Guide to Researching Psychoactive Plants of InterestMaybe you're interested in an obscure plant and want to find out more about it. Maybe you're helping with a
collaborative research project. Maybe you're just tired of relying on wikipedia for your information. This post can help.
It's structured in three parts:
- I. Condensed List of Resources - All the key resources from Part III without any of my blathering
- II. The Basics - A brief note on source attribution
- III. Finding Sources - A discussion of the research process, including links to helpful resources
[Please feel free to suggest any references or databases that you feel should be included on the list]
I. Condensed List of Resources
Reference BooksJournal ArticlesBotanical NomenclatureBotany - GeneralOnline HerbariaDissertations and Theses- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Database
- DATRIX
PatentsChemistryNCBI DatabasesAyahuasca-Related
II. The Basics
Keeping Track of Your SourcesInformation is only as reliable as its source.
Imagine that I have just told you that Acacia berlandieri contains methamphetamine. Maybe you believe me because you think I'm a trustworthy guy, maybe not. It's hard to tell if that claim is reliable because I haven't cited any sources. If I make that claim and cite an
Ask Dr. Shulgin article, that's a little better; most people think that Dr. Shulgin is a trustworthy guy, so that gives the claim a little more weight. But it's best if I make that claim and cite
the original report from the journal Phytochemistry. That way you can check that I haven't misunderstood the paper's claims, and you can see what else they found in the plant.
There are a lot of "official" ways to format a bibliography entry (Chicago, MLA, APA, etc.). Unless you're really familiar with one of those formats, don't bog yourself down worrying about doing it "correctly." All that matters is that you record enough information that people can easily find your source. Include as many of the following as possible:
- Author(s)
- Year published
- Title of the document
- page numbers (if applicable)
- For articles, write down the journal or book it was published in (for journals, also write down which volume/issue of the journal)
- For books, include the name of the publishing company and the city in which it was published
- For internet sources, include the address and the date that you visited the site
Just for your own records, it's often helpful to save a copy of any sources that you cite. Make a folder for the subject you are researching (either a physical one or on your hard drive) and put your copies in there so you can find them easily. It is legal (under fair use) to photocopy or scan the relevant pages from books or articles. It is especially important to save copies of any internet sources that you cite! Websites and web content disappear all the time. Either print a copy of the site or save the site to your computer.
Evaluating ReliabilityWhenever reading a source, always ask yourself: How reliable is this information? Does the author have a good reputation? Do they appear to be really familiar with the subject? Do they cite their sources? Was the source written at a time in the past when our understanding of chemistry, botany, or anthropology was very different than today?
There are times when it is okay to use unreliable sources. An internet forum post by someone who claims to grow an obscure plant is worth quoting if no good information about cultivating that species has been published. A priest's account of "witchcraft" and heresy based on psychoactive plant use during the Inquisition can provide valuable information, even if you completely disagree with their worldview. Just make sure that you're always critically evaluating the reliability of any source you read.
III. Finding Sources
Reference BooksIt's always a good idea to start by seeing what information is available about your subject in reference books. But obscure psychoactive plants don't typically make it into the Encyclopædia Britannica, so we'll need to look elsewhere. Sometimes you can find some preliminary information on
Wikipedia...
don't trust it! Always follow their citations and (if the source is reliable) take notes directly from the source.
There are some good reference works on psychoactive plants that can serve as a good starting point. When taking notes from these sources, always preserve their citations (and copy the relevant entries from the bibliography) so you can follow up their sources. And it is always a good idea to follow up and read the sources they cited. No matter how much you respect an author, you may find that there are areas where you disagree with them when you consider the literature for yourself. The following lists are representative of the most noteworthy books; more titles (including books dealing with more specialized subjects) can be found in the
Recommended entheogen reference books thread.
Here are some examples of general references (with a brief note on each):
- Garden of Eden (Snu Voogelbreinder): A very encyclopedic book that has entries on a lot of obscure ethnobotanicals. Up-to-date (published in 2009). Snu puts his citations at the ends of paragraphs; sometimes the paragraph talked about multiple species, so it can take a little extra time to follow up on all the cited sources and figure out which apply to your subject.
- Pharmacotheon (Jonathan Ott): Ott is usually reliable and always includes extensive citations and bibliographies; if he mentions the plant that you're looking for, he will always point you to further literature on the subject.
- Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants (Christian Rätsch): Information is frequently unreliable. Use his bibliographies to find additional literature, but don't take his word as fact.
- Botany and Chemistry of the Hallucinogens (Schultes & Hofmann): Somewhat dated, but still a good source with a good bibliography.
Sometimes you can find a book with a more specialized focus that includes your plant of interest. For example, if you were looking for information on an obscure ayahuasca additive, you would do well to check Ott's
Ayahuasca Analogues book for references. One reference series in particular deserves special attention: Trout's Notes. They can be a pain in the neck to find (many are out of print); I'm not even sure how many volumes there are (the website is a trainwreck). But when it comes to information, Trout's Notes are great, and he always cites his sources. Here are some of the more noteworthy volumes:
- # A-4 Acacia species reported to contain Tryptamines and/or beta-carbolines.
- # A-5 Ayahuasca & Ayahuasca Alkaloids (Free online)
- # C-9 Cactus Alkaloids, other than Mescaline; Reported from Mescaline Containing Cacti; (including Coryphantha alkaloids)
- # D-2 The Genus Desmodium (Free online)
- # FS-X7 Some Simple Tryptamines
- # SC2 Sacred Cacti, 2nd Edition
- # SC3B San Pedro & Related Trichocereus species
If you're looking for older books (old enough that the copyright has expired), there are a couple of good resources:
- Google Books: Also indexes the text of newer books, so even if you can't download a copy, it gives you a good idea of books you might want to borrow through your library.
