Psychoactive Orchids

[Darklight]

my mother outlaw dips the cut end in hot wax as soon as she cuts them, then washes them & bags them until she drops them around.

Thanks for the tip, I'd not heard of that one before!

[MORG]

Most orchid myc are so poorly known. If you can find a media on which it grows properly then go for it. I don't think you can overpower the seed. The more the better. Most of the biomass of a very early seedling is actually sequestered fungal pelotons.

I do know however that some species will grow asymbiotically.

I only know of one way to get myc cultures: from the orchids themselves.

I've never done any symbiotic germination, wondering if they use selective substrates ( ie ones where the mycorrhiza don't get so well established that they overpower the germinating seed )

And where would one source a pure symbiotic culture?

 

[MORG]

Thanks for the paper Anodyne! I have heard of some Amazon orchids promoting the same result in bee pollinators.

I wonder if we will ever be able to establish a biochemical case for these narcotics being an insect "reward" in and of themselves. Interesting.

[Francois le Danque]

Epipactis helleborine- flowers:

...The nectar contains the strongest opiate found in nature, oxycodone

 

uhhh anyone have a reference for this?

[Justler]

It's presence is noted in the article I linked. As for oxy being the strongest opioid, I can't help you there.

*edit typo

Edited August 28, 2012 by Justler

[MORG]

The other method for those keen on orchid culture but without myc cultures is ex situ seed baiting.

Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14635769

Take top soil from around adult orchid. Seive. Keep coarse bits/organic matter. Sow orchid seed onto filter and place on wet soil. Seal in container in the dark and wait.

This only works for terrestrials of course.

[shortly]

i read about this a while ago, i haven't actually tried this tech yet but its on my to do list

You use a glove box the same as what is used in Myco work, so the work is done clean but not sterile.

Take a piece of root from the mother plant along with a teaspoon of media, be it soil or bark scrapings. Place the lot in a 100ML of water & blend in an old food processor, half fill takeaway food containers with chopped sphagnum moss & wet down with the "soup" you just blended. Sprinkle the seed across the surface, pop the lids on & place in a well lite spot but out of direct sunlight & wait anything from 2 weeks to a year.

I have also read about success sowing onto damp bricks with some species, although i cant recall which species were done this way, might have been Epidendrums?

[gtarman]

Very cool. Does anybody know a good vendor in Australia for these varieties? I tried searching on Google but only found botanical information and database entries.

[shortly]

You could start with

http://www.speciesorchids.com/

Or

http://www.orchidspeciessoc.org/

[gtarman]

Schweeet. It sounds like they might not be very easy plants to grow...or maybe I'm just lazy haha

[mindperformer]

I think the plant drives the insects sluggish, because they disperse the pollen more effectively when the buzz around, perfect approach

To the oxycodone: Its 1,5-2 times as strong as morphine, so it's the strongest opiate,

BUT: there are stronger acting opioids: 7-hydroxy-mitragynine is 11,3 times more potent than oxycodone and of course some peptides in frog secretions (Phyllomedusa) and our neuropeptides are far more potent, but don't work orally.

I will add a list of the affinities in the pharmacology-section.

[gtarman]

^^ also, I think the strongest opioid, for trivia points, is Fentanyl, at 100 times more potent than morphine. Apparently they only use it on elephants and shit.

Edited August 28, 2012 by gtarman

[mindperformer]

I must correct me: oxycodone is the strongest natural opiate (like i wrote at the picture).

fentanyl is also not the strongest synthetic opioid. the most potent synthetic is Lofentanil, which is over 100 times as potent as fentanyl. In second place there is carfentanil, which is slightly less potent than lofentanil.

Opiates are the opium-alkaloids and chemical related semisynthetics (Oxycodone was thought to be a semisynthetic opiate, now it is a natural opiate)

Opioids are substances, which act in opioid-receptors, but are not related to opium-alkaloids, like the fentanyl-group, methadon, buprenorphine, the peptides etc.

[mindperformer]

There is a relatively new study about the CNS- effects of another Cymbidium- species: Cymbidium aloifolium

http://japsonline.com/admin/php/uploads/263_pdf.pdf

Maybe Cymbidium ensifolium, from which the fragrance was inhaled by the japanese empress has also an action on GABA- receptors

[mindperformer]

And another Dendrobium used in TCM: Dendrobium chrysotoxum http://www.natureproducts.net/Dendrobium/Dendrobium_chrysotoxum.html

It is used for anti-aging, skin diseases, anti-carcinogenic, to calm the spirit and for a dreamless sleep

[Rizla]

Great post and info! Cypripedium pubescens, "Yellow Lady's Slipper Orchid", was a well-known sedative to the

Eclectic physicians in the USA in the 1800's to early 1900's, but was so over-havested it's now an endangered

species, and certainly too rare to be used casually unless you grew it! Richo Cech, in "Growing At-Risk Medicinal Herbs"

put it this way "too slow growing, too pretty, too rare"... Also: "The signal attribute is that it promotes a feeling of

tranquility by calming nervous irritability. Resulting sleep is without twitches, worries, bad dreams. Surely there are common herbs

(Valerian, Skullcap, etc.) that give similar results, but to say their activity is identical would be incorrect."

p/s I love Orchids

[kadakuda]

put it this way "too slow growing, too pretty, too rare"... Also: "The signal attribute is that it promotes a feeling of

tranquility by calming nervous irritability. Resulting sleep is without twitches, worries, bad dreams. Surely there are common herbs

If it worked as stated, it would seem to me that it could probabyl be put through the commercial machine and propagated large scale. The Asians would do it if it promised $. or more liekly they might find ways of synthesising its magic juices. rarity and slow growth are not always complete killers of ideas when it comes to mass producing plants though.

[mindperformer]

although it is rare (and endangered, as you wrote) in nature, plants are easy to get from orchid-nurseries

I think the demand is too less and the growthrate is too low for lucrative root production, but they are popular as garden plants...

[mindperformer]

In Africa the Leopard Orchid Ansellia africana is considered (also by the inyangas of South Africa) as a strong aphrodisiac:

http://africanaromatics.com/int/afrodisiacs-african-aphrodisiacs/

(at the bottom of the site)

Edited February 3, 2013 by mindperformer

[briliant_botanist]

Absolutely Brilliant thread ! I have always loved orchids but now see them in a new & enthusiastic light

Ima get growing these fellas ASAP LOL

[HolographicYou]

Wow, way to bump an old thread!

But I do agree this is a great source of information. It even inspired me to go and buy seeds to a lot of these orchids.

Pffft... like I was equipped enough to germinate dust!