-bijanto-

I got some rooted cuttings of this plant in October 2003, which was claimed by the sender as kava-kava "Piper methysticum". Now, it's growing like crazy, They seem to grow very quickly on any soil of my garden. They even have their roots break through the bottom of the pots and spread out horizontally as far as they can reach. Here's the link to the pictures of my plant: Mysterious Piper Plant I was very proud with this one (I show it to all friends who visit me)....but not until I found out that this plant might not be the real kava-kava (P. methysticum). If this is not the real kava, can anyone point me to a good source of kava cuttings? I'll appreciate any comment, thanks!

Well maybe I'll chew the roots later, and let you all know what it tastes. However I never know the taste of a real kava, and the leaves doesn't smell like anything I know here, including the Cinnamomum burmanii. I like the smell of cinnamon leaf better. I have noticed the shape of the leaf, especially the patterns of the veins. In the real kava, all veins begin from one point, unlike the veins of P. auritum. Here, this is what makes me sure: Comparison of the Real and False Sakau From the above site you can see that the side veins of P. auritum do not start from one point, but from along the central vein. Besides, the shape of the real kava leaf is more like a perfect heart similar like that you see in playing cards. That perfect heart shape is also similar to that of Piper betel leaf IMO. And..this morning I'm just back from the mountain after picking some fresh pranajiwa fruits. I will take their pictures. Could you tell me how to upload a picture to your picture gallery, Torsten? I will start a new topic special to introduce this plant to this forum later, thanks.

Yes Prophet, what a pain! Torsten & Planthelper, after some googling around and reading all posts here, I'm not interested in smelling the roots anymore, as all those pictures have all the answers. If planthelper or anyone else here would like to swap your kava cutting, I will likely to have some fresh "Euchresta horsfieldii" seeds soon. It is an aphrodisiac plants which grows naturally at cooler temps (higher altitide) of Java (so it might grow well in cooler part of Australia) and the seed contains cytisine alkaloid etc. The seed is used as decongestant, diuretic, expectorant, vasoconstrictor, emetic and aphrodisiac. As Torsten wrote in his web page: The quinolizidine alkaloid Cytisine occurrs in the seeds of Laburnum anagyroides (Laburnum), Anagyris spp, Baptisia spp, Cytisus spp, genista spp, Sophora spp and Thermopsis spp. It is a respiratory stimualnt, with a nicotnie like activity and is hallucinogenic. Highly toxic. The LD50 intraperitoneally in mice is 18mg/kg body weight. Poisoning occurrs often, especially in children and animals after ingesting plant parts, especially the attractive seeds of some of the leguminosae. Cytisine is teratogenic in rabbits and poultry and acts as a feeding deterrent to snails. I would very much love to swap the Pranajiwa seeds with any of kava variety cutting. Private me if interested !! Asean Regional Center for Biodiversity Conservation Pranajiwa, plant for Sex (in Indonesian Lang.)

Prophet, both dried or fresh roots are used here, but mostly fresh.

In Indonesia, a tea made of roots of the S. rhombifolia is a traditional medicine against gout and other pains caused by abnormally-high level of uric acid in the body. Here's how they use it: take 5 plants, cut out the upper part and rinse the remaining roots. Boil in 2 glasses of water. After boiled, let it sit overnight and drink it the next morning with an empty stomach. For more serious illness, the number of plants can be increased, but it must be of any odd number. Usually, 7 or 9 plants. I guess this is just a myth or something

quote: Are the leaves VERY aromatic? Like sassafras?It is fragrant, yes...but I don't know how sassafras smells like. Here in my area we have another sp called "Piper betel" which is also aromatic, but the scent is totally different, I can't find the similarity. Anyway, don't you think all members of Piper genus are supposed to be aromatic? quote: It appears that the 'veins'(said I wasn't no botanist) on the leaves are more rounded and curved on Methysticum, whereas yours are straight. As well, the edges of your leaves look somewhat ragged, whereas methysticum has smoothed edges and a slight 'dome' shape to the outer edge of the leaf. Well I guess you're right. I'm just still hoping that my plant is more or less a variety of Piper methysticum.

In that part of the country (where the tidal waves happened), life has been valued less for the last decades, due to the war against the separatist movements there. Schools were burnt to the ground, innocent villagers have to choose either to bend their kness under the violence of the military or the separatist fighters....we can add more to the list. And this warning system idea seems to be effective to reduce the human suffering problems in Aceh, at least until someone told them that the most dangerous violence is not the one spreaded out by the nature, but by the creators of the warning system itself. Merry X-mas (a little late for that ) and happy new year!

Hi everyone. I want to share my happiness here. These pictures were taken shortly after I pruned my M. speciosa tree (you can see the picture of its leaf clippings on the ground). It's really a pleasure to see a four-centimeter plant has been growing to this size for about... 4 years, I guess. "Torsten, do you remember exactly when you sent me the plantlet?" I salute you who has done a noble thing to help a rare species survive. By the way, I want to keep pruning this tree so it will not grow too tall. Any idea on how to do that, folks? I need to learn some pruning techniques here. Here are the pictures: The M. speciosa tree The M. speciosa leaf clippings [ 09. December 2004, 21:08: Message edited by: -bijanto- ]

I don't know what those "winking eyes", "grinning" and "hanging-out tongue" mean, folks...but I've got a strange feeling that "something" is going on here. :confused: