Illustro

I just finished reading the DEA article and thought i would update with results.. I wont copy any more material as i have already posted more than i should. In summary: The analysts concluded that drying khat leaf at 20'C for 72hrs will has an insignificant impact on the cathinone:cathine ratio, the material can be stored for several years like this with no appreciable loss of cathinone. Heating the plant material has a negative effect, if heated over 50'C a significant degradation of the cathinone is experienced.

I would assume they simply leave it out to dry? If you wanted to get fancy you could get a food dehydrator or a vacuum pump. Or put the leaves in the oven at ~50'C

The fact that cathine and cathinone break-down is undeniable, but how much affect this has on the psychoactive yield is something to be debated. The article i have been quoting basically said that if you dry the leaves carefully a significant amount of alkaloids will degrade, but the majority of psychoactive alkaloids will remain stable - and once dried the future degradation is negligible. I cant link the article, its on a private database - i am probably in breach of copyright for even quoting it

I just had a skim through the DEA article i quoted last night, i didnt really read anything more than the intro at the time - here what it says about dimerization. Chappell, J.; Lee, M. 2009. Cathinone preservation in khat evidence via drying. In. Forensic Science International, volume 195 p. 109. Drug Enforcement Administration, Western Laboratory, 390 Main Street, Room 700, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA. EDIT: and this is interesting.

Alcohol will keep a large concentration of leaves fresh for a very long time. Even honey will keep them fresh for decades (if using honey you may need to dehydrate them a bit), but alcohol is much easier to deal with when it comes to ingestion. If you are using normal proof spirits, you could probably get away with about a 70:30 khat:alc ratio. Even fresh leaves, alcohol becomes septic at around 10-15% with a general threshold of around 2% - so just consider how concentrated your spirits are and how much water your leaves will add to the mix. I remember reading an amateur research article on khat in general, stating that it contained notable amounts of l-ascorbate (vit. c) and other interesting nutrients. Hardly sounds like the demonic curse that it has been made out to be, remember kiddies - everything in moderation. I have access to over 230 research papers on Catha edulis, i mean to read them but i simply do not have the time - i feel kinda guilty having access to this great information and not sharing! Here is the introduction and a figure from an article which i think is very relevant to this thread: Chappell, J.; Lee, M. 2009. Cathinone preservation in khat evidence via drying. In. Forensic Science International, volume 195 pp 108-120. Drug Enforcement Administration, Western Laboratory, 390 Main Street, Room 700, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA. It appears you would be safe just drying the leaves at room temperature! It makes sense when you consider how robust plant cells are, it is easy to be sucked in by common knowledge sometimes. But common/social knowledge should never underestimated! There are many things that science is entirely capable of over-looking, this article may prove that these alkaloids are entirely stable but there may be some grain of truth to the rapid oxidation argument. Indigo; how about you do a bio-assay for us? I'm sure you wouldn't mind getting high in the name of science? If you end up with a significant amount of leaves, perhaps you could dry some out then in one years time compare the effects of two doses of equal leaf count? (fresh leaf vs. one year old dry leaf)

personally, i would buy a couple bottles of cheap high proof spirits and just store your fresh leaves from the prunings in a large jar full of the alcohol until you wish to use it. the alcohol should kerb much of the oxidation and will hopefully absorb a large portion of the alkaloids. after a few months just filter out and throw away the leaves (you could probably still chew them if you wish) and enjoy a nice cathinone tipple to sooth that runny nose.

in israel they make herbal pills from khat extract that has been compared closely with e. but normally to get that kind of dose from khat you would have to spend several hours chewing leaves and still be rather far off. i think that khat is closest you will probably get to a e-like buzz, mescaline also has some very euphoric qualities but i wouldnt compare it to e. but, a half dose of mescaline (about the equivalent of 6" san pedro) plus coffee and some khat or other amphetamines will make you munt pretty hard. but i find i become very arrogant and cocky when i mix any kind of stimulant with mescaline, even caffeine and especially amphetamines - its worth noting that alcohol makes my aggression even worse so i avoid it like the plague. its also worth noting i dont become at all like this on mescaline or stimulants when taken separately. when i use this mix i get the same euphoric delirious muntedness of e but without the lovey-fuzzy vibe, i get more of a total-asshole-fuzzy vibe. it may be entirely personal, i only know a few people who have used this mix and they all experience widely varying results between them.

