mindperformer

@waterboy: Figs are in the list and this article is exactly where I got the age determination @shortly: ...yes I must correct this. Now I know why it had a slight sour taste: there were bugs in it and I saw this small beetles after I made the first meal from it, when I tried to transfer it to a glass...

with a greenhouse you have perfect humidity conditions for most tropical plants, like nexus, iboga, caapi and others yes mycorrhiza would be ideal, also anti-pathogenic fungi like Trichoderma harzianum (not really symbiotic with the plant, but eats the bad pathogenic fungi)

du you have photos from your plants? they are very decorative too. backhousia always reminds me of lemon-candy from childhood. happy christmas

Yes, I have also done much research on this issue, I didn't mention tobacco, because its no food crop, but I forgot the long history of Cannabis grown for the seeds in China... Tobacco: Nicotiana tabacum is found only in cultivation, it is believed to be a hybrid of Nicotiana sylvestris, N. tomentosiformis (both native to the Andes, the last primarily in Bolivia) and maybe N. octophora Tobacco has been used and cultivated in South America for a very long time, 10.000 years by some accounts: http://books.google....ccounts&f=false Nicotiana rustica emerged evolutionary from N. paniculata and N. undulate N. rustica was cultivated in Eastern North America 2000 years ago: http://www.uiowa.edu...os/Tobacco.html Nicotiana bigelovii plays a great role in the cultures of the Southern Westcoast tribes of the USA and once was their only cultivated crop. It was first cultivated by the natives of California, but collected it from the wild long before domestication began.

thanks, mutant :-)

Many thanks, coin! You saved much work! Thanks again Now I modified it with more info...

Acacia acuminata spooks around the ethnobotanical community in recent years. It's natural habitat is very restricted, depending on the variation and form, and there are many of it, which can be distinguished only by experienced botanists. The habitat is the geologically the oldest on earth, there were found the oldest rocks and fossils (stromatolites). Some variations contain potential toxic alkaloids like MTHBC, 2-MTHBC and THBC. Unfortunately because of predicted DMT-contents (only few hardly distinguishable subspecies) there has been a careless depletion of the trees in nature. They can get very old and are standing on the oldest ground on earth, so it is absolutely unethical and disrespectful, not to say an asshole-action to destroy this trees. I think anyone who does this will have a very bad karma and will get badly intoxicated from the extracts. Anyone who wants to breed this plant for conservation of the species should not buy cuttings. There are vendors, selling seeds which are easy to germinate. I got the small seed-variant via ebay (they were sent from Australia to Austria within one week ;-) The seedlings which thrive very well now (after scarification of the seeds with sandpaper and 300ppm GA3):

The newest photos from my Toromiro: This might be philosophical, but Toromiro can be seen as the opposite from Chenopodium album and Poa annua, which are the most distributed species, scattered round the globe from the arctic to the tropics and all continents, including Africa. Chenopodium album can also be eaten, but this is another topic. As Toromiro had (and now again has, after its reintroduction) the most limited and remotest distribution, it is contrary to Poa annua and Chenopodium album. Of course there are more nearly extinct plants on remote islands, but Rapa Nui is the most remote inhabited island in the world and the tree was extinct, now there are around 80 individuals returned to the wild, from descendants grown in botanical gardens from the few seeds from the ancient last survivor, collected by Thor Heyerdahl. Position of Rapa Nui / Easter Island / Isla de Pascua:

there were some editing complications and some texts were lost... Does somebody have a copy of the text in the first post of this thread before it got erased by me? Unfortunately it was one of my few plant listings, which I made only online, so no backup or whatever... It was much research, so I would be glad if somebody saved the text after 'sweet potato' (especially the European plants).

wow, they are big... also easy to collect?

Although I also don't fully agree with all of Rätsch's mentions, for me he IS one of the European 'Grand Masters'. And yes, some of his data are vague statements from other ethnobotanists, but he also made much field research himself and all together he tries to be serious, to my mind. So for me this Amanita- finding in Colombia is very plausible, as Colombia has many climates in the mountains. He found it in the Páramo from Chingaza (near Bogotá) and also indicated that he thinks the pines (Pinus chiapensis) seemed to be planted by humans. This would be a plausible way how the mushroom got there (with the soil on the roots of the planted pines).

you are absolutely right, he didn't mention this in his enzyclopedia and other books from him, but this could be because this finding was later (2004) than he wrote the book. for all the others who don't know what we are talking about, here the link: http://www.christian-raetsch.de/Artikel/Artikel/Amanita_en_Colombia.html As we can see, he put the musrooms over a colombian numberplate on one photo, described the habitat very precisely and also added a photo with Dr. Fabio Ramirez...

