apothecary

Mimosa hostilis thread and everyone forgot the nitrogen fixing bacteria.. I found it didn't hurt to germinate my seedlings (admittedly a few years ago now, but the plants grew big and strong) in pots which had already been used to grow more prolific and hardier Fabaceae. My understanding is that there is generally a type of bacteria for each genus or even species but when I repotted the plants there was plenty of "nodules" of the bacteria on the root system. If your soil doesn't have the bacteria present and conditions aren't correct for the small amount that may be assumed naturally present then you need to consider careful (foliar?) feeding to keep the plants happy. Judging from your posted climate profile, I would also suggest simply putting the plants outside in a spot which gets sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon until it's time to pot them up or put them in the ground. Nitrogen fixing bacteria on soybean roots (just provided from google images as an example) http://cache2.artprintimages.com/p/LRG/38/3817/ZBDYF00Z/art-print/wally-eberhart-nitrogen-fixing-bacteria-rhizobium-nodules-on-soybean-roots-glycine-max.jpg

I was sort of curious what Duke had to say about this question so I went to http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/activity.html (which allows a search of the Duke DB on activity of compounds in plants) and typed in "analgesic" for a search. Interesting response was returned. For anyone interested I recommend you try it out!

Didn't really want to get out of bed when I woke up today. But in the end it was very good that I did, you guys are all legendary. I feel another meet in two weeks would be truly awesome. I know we usually only meet once each season but we should make an exception for Spring!

In the tradition of EGA haikus: I peed on myself/ thinking about EGA/ very excited.

Now is a great time of year to grow Winter ethnobotanicals, save your tropical seed and patience for when they will thrive best. I think attempting an Iboga germination now without a very controlled environment will probably result in heartbreak. Trichocereus cacti should be fine as long as you are germinating them with bottom heat. Good beginner ethnos for growing in the colder months (imho): * Sceletium species * Artemisia absinthum * Desmanthus illinoensis (this would make a good winter substitute for Mimosa)

Hi Heffa, You can pick them any point from now. Just make sure 100% that they are are indeed var utilis before attempting a harvest or you will have a really rough time of things.

Was a great day. When I turned up it was just sharxx and Amazonian but before long more and more heads started to drift in and soon the turnout was very good! Love the dedication of Melbourne plant heads. Good weather in the end and good food thanks to the generosity of many. Spent most of my time immersed in conversation, only had the brief chance of a stroll and managed to take the opportunity to do the usual rounds, culminating in a nose full of lovely Zieria citriodora twigs. Am generally amazed by the intelligence, resourcefulness and humanity of people turning up at the Melb meets, if I had to start a post apocalyptic subsistence community with anyone it would be you guys!

Awesome weekend. Oh I'm sorry, let me clarify, I had plans for an awesome weekend but the rain ruined them so I am blotting out the memory from anything on the weekend except for the meet which was awesome. ... Awesome weekend.

Ummm...yea...not sure I can wait that long!

Great day! Perfect weather and good peeps. Moar meetz plz.

You know how we do. +1 on loving the Klin, haven't had any in ages though. Did all those reporting anxiety attacks drink a higher dosage than recommended by the instructions? It's a freeze dried product not the dried root so you can't treat it the same as drinking a freshly brewed bowl. Never experienced that effect personally but seen it in people who didn't pay heed to personal and package limits. Been lucky to strike gold on some really great waka recently thanks to a close friend, great stuff! Would be lost without kava in the medicine bag for anxiety, muscle pains, insomnia, etc. 2tsp of klin or just 1 cup of fresh kavakava. I do not recommend to mix with alcohol although many people do and don't seem to mind (not a drinker myself).

Hi tripsis I guess we are getting a little off topic now but that's ok I guess. Searching "Ephedra" on legislation.nsw.gov.au definitely returns at least 1 hit from the "Drug and Alcohol Treatment Act 2007", where "Ephedra alkaloids" are listed as a schedule 1 substance "Stimulants & Hallucinogens": So it should at least return one hit to your search! Ephedrine itself is listed in 3 NSW acts and 2 regulations.

Dunno where you are tripsis, how would I be able to tell you which state law to access? Most states have their stuff setup like: http://legislation.STATE.gov.au for example VIC is http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/ but you need to examine yours individually. Also good to keep in mind some states/territories have really stupid shit, like live plant definitions in QLD and poison schedules in ACT.

State laws are the kicker and it would be wise to be versed on these before attempts are procurement. Law enforcement seems to have a hard on for this genus. Otherwise tripsis has it covered. In regards to searching, try just "Ma Huang" with the inverted commas included, or Ephedra. In my opinion a very very interesting plant I was glad to catch the talk Des Tramacchi gave at EGA last weekend which featured photos of young Iranian kids collecting Ephedra for the Zoroastrian yasna. http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/haoma/index.htm

Oxalis tuberosa roots release a fluorescent exudate. There was a paper stating these exudates to be b-carbolines (even harmine directly?), which caused some excitement within the community. However the paper was retracted and I believe the scientific community is unsure what the exudates are composed of. However it is well known Oxalis leaves can act as an antidote to various poisons (arsenic, mercury, Datura?). More work is definitely needed on this plant IMHO. At EGA on the weekend someone repeatedly told me Sida acuta was native Australian. After I returned home, managed to confirm that it isn't. Sida are extremely useful weeds during the winter periods. Like the wise amongst us here have pointed out, most weeds end up being very useful. My most hated weed is couchgrass. However wiki shows even this extremely invasive annoying plant has good use:

We have done experiments on Aptenia and reported the results back here to the community. My experience is generally, stick to the Sceletium species. Addition of the roots into the fermentation bag seems to increase the potency. Spoke to someone yesterday who has been using Sceletium without fermentation, but generally I like to follow the traditional prep where possible.

Some mentions here of Sapo/Kambo. My understanding that Sapo is only used when the hunting is hard, Matses tribes usually use a much less (but still extremely) potent snuff called Nu Nu. This is produced from Nicotiana rustica leaves and Theobroma bicolor inner barks. Some Amazonian tribes are using Piri Piri (Cyperus) root for hunting also. We should also not forget the ultimate hunting plant, Hoodia gordonii.

When something fucks up on one of my computers, the first thing I will usually do is "reboot" the something, to get it back to its original state. Can we have a discussion about doing this with ones body? Mine isn't really fucked up per se, but I would like to reset everything to the way it "should" be to get a better look at where I am messing things up currently. Does that make sense? Once I know what is "right" I can see what I was doing "wrong" before. I use those two strong words (right/wrong) with caution. Some ideas I have had so far include * regulating sleep cycle properly, so I'm not up late every night and sleeping in every morning (thank god my boss doesn't care when I turn up). * eating a balanced diet * quitting smoking of all kinds ** and a sub point to this is trying to figure out a way to "realign" (for want of a better word) my dopamine system from all the pot smoking I've been doing. (and hence moderate my pot smoking afterwards) * trying to excersise regularly Now you may be thinking "that's really it, diet excersise and good sleep is all you need!" but there are other points that have me interested. I hear disassociatives like Ketamine are good for "reprogramming" your brain, would such reprogramming assist in this case, and do other disassociatives like DXM work for the same thing? What about herbs and plants (I noticed gom has some really cool stuff on his site recently) that can help me along my way quicker, give me more energy (yeah I've read plenty about energising herbs already) or motivate me more, help change my outlook on things to be more positive (i.e. some stuff gives a refreshed afterglow the morning after). Other points like what is the best way to ensure you are sleepy (and not perky) at the appropriate time to go to bed. I imagine diet would have an effect on this too. I remember Darklight wrote a really good post on the topic, but more info can't hurt! I've also found keeping projects on hand to keep me busy help greatly (to keep me motivated) too. At the moment I'm compiling a pile of info from the forums for a huge update to the ethnowiki, I am slowly attempting to relearn Latin, and am trying to learn the Harmonica. Even just small affirmations or sayings help the state of mind greatly, I remember reading the artful prose "Desiderata' that Bacchus posted, and it really set my mind soaring. I have printed out several copies and plan to stick it all over my room. I want to be the best and most I can be, and squeeze every droplet of sweet nectary life out of the fruit I was given. Any help thrown my way would be much appreciated

I just keep watching the G-force video over and over again http://www.shaman-australis.com/~pic/yourmum/

http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/609781 Enjoy! The theme of the episode is how plants have better selection potential through making themselves desirable to humans, and also includes other similar plants like potatoes. Also examines the idea of the Drug War as selection pressure.

According to the UN there are supposed to be stockpiles which can supply roughly ten years worth of demand at current global levels. Suspicions might be well founded. Anyone remember this? From:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_eradication Sounds all too familiar

A few specimens from lovely a trip north-west of Melbourne.

Awesome photo Tripis! I love the one with the two flowers over the pedro. I vote for that pic, keep up the good work~!

Shit bro, somebody needs a hug and a blanket.