Jump to content
The Corroboree

CunningPlatypus

Members2
  • Content count

    22
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About CunningPlatypus

  • Rank
    Day Tripper

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Country
    Great Pacific Northwest
  • Interests
    Life in all its weird and wonderful glory

Previous Fields

  • Climate or location
    USDA Zone 6

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. CunningPlatypus

    Plant ID x3

    I think you're probably spot on with plant #1, though could it be another legume, a good ol' fashion goober (Arachis hypogaea)?
  2. CunningPlatypus

    Paullinia cupana (Guarana)

    MountainGoat, I know of two places, both in the U.S., that you might want to hit up. First, for seeds you could try Fruitlovers.com: http://www.fruitlovers.com/seedlistUSA.html I believe they currently have some viable Guarana seeds, though their site is down and says it won't be back up until May 7. Just FYI, I know of two people who ordered these seeds (along with similar P. yoco) and were unable to get them to pop. I can attest that Fruitlovers is a trustworthy nursery, so it might just be that Guarana is tough to germinate, or needs some pretreatment. For plants, try topTropicals in Florida: http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/store/store.cgi?item=2743 These just came up for sale about a month ago. Definitely spendy, but this plant seems to be rarely available so get 'em while you can. One more FYI, avoid all the shady eBay sellers -- seeds are pretty much guaranteed to be old and dead.
  3. CunningPlatypus

    Cold-climate plants, entheogens and ethnobotanicals

    gtarman, As someone who lives in a cool climate, I feel your pain. Hemia salicifolia easily survives/thrives in zone 8a. It might die back to the roots, but it inevitably rebounds with gusto. Here's a thread from another forum that might give you some answers. http://sharetheseeds.me/forum/index.php?topic=919.0
  4. CunningPlatypus

    Latua pubiflora - "Tree of Wizards"/"Socerers Tree"

    I had some success sprouting Latua by cold stratifying them in the fridge for a month, in peat pellets. After that, they took another month or so to germinate. These seeds came from S.S. The germination rate wasn't great, but I was happy to get a few sprouts up. Though my plants are still little (largest being about a foot tall) they are outside in the ground (Zone 8) and appear to be tough plants, not overly bothered by pests, fluctuating temps, or wet/dry spells.
  5. CunningPlatypus

    Ilex guayusa?

    From everything I've read, you would be lucky indeed to get your I. guayusa to set seed. Many moons ago, I contacted Runa, one of the only suppliers of Guayusa tea, to ask about getting viable seeds. Their response was that I. guayusa simply doesn't set seed and is reproduced entirely from cuttings. At the time I wasn't convinced, but it appears the folks at Runa may be right. From reading about this plant, the few times that botanists have encountered Guayusa flowers, they have all been imperfectly stamenate. No pistilate flowers have been found, except for the odd deformities which resemble those of I. paraguarensis. One theory behind this is that Guayusa has been a manmade cultigen for so long that's lost its ability to produce seed. Here's a fascinating and short article about the botanical search for Guayusa seed, including tidbits referring to its use with ayahuasca. http://wlbcenter.org/Schultes%20Publications/BotMusLeaf_27_155-160.pdf
  6. CunningPlatypus

    cleaning boab seed

    Easiest -- and most delicious -- way is to simply pop 'em in your mouth and let the foamy stuff disolve. It's actually pretty sweet and supposed to be quite healthy. Plus, it's a great conversation starter; "Here, put this in your mouth and suck." FYI, if you DON'T get all of the foam covering off, you're pretty much guaranteed to get a nasty fungus which will kill your seed once planted.
  7. CunningPlatypus

    Harvesting/Caring for Iboga Fruit

    Thanks, tarenna. That's exactly what I needed to know. There's hope yet!
  8. CunningPlatypus

    Harvesting/Caring for Iboga Fruit

    Not to hijack this thread, but as it seems a common enough problem, why DON'T our Iboga set fruit? They seem to flower easily enough, but like everyone else in this thread, I've never gotten so much as a single fruit. Are they not self-fertile? Are they dioecious? Is it a pollinator issue? Climate?
  9. CunningPlatypus

    Acacia Seed Giveaway

    Yes please, Shamanistic, if you're willing to send them abroad. Thank you for your kindness. I'll shoot you a PM as well.
  10. CunningPlatypus

    Chinese medicinal herbs...suggestions?

    Shonman, This book was recommended to me by someone with a similar interest. I've never seen a copy, but he raved about it. http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Medicinal-Herb-Farm-Production-Including/dp/1603583300
  11. CunningPlatypus

    Acacia Phlebophylla Seeds

    Thank you, Folias! Seeds arrived yesterday in perfect shape from their global jaunt. Much appreciated!
  12. From Raw Story: LIMA — Using maracas, coca leaves and a hallucinogenic brew, shamans in Peru got down to business Monday using pre-Columbian traditional ceremonies to pick a winner in the US presidential race. “The apus (gods of the hills in indigenous mythology) tell us (Barack) Obama will be reelected,” predicted Juan Osco, known as the Shaman of the Andes on San Cristobal hill overlooking Lima. Members of the group placed flower petals on photos of the candidates that were also swept over with tobacco smoke. The shamans chewed coca leaves, a traditional ceremonial and medicinal plant since Inca times that helps fight altitude sickness. And the crew took some swigs of ayahuasca, a psychoactive brew used widely among Amazon basin indigenous people. At least one thing was clear, they said: Obama should defeat Republican Mitt Romney on Tuesday. Here's the link: http://www.rawstory....-obama-the-win/
  13. CunningPlatypus

    Romney is 'yesterday's news'

    The fear here at home is that the Repugs have muddied the waters enough -- through a slew of less-than-trustworthy polls and Faux's non-stop Obama bashing -- to give the impression that the race is a close one. If they can just give the perception of a tight race, then altering votes on the unverifiable electronic voting machines can be done without raising too many eyebrows. I've read that this is particularly possible when the polling puts the two candidates within ten percent of each other. Any more than that, and vote flipping would be too obvious. This makes sense, as in our last election, Obama beat McCranky Pants by a huge margin, making any attempted nefarious vote altering impossible to conceal. Og help us all if this comes to pass, as my gut tells me that we're about to experience another disturbing and 'surprising' election, reminiscent of the first (and second, come to think of it) shrub election. Romney will narrowly win, against all odds, with close enough margins to seem feasible. Scares the bejeebus outta me. My only hope is that wiser folks have already thought this scenario through, and made suitable precautions against voting machine fraud.
  14. CunningPlatypus

    Fresh Catha Edulis Seeds

    Just want to add that Khatmando's seeds are rightous. He was kind enough to send me an extraordinarily generous lot here in the States. When people talk about 'near 100% germination rates', with any plant, I tend to smell bullshit, though Khatmando's seeds are germing at very close to that. I think it also speaks volumes about Catha's undeserved reputation as being difficult to sprout. It's simply not true, if the seed is fresh enough. If you're able, I highly recommend that you take Khatmando up on his kind offer.
  15. CunningPlatypus

    BM's garden update 11/12/11 (Image heavy)

    Out of curiosity, is that a Catha edulis plant in the first picture, on the left? Your cactus look extremely happy.
×