Wood strawberries harvest from the forest: Wild blackberries and wild cornel cherries from the forest: Wild juneberries: Wild Raspberry:

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...

raketemensch, as far as I know the bog bilberry- fungus is not visible and not all plants are infected. I have also eaten a few of them and had no effect... the crowberry is a very far distributed plant, but only in the arctic, sub-arctic and sub-antarctic areas. I have found it all over Scandinavia, including Finnland, and even in the alps. here the distribution of the black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum): http://www.discoverl...Empetrum+nigrum The crowberry on the Falklands is Empetrum rubrum: http://www.discoverl...Empetrum+rubrum To my knowledge there is no connection between these populations because they don't grow in hot climates, maybe birds like the arctic tern, which travels between poles, once distributed it to South America, then it E. rubrum differentiated. For Henbane there are new evidences (a bag of henbane seeds in a grave of a Germanic priest) from Northern Germany (Fyrkat). As the Vikings liked beer, also henbane was growing in their area and they had contact to the Germans, the use as beer- additive seems not far away. The distribution of Hyoscyamus: http://www.discoverl...kind=Hyoscyamus Amanita: the theory of the berserkers by Ödmann, seems not to be correct, and there is no direct evidence on the use of FA by the vikings. Wasson mentions the finnish historian Itkonen, who wrote about the use by sorcerers of the Sami people in Inari. When I was in Lappland I heard the Sami had a custom of feeding fly agaric to their deer and collected the urine to drink. They thought their reindeer were flying to space through space, looking down on the world. As we know, the reindeers like to eat it, I think the question is how could the Sami (and also the Vikings?) NOT use this noticeable mushroom, when they saw their intoxicated animals? frank, I think the personal finding of Rätsch who made photos of it in Colombia is very plausible, how it came there is another question. You are right, that there is no real evidence for the pre-columbian use of it in the Americas but I think on the paleo-indians who came from Siberia, where the use of this conspicuous mushroom reaches far back. I also think on the far distribution of it; even accidentally brought to New Zealand. (with pine- plantings?) I agree with you that smoking seems not to be the usual way, how the mushroom was ingested by early european cultures as pipes were very unusual, the cretic opiumpipes were an exception. BUT: remember the scythian sweat tents, it was usual among early european and central asian tribes to put some herbs (and mushrooms?) in the fire to get the smoke, so although such a use is not very plausible, I would not exclude it. I've also smoked it and agree with the taste like barbecue chicken ;-)

wow, a few months of snow are much for a south african plant ;-) my southernmost plant ouside now in winter is Crete Balm (Melissa officinalis ssp. altissima) with its high Rosmarinic acid content and wonderful orange-smell, ideal for tee The other cold hardy plants outside in snow (on the balcony) are Common Arrowgrass (Triglochin maritima, with a salty taste), Alpine Sorrel (Oxyria digyna with a sour taste), Sanicle (Sanicula europaea), Redstem wormwood (Artemisia scoparia), Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca), Bracken, Epazote-seeds, Willow, Eclipta alba, Cardamine amara (wonderful cress taste, ideal chopped in curd), Fool's water cress (Apium nodiflorum, with its wonderful carrot taste), Lancea tibetica, Hypericum hircinum, Chocolate Mint, Mojito Mint, Nepeta fassenii (syn. mussinii, syn. racemosa), Perovskia abrotanoides, Lythrum salicaria, Buxus sempervirens, Masterwort (Peucedanum ostruthium), Arctic raspberry (Rubus arcticus), Tibetan raspberry (Rubus tibeticus), Hemerocallis citrina, Juneberry (Amelanchier lamarckii), Wild Chive (Allium schoenoprasum) and a big Schisandra chinensis In a cool room are Ashitaba (Angelica keiskei koidzumi), Stevia rebaudiana, Mandragora officinalis, Embiribiri (or Umusunusunu, Crassocephalum vitellinum), Chocolate cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguineus), False Sea Onion (Ornithogalum caudatum), Stapelia gigantea, Opuntia cylindrica, Glasswort (Arthrocnemum glaucum with a salty taste), Queen of the Night (Selenicereus grandiflorus) and Zingiber mioga