That is a blue myrtle like the others have said, i love myrtles tho - they have alot of character plus they grow thousands of berries when mature. Bunnings is great, i have bought some my finest trichs from bunnings - i got a beautiful t. scop and two different t. peruvianus (one more kk242 the other more macrogonus) from bunnings. I may have just been lucky, but its work keeping any eye out.

#2 Stenocereus spp - possibly griseus. Stenocereus fruit are edible, never tried it - but i heard they are delicious. Any idea what those leafy plants are? They look like they could possibly be narrrow leaf khat, or some Acacia species. Kinda hard to tell from pic, im probably wrong but it could be worthwhile looking into them further also.

I know a few veteran CSSNZ members, they all have the same T. pachanoi x T. scopulicola San Pedros in their gardens. I have never seen a CSSNZ member with a non-hybridized BC San Pedro, they all seem to have these hybrids. All i have heard is this San Pedro breed has been around for decades, proliferated and sold by members to the public. One member has a garden full of these hybrids, they said they got their first cutting in the early 80's - they knew they were actually hybrids but they were simply the only readily-available Trichocereus cacti in NZ at the time and they also weren't concerned about how true their Trichocereus species were.

Many of the T. pachanoi's in NZ are pachanoi x scopulicola, im not sure where these plants originally came from - but they have been getting traded around the country through the cactus society channels for a long time. Looks like what you have.

Meh..

http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/8630564#8630564 Seems like a good spot to visit.

Hey guys, I was doing some work down the back of my place the other day and noticed this tree growing in a thicket. I am very unfamiliar with the Solanaceae tree species, i have never really been too interested in Brugs and Datura species etc - but this tree really peaked my interest. The masses of bright pink flowers made this plant hard for me to leave unknown, i did some research - but came up empty handed. I believe it was seed dispersed possibly from a large private Victorian garden a few hundred meters away - but that is all the leads i have on its origins. Flower: Calyx, Corolla & Androceum all adnate, borne on an epigynous zone. Eight stamens (staggered), four petals (valvate) and four sepals (also valvate). Reference is in centimeters. Any info would be appreciated, cheers!

I tried a berry today, a subtle and unique flavor - not very sweet but very different. I am pretty confident now that it is F. boliviana, it also turns out it is considered a weed here Thanks for the help culebra, i would still be researching the Solanaceae family if it wasnt for you lol. Cheers!

My two 'Madisons' have started flowering for the first time, pretty prolifically too - thought it was worth the share. They have about 14 flowers each, in various stages. Enjoy. Most pictures between 1024x768 and 1600x1200, slow internet users beware.

I think you may be right, i jumped the gun a bit and made bit of a faux pas by using the leaf physiology and general flower appearance to justify the family - in what i believed was an easy pick. The adnate sepals should have been a dead give away, i kinda over looked that. Meh, i have never bothered studying any non-food crop Solanaceae plants till now - i might go examine some datura flowers tomorrow. Cheers. Edit: Yep, F. boliviana or dependens or other close relative. I still can't believe its not in the Solanaceae family, i just screams nightshade lol. I will see if i can find anything interesting on the species, once i round it down - cheers man.

Cheers guys One of them (with the deeper red flowers) is also pupping. It has one coming out the side, very slowly tho - maybe due to it spending so much resources on flowering. Everyone i show them to, sees the flowers and finally realize why i like to collect cacti lol - you can almost hear them thinking "ohhhh i understand now" haha.

Yep, its definitely in the Solanaceae family.

they are different plants, re-read his post.

I dont like ya chances of a successful cross breed, but damn those are some amazing flowers! Nice

^^^ They are one of my favorite cacti also, they just look so cool - plus they flower prolifically with a small white flower from every aerole. If you get a few of them together they will pollinate and produce potentially 1000's of little cacti blueberries that are very much edible, and apparently very good for you. A very cool cactus!

magnesium sulphate, aparently. never tried it myself..

Lets just hope that crow has a bad trip haha. It should grow fine as it is, but it will be butt-ugly - i would probably just stump it and let it pup. Time to buy an air rifle aye?