in healing and divinatory rites.
It is often the first of various psychotropic plants employed in the training of future shamans. This very rare plant apparently is a cultigen and seems not to occur wild.
Salvia divinorum does not readily set seed and can only be propagated by cuttings. This species grows into a vine-like bush with branches frequently reaching 5 to 7 feet in height before bending over under their own weight.
EFFECTS :
Oneirogenic: effects of S. divinorum are similar to psilocybin with colourful visual patterns, but milder. It appears that the effects can be more variable and more unnerving then of other psychedelics. It is often experienced that the effects of S. divinorum are very sensitive to sound and light disturbance.
Duration :
The effects appear within half an hour after ingestion of the infusion and last up to 2 hours. When the fresh leaves are chewed the effects appear instantly and may last up to 3 hours. When extracts of the foliage are smoked, the effects last 5-20 minutes.
Dosage and preparation :
The dried (or fresh) leaves can be prepared as a cold water infusion, the leaves can be chewed and smoked. The extremely bitter cold water infusion produces longer, but milder effects then when the leaves are smoked.
Extracts made from the S. divinorum foliage are more effective than smoking the plant material.
Figure: Dried S. divinorum foliage
Botanical aspects :
S. divinorum belongs to Labiatae; Nepetoideae, Tribus Salviieae, subtribus Salviinae, section Dusenostachys. This Salvia species is probably indigenous to Oaxaca, Mexico. Due to its limited geographical distribution S. divinorum is a very rare plant; it apparently is a cultigen and seems not to occur wild.
This evergreen species has fragrant crenated oval leaves (10-30 cm in length), angular stems and purple flowers. It grows into a vine-like bush with branches frequently reaching 1-1.5 mteres in height before bending over under their own weight. In Mexico the plants blossom between October and March, but cultivated plants rarely blossom.
S. divinorum does not readily set seed and can only be propagated by cuttings.
 Figure: S. Divinorum
 Figure: A live specimen
Phytochemistry :
Salvinorin A and B, two clerodane diterpenes, are the major active ingredients of S. divinorum.5, 8 Loliolide has also been isolated from S. Divinorum. The dried foliage of S. divinorum contains ± 0.15-0.44 % salvinorin A per weight.
Pharmacology :
Salvinorin A and B are the first psychotropic diterpenes known and appear to be very potent. In fact, salvinorin A appears to be the most potent psychedelic isolated from any botanical source: it is physiologically active at doses of 200-500mg.7,8 By comparison, the most potent previously known natural psychedelics (5-MeO-DMT, psilocybin) are ten times less potent.
The pharmacological actions of the salvinorin compounds are unknown; salvinorin A and B do not appear to affect any of the receptor sites affected by other drugs (NovaScreen-Methode).6
Since the treshhold dose of these terpenoids is very low, they apparently act very specific on the cental nervous system.
Modifiers :
Little is known about adverse reactions and interactions of the diterpenes with other pharmaca due to lacking of pharmacological data.
References
1. [Efron/ Holmstedt/ Kline, 1967]
2. [Gottlieb]
3. [Hoffmann/ Schultes, 1973]
4. [Hoffmann, 1979]
5. [Ortega, 1982]
6. [Ratsch, 1998]
7. [Turner, 1996]
8. [Valdes, 1984]
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