Mexican woody climber of the nightshade family with very large pale-yellow trumpet flowers. Contains the classic tropane alkaloids scopolamine and hyoscyamine at substantial concentration. Held sacred by the Huichol people, who call it kieli or kieri and treat it as a powerful, dangerous spirit.
Lithophytic or epiphytic on rocky slopes and trees of the Sierra Madre Occidental in western Mexico.
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.
- kieliWixárika (Huichol)
- hueipatliNahuatl"great medicine"
- Huichol ceremonial and folk-religious use (kieri / kieli) — surrounded by warning narratives
- Folk medicinal: very small quantities for rheumatism and pain
The Huichol relationship to kieri is complex — it is at once a sacred plant-being and a dangerous trickster, treated with deep ambivalence and protected by elaborate ritual restriction. Like all tropane-rich plants, accidental overdose can be fatal; the line between insight and toxicity is thin.
- Knab 1977
- Schultes 1992
