Mansoa alliacea as a Plant Teacher Experience

[Alchemica]

This is one plant that I really appreciate in my garden.

 

Have you ever had a "Plant Teacher experience" in your life?  For me things like Mansoa are really useful. Unfortunately I lost my Petiveria as I was really ill but these kind of plants are inspiring and a fusion of what's life's about. You can come in from the direction of seeking strong medicine and attune to new ways of being, open to subtler but equally medicinal planes. For me plants like this make life about learning and growing holistically.

 

Whereas before I was on the hedonistic hell pathway of heavy abuse towards myself, spilling out into other's worlds, this taught me to connect with food, make an aioli, put it in a salad. Enjoy it as a plant spirit. Looking back it, it was as they say a plant teacher for me. Whereas before I was needing heavy medicines, it rekindled my attention to subtlety. In taste/flavour/scent/waiting patiently for beautiful flowers/nurturing something gentle and having medicinal properties fused with a cultural teaching to grow in life. In a give and take fashion again. Not abusing a plant, not trying to fix life with it, but being in relationship with it.

As I've attuned to subtlety, I get more and more experiences of connecting with simple plants on quite deep levels, physical, aesthetic, olfactorily, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually. I go for walks and plants just vibe with me at times, inspire me, catalyse me to take on 'their lessons'.

 

 

This is it as young one.

 

 

When I need a connection that's nurturing and protecting, I feel I can use a leaf for culinary purposes, chew  a leaf, mindfully attune to it, be in the moment and listen to it and grow from it,

 

Indigenous names – Ajo Sacha, Lavender Garlic Vine, ajo macho, ajos del monte, bo’o-ho, be’o-ja, boens,frukutitei, niaboens, posatalu, pusanga, sacha ajo, shansque, boains.

 

Taxonomy – syn. Mansoa Alliacea, Bignoniaceae

"Literally translated as “false” or “fake garlic”, ajo sacha is a vine-like tree whose leaves, when crushed, smell like garlic, with a hint of onion. Its leaves, bark, and roots have analgesic, antipyretic, and antirheumatic properties, and the preparations made from its parts can be used either orally or topically.

 

A revered plant teacher throughout the Amazon basin, Ajos Sacha traditionally is used as a herbal bath in a cleansing ritual called ‘limpias’. The curanderos prepare the leaves of Ajos Sacha by cutting them very carefully into tiny pieces, water is added, and the essence strained and collected into a vessel, often icaro’s are sung over it, and a little magnet is dropped inside the vessel, to add ‘strength’ to the preperation (Luna 1984). Then the client washes themselves with the liquid and rinses the mouth out to cleanse them of the saladera (salt), a phlegm that has accumilated in the organism, causing bad luck and ill health (Dobkin de Rios 1981). The vegetalista whistles the appropriate icaro over the patient whilst ‘painting’ the person with the liquid (Luna 1984).

 

Ajo sacha is used as an Ayahuasca admixture (Padoch and De Jong 1991, Luna 1984). Ayahuasca and other plants that have cathartic properties expel the phlegm from the organism. “Vegetalistas say that Ayahuasca is needed for cleansing all the flemosidades (phlegm formations) that accumulate in the intestines” (Luna 1984). It is used generally for sensibility and awareness, and Ajos Sacha is considered an ‘Amansador’, which means that people and animals will not harm the person who uses this plant. (Karsten 1964)" - Plants of Ayahuasca Shamanism

 

It has some serotonergic affinity through 5-HT1B, 5-HT6. [1]

 

It contains Tannin, flavonoids, terpenes, alkaloid, cumarin, saponin, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, resveratrol
Sulfur compounds

The essential oils of Mansoa spp. show the presence of allyl polysufides that contribute to the characteristic aroma and flavor. The chemical composition of the organic extracts of Mansoa has been reported and it includes alkanes, alkanols, triterpenoids, flavonoids, lapachol derivatives and organosulfur compound alliin.

 

"The flowers of Mansoa alliacea collected in India yielded β-amyrin and β-sitosterol, ursolic acid, β-sitosteryl-d-glucoside, the flavones apigenin, luteolin and 7-O-methylscutellarein, the flavone glucoside apigenin-7-glucoside and the flavones glucuronides apigenin-7-glucuronide, scutellarein-7-glucuronide, apigenin-7-glucuronyl glucuronide and apigenin-7-O-methylglucuronide (Rao & Rao, 1980).

 

The essential oil was characterised by the presence of diallyl disulfide, diallyl trisulfide and diallyl tetrasufide, a mixture formely encountered within the Allium genus. Besides the diallyl sulfides, 1-octen-3-ol also was identified." [2]
 

*Antifungal (Freixa et al., 1998)
*Antiviral (Khurana and Bhargava, 1970; Zoghbi et al., 2009)
*Antibacterial (Araújo, 2010)
*Suppression of tumor growth (Towne et al., 2015)
*Inhibition of histamine release- Antiallergic (Oliveira, 2013)
*Anti-inflammatory (Dunstan et al., 1997; Zoghbi et al., 2009)
*Antioxidant (Desmachelier et al., 1997; Zoghbi et al., 2009)

 

It's one that's slow growing down here. One day I'd like explore it more once it grows. Particularly enjoy exploring flowers as a tea.

 

Edited February 13, 2018 by Alchemica

[Micromegas]

I spent some time with this plant back in my jungle dayz.

 

I was told that to those who have the vision (and not under the influence of anything) ajo sacha appears as an old man of the forest (sacharuna) surrounded by children, and this is a spontaneous experience one might have when walking in the forest. I met one non-indigenous (whitefella) person who confirmed this, said he'd seen this old man walking along with a bunch of children, and was later told it was the spirit (genio) of ajo sacha that he had seen.

 

I don't know how consistent this belief is but it was a story that stayed with me. A number of the plants had a spirit figure associated with consistent attributes.

Edited February 14, 2018 by Micromegas

[tarenna]

I met this plant for the first time last weekend, and was told stories about it similar to yours Micro...A most fascinating coincidence because I had never heard of it before.

 

Much respect Alchemica

[MountainGoat]

Do you have any seeds from your vine yet? I'm well keen to add this to my garden....

[Alchemica]

No this is still a recentish plant addition to my life, small but growing. I get enough to personally connect with it but definitely quite awhile off getting it to being able to spread it. Be awesome to hear if anyone can help @MountainGoat