Torsten

Basically identical to the Hawaiian baby Woodrose or any other of the Argyreias. There is a picture on the site under Argyreia nervosa.

The guy who makes them has given me a demo of how it works and it is really quite amazing. I will be trying it for essential oil extraction soon, as there may be a potential for it.

Forget the seeds!! They have a very low viability and are VERY expensive. Salvia is already in NZ and I am trying to organise a service for NZ customers to obtain cuttings within NZ without having to worry about MAF. I have been in contact with MAF and they are very glad about this, as the import of these cuttings is really worrying them. How this service will work is still a little unclear, but with a little patience it will all work out.

Actually there are similarities between LSD and iboga treatment. Both are complex indoles that act on the serotonergic system. These changes in neurotransmitter levels and the 're-wiring' of the brain hav been highly successful inntreating all sorts of addictions. Albert Hofman was doing a lot of research in Spain a few years ago with using LSD to treat alcoholism. Success rates at 12 months were in excess of 50%!!! I believe that this treat ment is also available in Switzerland (or at least it was a few years ago). To attribute this purely to psychological effects would be a little hasty.

I will put up a page on australian erythroxyum species in the next week or so as there have been so many enquiries. Geoff knows that I was looking for this seed, but I haven't been able to contact him by e-mail for several weeks. They just keep bouncing back to me. I will give him a ring.

I guess the water deprivation may help, but how can you eliminate the rain?? At least one of the australian weed ipomoeas is active, but not in the way we might hope. It works wonders as a laxative ;-)

I guess the water deprivation may help, but how can you eliminate the rain?? At leats one of the australian weed ipomoeas is active, but not in the way we might hope. It works wonders as a laxative ;-)

Actually, we currently have about 400 species of interest and will add them to the list as time and space permits (slowly!!). we will however update the index plantarum pretty soon, so that everyone can check out what we are trying to propagate. Some of them may even be available on request.

I think the sheer quantity would preclude this method.

I have not been able to track down Galbulimia. Calamus, Tabernaemontana orientalis, Pituri, Corkwood, and many acacias are available. Areca catechu, Kava, will be available soon Galangal is available at your supermarket. BTW, many of these plants are intrduced and hex has left out many interesting natives. Was there any one in particular you were after??

Morning glories don't seed if there is plenty of water. This is a problem in your climate, as the rain starts as the seed is supposed to mature. The local introduced Morning glories don't have that problem and are much more succesful weeds. El nino years are your best bet ;-)

You will find that meteloidine is actually closely related to the Brugmansia alkaloids (tropanes) and bears little resemblence to cocaine. It is also inactive in humans. the otehr secies up north look a lot more interesting. If you check out their chemistry you will find that one of them contains a molecule virtually identical to cocaine, except that the linking chain is one carbon longer. This species also has a history of use as an expectorant. My experiment with australe wasn't all that toxic as I may have alluded to. after chewing the leaves for a couple of minutes my throat constricted quite severely. My osoephagus became cramped and this feeling lasted for 30 minutes. there was no stimulation, numbness or any other effect. Quite unspectacular but a little scary as the contriction was unpredictable. The shrub is so incredibly inconspicuous, that I don't think I would ever notice it even if I stood right in front of it. The berries might be the only give away, but I've never seen this species fruit.

What's the info?? I have pics and have also regrettably tried the leaves. Don't do it!! I will write a webpage for this species in the next couple of months. I can't sell it even if I could propagate it and my last cutting died a few months ago, but the info is requested so frequently and there is so much misinformation out there I feel the need to set this straight.

That circle is VERY small. I know of a couple of people who have it and aren't willing to part with it just yet. I am sure it will take another year or so to hit the tading market.

It is now generally accepted that the material is only active when fresh. A couple of my customers have tried the dried material and had no luck.

Lagochilus is a bit of a holy grail. It grows only in a small area of Uzbekistan just north of Afghanistan where people are butchering each other over religion and other silly stuff. While war is raging there it will be unlikely to source this plant. An asian company claimed to be supplying the dried herb, but their marketing stopped soon afger it started - their reputation wasn't that crash hot to start off with and I think they just went a little too far trying to rip people off this way. Every now and then this plant is traded furiously on the internet, but so far everytime it turnd out to be a fake. It's just ruthless people using it as a top bargaining chip in their swapping games. There are a couple of groups who are quite dedicated to getting this species, but unless they are Taleban I guess they don't have much of a chance.

make sure your cutting is at least two nodes from the tip. The first two sections will just rot if planted, but the third is usually woody enough to root. Root in free draining mix (coarse sharp sand) and at medium humidity. Roots in 3 weeks in summer but may tak longer as it gets cooler. Impossible to root in winter. IBA [clonex] (woody strength) seriously helps the rooting process. It shoudl probably be rooted before shipping, as the cutting transpires VERY rapidly. If this isn't possible, ship it in sphagnum moss sealed in a zip-bag. Good luck.

1. Desmanthus is a small shrub, so it will produce substantial roots within the first year. Some Mimosas are also fast growing, but the ones we are interested in woul;d take at least a year or two before you would look at the roots. Yield starts to increase dramatically after the second or third year with the mimosas and harvesting any earlier would be a waste. 2. 18 months or older for the Desmanthus and 4 years or older for the Mimosas. 3. Most of the Desmanthus comes from one of the dry southern states of the US. I can't remeber which one though. Most of the Mimosa hostilis comes from Brazil, but I also know of a few suppliers from Mexico. Mimosa hostilis is actually accurately named Mimosa tenuiflora. It is the rootbark which is of most interest with this species and contains mostly NN-DMT. Mimosa scabrella is quite closely related and also contains alkaloids of the tryptamine group. In australia neither of them would stand out much as they look just like some of our bipinnate acacias ;)