Hi there my name is Jean-Francois Sobiecki. I am an ethnobotanist working from South Africa. I have been researching African psychoactive plants (which is the title of my new book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/A...ytoalchemy/dp/0639763855) for around 15 years-doing research on their significance in African traditional medicine. What I have found is over 300 species-306 species of plants to be exact being used for psychoactive purposes by the indigenous Southern Bantu speaking people of Southern Africa that can found in the book. This challenges the views expressed in classic texts such as Plants of the Gods by Schultes and Hoffman who state that Africa is poor in visionary psychoactive plants. This is not what I have found-which is a rich and diverse use of psychoactive plants in treating mental disorders like dementia and and convulsive conditions like epilepsy. There is also a very rich use of plants for dreaming called ubulawu for dreaming. Has anyone here tried ubulawu or other African psychoactives other than iboga?

I have tried dagga once, wich is often advertised as being like cannabis. But i did not find it much like cannabis at all. Very uninteresting plant from a psychonautic point of view.

I also tried blue lotus, and i did not find that a very interesting experience either.

Iboga is a very interesting psychedelic however, though maybe not for regular usage. I had some very good and positive experiences with it.

And ofcourse there's a lot of cannabis growing in africa, but i suppose you already knew that.

South Africa is just one region of Africa, and I have no doubt that South Africa as a country and Africa as a continent both are rich with amazing psychoactive plants.

Among what I know is Psilocybe natalensis from South Africa and Datura metel growing and utilized in cultural rituals in northern Africa. Tried to look it up now but only came upon Datura stramonium which apparently is common in south Africa. That species was really meant to spread it seems.

About ubulawu, are you referring to Silene capensis or another species? There are countless species of Silene in the country I live (Turkey), and if I remember correctly, all have saponins which are the components of Silene capensis to which it's psychoactivity is attributed. Makes me wonder if similar effects can be achieved any of these local species.

Speaking of saponins, Asparagus acutifolius roots are rich in them and in my experience are psychedelic as can be especially when consumed fresh, chewed in a similar fashion to Silene roots. And it should be found in northern Africa.

And what about brooms (spartium, cytisus etc) in the fabaceae family, which have among other components, cytisine? Spartium junceum flowers are the most potent dream enhancers and the beans are very magically psychedelic in my experience.

Congratulations on your book. I tried to look it up but the link did not work.

Sorry, I don't have anything on African psychoactive plants. But could it be that the plants in Africa are more woven into the "normal" fabric of life.

One of my intuitive feelings is that we are perhaps on a continuous "trip" that is fueled/induced by the foods we consume. And when we change our dietary intake, we change our spiritual perception of the world.

Some food sources will have a immediate/direct impact -call them psychoactive- and others could have a slower, maybe even imperceptible, impact which we than perceive as "normal" life.

It may even be that what our forefathers ate is still permeating into our perception of the world. We just can't "see" it because it is considered a normal part of our current perception. We "know" that we are a product of our parents. Maybe some plants/animals can (re)connect us with the life-fibers from our forefathers.

I do find it interesting that we, as collective group of beings, are being slowly steered away from the traditional form of life into a more "artificial" form of life. One that seems to disconnect us from the Flux of Life in which we are embedded.


Enjoy the Flux!

I have yet to try iboga or Silene Undulata. I am growing a few Silene Undulata plants at the moment, but they are only a few months old and not ready for trying. From what I've read, they need to be two years old before harvesting (See The Wiki's Cultivation Section).

I too have tried smoking Leonotis Nepetifolia and Nelumbo Nucifera on their own several times, but their effects were minimal/non-existent. Each time I had smoked dried flower material in rolling paper (1-2 joints), but maybe I didn't have a large enough dose (or should have opted for a tea). Nelumbo Nucifera was a very pleasant smoke for me though, being both smooth and floral.

And I have had Sceletium Tortuosum many times. My first experiences were with insufflated extractions that were purchased online. These provided an intense, sweaty, and sometimes uncomfortable and short lived rush followed by a eupohoric body high and burst of energy. And I have also grown my own Sceletium Tortuosum plants which were harvested and fermented (Following This Guide). I smoke the fermented material in a 50-50 mix with cannabis. This provides the euphoric body high, as well as an energetic and relaxed feeling. I know that seems contradictory, but I don't know how else to explain it. Its like I am more awake, but also very comfortable. Its a mix I really enjoy.

Unfortunately, the closing bracket gets integrated into the link, so it needs to be edited out:
https://www.amazon.com/A...ytoalchemy/dp/0639763855 should work.

A plant I directly think of is Khat/Qat (Catha. edulis), which is a flowering plant native to eastern and southern Africa. C. edulis contains the alkaloid cathinone (=benzoylethanamine or β-keto-amphetamine) which is a stimulant phenethylamine. In the native area where the plants grow; a community custom is the chewing of the leaves.

The effect of cathinone is somewhat a mix of strong coffee and coca leaves chewing.

I lile how you worded that about challenging the view about african psychoactive plants or not.