Sceletium tortuosum?

[G Dawg]

I read an article about this on the net and was wondering if anyone has any experiences with it or other species of Sceletium. Also is it available in Oz as I have seen something similar that is common in gardens.

[jalien]

yes i have tried a packet

its ok, but i think very expensive for what it does (as in reports you will find if you do a search)

if you have the money probably better to spend it on "other herbs"

(even salvia splendens from someones garden is comparable in its weed enhancing properties)

your mileage may vary

any other opinions?

[rkundalini]

There's a bit of a hole in the research with this family of plants. I think it's highly unlikely you'd find Sceletium growing in gardens, but other Mesembryanthemaceae (I think that's right but I'm no botanist heheh) are pretty common, known as pigface. There is an article a friend of mine is trying to get which tests a huge number of species and finds quite a lot of them contain mesembrine alkaloids as found in Sceletium tortuosum (the abstract doesn't list the actual species though hence the need for the article). If you're adventurous and you find some succulents from this family you could prepare them as per S tortuosum (crush, ferment etc) and cautiously bioassay, I'm sure a lot of people would in interested in any positive results. The fresh (not fermented) herb can be high in oxalic acid so don't just eat it. Supposedly the effects are much more interesting combined with marijuana but that would be illegal ;) (and would also confound your results). I presume you've also looked at "The Empathogenic Effects of S tortuosum" which I think is at spiritplants or the forbidden fruit?

Here's the ref if anyone is able to get the article: Smith, M 1998. Pharmaceutical Biology 36(3):173-179. "The distribution of mesembrine alkaloids in selected taxa of the Mesembryanthemaceae and their modification in the Sceletium derived 'kougoed'."