(Anadenanthera Colubrina)
Introduction :
The seeds of Anadenanthera colubrina have been used for at least 4500 years in South America and appears to have been very important in the Tiahuanaco culture5. Etnographic artefacts, archeological sites and early writings have also indicated that aside from tabacco snuff (one of the main curatives) the ancient Indians employed another strongly intoxicating snuff called villca (or Huilca) in southern Peru and Bolivia and Cébil in Northern Argentina1,4. Although several plants have been frequently called villca1, it is likely that the psychoactive snuffs were prepared from Anadenanthera species.
Polo de Ondegardo, in 1571, stated that the witch doctors of the Incas intoxicated themselves to forsee the future by adding villca juice to chicha (an alcoholic beverage that was valued as a curative) or by administrating it in a different manner1,5. Around the same time (at the time of the Spanish arrival), a different report mentioned that the Comechingon Indians ". . . took something called sébil through the nose. . . , and the Huarpe Indians chewed a substance cibil for endurance."
Effects
Psychedelic, purgative: Lucid thoughts, visual hallucinations, alterations of space and time perception, emotional disturbances, nausea, extreme lassitude1,5.
Autonomic effects: nausea, retching, flushing of the face and a rise of body temperature.
Duration :
When villca is snuffed the effects start almost immediately and last 20-30 minutes; ayahuasca analoques (combinations with MAO-inhibitors) start within an hour after ingestion and last 4-6 hours; when smoked, the effects last 1-2 hours.
Dosage and preparation :
When snuffed, the seeds should be roasted and be made into a very fine powder. This powder can be snuffed or can be blown into the nasal cavity (using a V-shaped tube of which one end is put in the mouth and the other end into the nostril).1 One should realize that some experience and skill are required to inspire powders3.
Anadenanthera colubrina seeds can be used as an additive Chicha, but they may also be used as an ayahuasca-analoque, by combining them with banisteriopsis stems or 3 grams of peganum harmala seed.
One gram of powder is a good starting dose for a snuff; 0.15-1.0 g when smoked and from 1.0 g when taken as an ayahuasca analoque.
 Figure: A. colubrina seeds
Botanical aspects :
A. colubrina (in older literature Piptadenia colubrina) belongs to Leguminocae; Subcategory Mimosoideae: Euminmoseae. It is native to the South American continent: A. colubrina var. colubrina grows in eastern Brasil and A. colubrina var. Cebil is distributed throughout the South Andrean parts (Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and South-Eastern Brazil).1,5,8
A. colubrina is a tree that grows 3-18 meters in height, has bipinnate leaves that resemble those of Mimosas (15-30 pairs of pinnae and numerous small leaflets), has yellow-white rond flowers and can easily be cultivated through viable seeds. The seeds are flat, round and are red-brown coloured. This tree is closely related to A. peregrina.
Figure: A. colubrina
Phytochemistry :
Tryptamines in A. colubrina seeds are responsible for the psychoactive effects. Bufotenine (5-OH-dimethyltryptamine) is present in most significant amounts, bufotenine-N-oxide, N,N-DMT, DMT-N-oxide and 5-MeO-NMT are also present. From the total alkaloid content (approximately 1.5 % by weight) 4-12% should be bufotenine.
Tryptamine
Table 1.3: Psychoactive tryptamines in A. colubrina
Trivial names Formal names
Bufotenine 5-hydroxy-dimethyltryptamine
Bufotenine-N-oxide
N,N-DMT N,N-dimethyltryptamine
DMT-N-oxide
5-MeO-NMT 5-Methoxytryptamine
Pharmacology :
Bufotenine is nearly identical with serotonine (serotonine's direct N,N-dimethyl homoloque) and melatonine (melatonine is involved in the biological-clock activity). Due to this structural resemblance, the tryptamines have affinity for various serotonergic 5-HT2-receptors.
Villca's psychedelic effects might be explained by the fact that these substances are partial-agonists on the receptor subtype 5-HT2A; the receptor subtype 5-HT2A is involved in hallucinogenic activity.2, 4, 5 The tryptamines also inhibt esterase. Because the active tryptamines are substrate for monoamine oxidase (MAO) these tryptamines are psychologically inactive when taken orally without a MAO-inhibitor. 2, 3, 5 Peganum harmala and Banisteriopsis caapi are b-carboline containing plants that can be effectively used to inhibit MAO and thereby make the tryptamines orally active. These combinations also intensify and lenghten the effects of the tryptamines.
Modifiers :
- MAO-inhibitors and sympathomimetic amines (amphetamine, ephedrine etc.) have positive synergistic effects; they prolong and intensify the experience.2, 3
- Caffeine in combination with MAOI can cause hyperreactivity and suspiciousness.
- Hashish or marihuana can also alter the experience. Usually produces a positive feeling.
- Tricyclic-antidepressants and a-typical neuroleptica that act as antagonists on the receptor subtype 5-HT2A (risperidon) antagonize the effects.2, 3
- Ascorbic acid (vitamin c) doesn't change the intensity of the experience, but it alters its quality: it increases concentration and decreases paranoid thinking. The user will also be less tired at the end of the experience.
NOT to be combined with MAO-inhibitors
See paragraph 1.5 monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI)
References
1. [Efron/ Holmstedt/ Kline, 1967]
2. [Forth/ Henschler/ Rummel/ Fostermann/ Starke, 2001]
3. [Hoffer/ Osmond, 1967]
4. [Hoffmann/ Schultes, 1973]
5. [Ratsch, 1998]
6. [Shulgin, 1997]
7. [Snyder, 1996]
8. [Stafford, 1974]
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