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Argyreia nervosa

Hawaiian Baby Woodrose · HBWR · Elephant Creeper

IndomalayanAustralasian

Loi Miao. · CC0

Tropical climbing vine whose seeds contain significant amounts of LSA (ergine), a naturally occurring lysergamide.

ECOLOGY & HABITAT

Grows in tropical and subtropical regions; widely naturalized in Hawaii and parts of Asia.

Distribution

India (native)HawaiiSoutheast AsiaAustralia

INDIGENOUS NAMES

The names this organism has been given by the cultures that have lived alongside it. Each carries an entire relationship — what is sacred is never simply translated.

Vidhara

Sanskrit
"Bearer of wisdom / pacifying mind"

TRADITIONAL USE

Traditional Ayurvedic medicine; seeds used ceremonially in some modern contexts

CULTURAL CONTEXT

The seeds have a long history in Indian medicine. The plant was popularized in the West in the 1960s as a legal LSD alternative.

GALLERY

3 images

REFERENCES

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Hofmann 1963
Traditional Ayurvedic sources

Kin & neighbors

Hardy Western Australian wattle named for the raspberry-jam scent of its freshly cut wood. The bark contains exceptionally high concentrations of N,N-DMT.

Fast-growing tree native to Southeast Asia whose root bark and phyllodes are rich in N,N-DMT and other tryptamines.

Eastern Australian wattle whose phyllode and bark are among the richest known natural sources of N,N-DMT, with a chemical profile that also includes NMT and trace beta-carbolines.

East Asian evergreen shrub whose leaves, processed in dozens of distinct ways, yield green, white, oolong, black, and pu-erh teas — the second most consumed beverage on Earth and the second great gift of caffeine to human culture.

Caffeine

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