Around thanksgiving time last year, I was blessed with the opportunity to harvest some trunk bark from a friend's 19 year old Acacia Simplex tree. The total amount of bark harvested weighed ~91 grams several hours after initial harvest, and weighed ~78 grams right before undergoing a typical acid base extraction. A total of 6 pulls were taken from the basified solution, and are currently in the freezer, collecting crystals as I type myself away. Considering the unique nature and rarity of this particularly precious plant, I do not plan on doing another mini-a/b after the freeze-precip from naphtha, nor do I wish to remove any NMT from the final product; I would like this extract to be as close to the actual alkaloid content as possible, and thus do not want to change any characteristics of the initial extract, sans dangerous things such as lye and petrochemicals, which can be easily removed via a quick and simple re-crystallization (if needed). My intent is to create an extract characteristic of the entire alkaloid profile of the tree so that I and others may be able to experience the unique "spirit" of this particularly precious plant. After drying, I will snap some pictures of the extract in crude form and try to guestimate the approximate weight of it all. I also plan to infuse the extract into some caapi leaf. and possibly mint leaf as well (no extra harmalas) for ease of smoalking and transportation. I will update this thread periodically with extraction results and experience reports as my project progresses and I become more experienced with the teachings of this tree. . Any and all who have any advice or fair warning which they would like to share are free to post as they please; comments and criticisms are music to my ears.

environmental/ecological concerns regarding harvesting

(For those concerned about the fate of the tree, let it be known that 'Ethical' concerns were taken into account during harvesting. The bark was harvested around the base and thick, lower trunk regions of the tree, as I presumed this area to have the highest alkaloid concentration and minimal effects on other regions. When cutting, I only went as deep as 1-2cm into the tree and removed the bark by cutting each piece into the shape of a rectangle, which was then pried off by hand. These incisions were far and few between; they were also irregularly spaced around the tree in no particular pattern so as to prevent the possibility of ring-barking. Moist sphagnum moss was applied to the exposed white inner-flesh (Xylem?) after harvesting bark in order to minimize the possibility of future infection, and was later removed when the bark began to grow back. Two months later, the tree is still healthy, wealthy, and wise and will hopefully be ready for another harvest when Thanksgiving time comes around again.)

Selah,
-God

cool.. i'm always interested in people's results with this plant.. i might suggest that if you are interested in recieving the actual alkaloid content, then use a less selective solvent - naptha will mainly pull dmt and nmt whereas other solvents (dcm, limonene, toluene, xylene, chloroform) will pull a much wider range of alkaloids and do a much more sound job of capturing the spirit of the tree

another thing .. its nice to see you are thinking about your impact on the tree, but really you shouldn't need to take bark from the trunk.. phyllodes should be perfectly fine for extraction they will probably just contain a lower % of alkaloids. twigs, stems and branch will all contain the same % of alkaloids as the bark on the trunk and are a much more sustainable option. I and many others will vouch for the activity of phyllodes and twig/stem/branch in acacia species over here in australia and I'm sure it works similarly with acacia elsewhere

i think this is a progressive and advanced approach to trees, Godsmacker..

also thank you for bringing ethical and sustainable considerations into acount..
(a reminder for others for most species, twig/branch bark is equivalent to trunk or root bark, in the case of a. confusa the stem has a higher dmt ratio..in most species beyond say 20% root or trunk damage, growth and health can be inhibited, and there can be branch die back)

keep us posted!

I've used acacia confusa phyllodes in a brew and they were active! More work needs to be done testing them for sure!

Also, there is no reason Acacia Simplex Phyllodes should not contain a large % of very usable tryptamines!

hmmmm...

If the tree is still standing when I return to the scene, I will take some phyllodes along with trunk bark & maybe some seed pods, too...

Sooooo

I may be making progress with some more in-depth research into the phytochemistry of this horribly-under-researched plant (which, according Chimp Z's trip report, may in fact be orally active on its own). I have been getting in touch with some like-minded analytical chemists who have access to NMR, LC-MS, GC-MS, HPLC, immunohistochemical techniques of quantifying/detecting the presence/expression of enzymes & genes associated with the biosynthetic pathways for tryptamine/beta carbolines of interest etc. who are interested in analyzing the chemical constituents of this tree. I am currently consulting with them over these potential studies. Hopefully, I may be able to update the literature surrounding the phytochemical composition of this plant for the first time in 41 years. I will update this thread with any/all data collected through these upcoming investigations.

Did you discover any news on the simplex? Would be great if you could do a quick update.

I believe Godsmacker has been banned from the forum.
I had contact with him out of the forum. We work together about A. Simplex, and i'm waiting for news .

The precedent extract i've done with naptha have been analyzed (result posted by Endlessness on Acacia topic). I've 2 extracts from wylene (classical AB and drytek AB with CaOH2) that may be sent for analysis. But before i need to do and extraction from :

- Alive Root Bark
- Dead Root Bark
- Twigs, Phyllodes, Leaves & Seed pods.

I've harvested the parts, but it's just a planning question and extraction method before job is done.
Then maybe the 5 extracts will be analyzed, and i may plan to do an ethanol soak for very crude extract. So it may be 6 samples that will be sent for analysis.

The main purpose of theses analysis, are to determine if A simplex contains beta-carboline or not as the studi of Poupat mentionned. I hope in theses 8 samples that we could determine that. The first 2 samples from naptha didn't showed that.

After discussion with Godsmacker, the beta carbolines found in the analysis could be a side product of a reaction during analysis (with the method and material used)

oh.

I saw the simplex results which were amazing.
This made me really curious what phyllodes and twigs might yield.

A crude alcohol extract from phyllodes would also be interesting to check if usable in a brew.

Keep the good work up. Such a great and quite fast growing plant! (Compared to accuminata for example)