- Archive.org Ebook and Texts
Journal ArticlesMost of the original research on these plants is published in academic journals. Both Google Scholar and PubMed index virtually all of the newer publications and are excellent places to look for information. If you want to search the publishers' databases directly (rather than a data aggregator like Google Scholar), the most significant ones are:
Finding copies of old journal articles is more difficult. Occasionally you might find a scanned copy with a simple search on Google (not Google Scholar). Otherwise:
- Check with a nearby university library: They may own a copy of the journal you're looking for.
- Inter-Library Loan: Many local libraries can borrow a copy of the article that you're looking for from a larger library or from a university. This service is typically free, and (in my experience) quite prompt. A photocopy of the article usually arrives within a couple days of placing the request.
- There are other ways to access scientific journal articles, though they tend to lie in an ethical gray area. I personally recommend pursuing more mainstream routes... your local reference librarian can be your best ally.
There are also a couple of websites that have scanned a great deal of the older botanical literature. Both of the following have indexed their collections so you can search by botanical name:
Botanical NomenclatureTo find good sources, you have to know what to search for. Botanical names are sometimes revised. Sometimes the same species has been published under multiple names. You'll want to search the literature using all of the botanical synonyms if you want to get as much information as possible.
The following are botanical nomenclature indexes that are helpful in figuring out what the currently accepted name for a species is, as well as what other names for it exist in the literature:
Online HerbariaMany herbaria have indexed their collections so that they are searchable online. Entries often include pictures of the specimen. These collections provide information about the geographic range of the species. Occasionally the collector will record the traditional names the plant is known by in the region it was collected.
[The following list is very incomplete; please help to expand it]Dissertations and ThesesSometimes graduate students write dissertations and theses that cover subjects related to your area of interest. Sometimes they can be very helpful. The writing quality can be poor, and they may only touch briefly on the subject you're interested in, but they always include a good bibliography.
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Database: If your library subscribes to the service, you can search the ProQuest database for papers. If you're really lucky, your library might subscribe to the Full Text service so you can download a copy of the paper for free.
- DATRIX: If your library doesn't subscribe to the database, you can still search it for free, but you have to send your search and receive results by email. ProQuest used to have a feature to search their database for free online; apparently that service was recently replaced by this email-only service.
- Check with University Libraries: Buying a copy of a dissertation/thesis is expensive. If you've found a reference to one that you want to read but don't have free access to it, check with the library at the university where the author submitted the paper. Sometimes they keep copies on their servers that can be accessed for free. If that fails, you can try contacting the author directly and explain your interest; they may be able to provide you with a copy.
PatentsSometimes you can find patents related to your plant of interest. Someone may be trying to patent a particular preparation of it (for example, a patent application has been submitted for chewing gum laced with
Salvia divinorum). Or someone might be trying to patent a technique for synthesizing a chemical in the plant, or a pharmaceutical preparation involving a chemical that occurs in the plant. Copies of the patents or patent applications can always be found free of charge. You can search patents in the following databases:
ChemistrySo you've researched a plant and found out which alkaloids (or other chemicals) have been isolated from it; now you want more information about those alkaloids. For the most part, you'll find literature about the chemicals the same way you found literature about the plant. Google Scholar and PubMed are both good resources for finding chemical literature. Still, a few other resources can come in handy.
- Chemicalize: Since it's calculating based on the structure rather than searching from a database, it can give you information for any chemical you want, even ones that have never been reported in the literature. Just draw the structure or enter a valid IUPAC name (if you draw the structure, it will generate the IUPAC name for you). The only shortcoming is that it won't let you save the structure as an image.
- Marvin Sketch: A free piece of software made by the same people who run Chemicalize. With this program you can save the structure as an image, and it includes support for scalable vector graphics (*.svg) format (this allows the image to be viewed at any size/resolution without getting grainy and pixellated)
- ChemSpider: A free chemical database. I've found that the best way to search it for chemicals that don't have accepted common names is to input the structure in SMILES form (basically a string of characters that defines the structure); you can use Chemicalize to find the SMILES input for your chemical. Chemspider Indexes a lot of resources (literature, physical property calculations, etc.), so it's worth checking out.
- ChEMBL: A great index for pharmacology data. You can either search the database with SMILES input or by entering the ChEMBL ID (which ChemSpider will find for you).
- PubChem: Also indexes a lot of information.
- The DMT Nexus Wiki: Endlessness has added a lot of chemical data to the Nexus Wiki, especially for simple tryptamines.
Internet SourcesInternet sources are, in general, the least reliable. If a website cites sources, always check the sources. If it does not cite sources, do not use it without very good reason (i.e. it discusses a subject not covered in more reliable literature; cultivation of rare species, for example). And always ask youself: How reliable is this information?
Forums[I'm aware that this list is incomplete... still deciding whether a list of forums is noteworthy enough to include]Sometimes you'll take some notes from a website, only to find the website is gone when you visit it again in a few weeks. When trying to recover a source that has been removed try using:
NCBI DatabasesWe've already mentioned PubMed and PubChem, but NCBI (the National Center for Biotechnology Information) has a lot more databases than just those two. If you want to take a shotgun approach, try:
- Entrez: Searches across all of the NCBI databases. In addition to PubMed and PubChem, this includes a database of online books, DNA sequences, protein sequences, taxonomy, bioactivity screening data, and a large handful of others.
Ayahuasca-Related Sources