Garlic Cress (Peltaria alliacea) has a wonderful complex sharp taste, which is often described as mix between cress, mustard and garlic. It has the highest growth rate of all my plants outside in winter (we had frost the whole week) and can be harvested from the snow. It is distributed in Austria, Slowenia, Hungary and Romania, but not in Germany and Switzerland. This is my plant, on 9.12. at -2°C to -7°C outside in winter and it grows unbraked: ...and in the short period of winter-sun: http://www.pfaf.org/...ltaria+alliacea http://www.kraeuter-...oetchen-Pflanze The leaves and flowers can be used for spiciness in salads.

very interesting list to get into the native american medicine especially the use of the orchid Aplectrum hyemale, the pepper Saururus cernuus and Gleditsia triacanthos (described as a narcotic anodyne). Gleditsia triacanthos syn. G. sinensis grows very close to my home in Vienna and was planted as alley. I can remember some rumors that it contains cocaine, which is not right, but it contains the diterpenoid alkaloid Stenocarpine (Gleditschine), which has local anesthetic actions; there were also found anticarcinogenic actions.

the taste of garlic cress reminds me on garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), which grows nearly everywhere here in middle Europe, much more common than garlic cress but now in winter the taste modifies more and more to fresh cress

yes its a unique plant, give it a try, I don't have any seeds left but you can get them there: http://b-and-t-world...cea&sref=440758 I got it as plant last year from http://www.kraeuter-...uftpflanzen.de/

in my experience the taste is even best in winter and spring, because in summer it starts making bitter compounds

The best source for distribution maps: discoverlife http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20m?kind=Mandragora

thanks planthelper ;-), my kava had a similar setup (high humidity but low light, high temperature, soil with high drainage...), but it had a fungus, which already infested the cutting when I got it, and cutting back didn't help... then I've tried propolis, bentonite, charcoal, chinosol to close the wound and disinfect it, which didn't help too, because the fungus was inside the plant, repotting, washing with natural fungicides and so on... everything was unsuccessful :-( the stem: someone promised to have a new cutting for me in spring Its a wonderful but very tricky plant ...the cacti and some subtropical plants grow under 150W-LED the tropical system (2 small aquariums with wet clay granulate in it and a heating mat under it) runs with 110W-energy saving console ...inside it has between 80% and 90% humidity and 26-28°C outside here we have frost and snow...

As simplex- grower I would be interested if the different (alkaloid profiles?) lines on Vanuatu vs. New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Cook Islands my plants grow well in the humid mini-greenhouse: ...I've mixed some sand from the beach of Rarotonga (Cook Islands) to the soil The stem bark is said to be most promising, but of course the regrowth is slow, in the twigs and leaves NMT dominates, not Dimitri The tree is used as toxin in fishing, because the tryptamines incapacitates the fish, but are orally not harmful to people.

Thanks, Pat I didn't feel offence but was wondering about why such an ubiquitous herb is controlled in your country, but I didn't think on the recent retrogressions of drug politics in Oz because I have only been in New Zealand, but this country seems to be more liberal. Great solidarity, especially with all of us living in repressive countries Of course there are more drug-liberal countries than Austria, like the Netherlands or Peru, but compared with most other EU-countries we can be pleased with the recent arbitrary progresses. Examples: You can legally buy (head- and growshops in Vienna) Psilocybe sp.- spores and cultivation-sets, Cannabis- cuttings and seeds, ephedrine- containing preparations, Coca-liqueur, poppy-pods, Kratom-extracts, Kathplants and DMT-containing plants (the last both only as plants, no extracts). You can get medical cannabis and I even know someone who has the repeat prescription for medical cannabis-spray (Sativex) and a driver license. Those who are addicted on opiates get retarded morphine and the roofie-addicts get Flunitrazepam. The worst case for ganjagrowers at small scale is only a small fine. I think the alkaloids of Sida are of the mobile kind and the contents in the different parts vary greatly, I agree that topping would be beneficial for hormonal redirecting the metabolic actions to the leaves. Most plants have highest leaf-alkaloid-content in the end of summer. Maybe the roots contain even more in autumn... Many plants transport their alkaloids from the roots to the leaves. This study confirmes that roots also contain Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine, but also more Vascinol, Vascinon and N-methyltryptophan: http://www.ijppsjour...Issue1/2882.pdf Pat, you are also a living enzyclopedia! Thanks for mentioning the sun-curing for Sida, I didn't know that, a very useful method for breaking down the pectin. I've always used alcohol and recently I've read that the detection of pectin is made by adding high grade alcohol to the solution. If the solution clumps (by the degradation of pectin), there must be a high concentration of it.