Is anybody familiar with the psychoactivity of these plants? These are very understudied entheogens, the canary islands broom being the most well known. A few species grow abundantly where I live and I was called to get to know Spartium junceum through its flowers this spring. I was surprised at the definite psychedelic effect from a tea of just a few flowers. Very magical. Drank before sleeping it animates dreams to a degree that could get scary, feels like a lot of contact with real entities. Dream recall is highly enhanced.

These plants are rich in Cytisine, a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist, but the pharmacology is not well studied and other components such as terpenes are suspected to play a role in psychoactivity.

Cytisine is the main alkaloid of mescal beans which are the ancient ceremonial medicine of Southern Native Americans (Peyote is said to be a recent tradition). It is said to have a similar toxicity to nicotine (potentially lethal), and also highly purgative. I have not felt nausea or toxicity in the doses I have tried so far.

The seeds of Spartium are supposed to be much richer in Cytisine, I will give them a try when they mature, which might be soon.

I tried an infusion of the flowers with a tiny amount of rue before sleeping. I experienced intense colorful patterns in an extended hypnogogic phase (along with strong dream enhancement). I should try this combination when I am awake.

Is Desert Broom (Baccharis sarothroides) also in this category of plants? It is abundant in my area.

Check out if it has cytisine.

I can't locate anything online which states that it does. Wiki says this about the genus:

"They are commonly known as baccharises but sometimes referred to as "brooms", because many members have small thin leaves resembling the true brooms. They are not at all related to these however, but belong to an entirely different lineage of eudicots."

I'm probably out of luck.

It's in the Asteraceae, daisy family. The most common alkaloids in this plant family are pyrrolizidines, which you definitely don't want.

Other alkaloids related to cytisine include anagyrine, lupanine and sparteine.

I've chewed a Laburnum seed or two now and again. These also contain cytisine and I've found the effect to be similar to that of nicotine. It always seemed like a good idea to be very cautious about the dose.

Thanks for the info DFZ!

Spartium... This is true medicine. I have experienced it through eating raw beans for the first time. Just two beans (the beans are very small, and the seeds are tiny, in contrast to mescal) gave an awe inspiring religious experience, strong cleansing, and magical dreams all night.

I am not so familiar with nicotine. While I guess it does have commonalities with nicotine, there are some serious differences as well. Calming, euphoria, powerful opening of senses especially to outer world. The plant probably has more than cytisine going on, too. But *extreme* caution with dose is a must, this plant is extremely potent and potentially lethal in high doses.