apothecary Posted May 6, 2005 Hello! Time to (re?)drum up some interest in this plant. I've discovered a C. blumei green/purple plant growing in a crack of concrete in some persons driveway near my home. I'm planning a rescue mission. Anyone have any good advice on taking cuttings of this plant? I've never cared for a rainforest plant before. Also, while we're at it...I know some people on this forum have had hallucinogenic experiences with Coleus, like this post from theobromos ...anyone have any positive experiences from this plant? We should make an attempt to settle this once and for all. Possible starting points include finding a "pure bred" plant, or growing this thing to the crap until a psychoactive chemotype is found (if the psychoactivity is only in specific chemotypes). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
psycho0 Posted May 6, 2005 i had great success with planting the seeds and some success with propogating in normal potting mix Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
apothecary Posted May 7, 2005 O.K there's no way I'm letting this thread die you bastards. Thanks for the tip psycho0, the rescue mission will probably take place tonight or sometime Sunday. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
psycho0 Posted May 7, 2005 good luck mate i bought just a store packet of seeds and about 100, give or take a few) came up i was wrapped :D i think they just propogate like sally! just cut a good few nodes length of stem cut the lower leaves of and as the leaves r quite large it may b a good idea to trim the top leaves almost in half so the growth goes mainly into root development, and leave this in a jar of water with at least the bottom nodes in the water(of course u know to cut just below the nodes right!) roots should form very quickly u can then pot these up or i had not as much success but u can just plant cuttings into soil! i never actually tried it but am intrigued to learn more about the effects, if any! aaron Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tomer Corymbosa Posted May 8, 2005 :D apothecary - i think the problem is in the hybrid strains! it is very difficult to find pure strain of c.blumei every nursery sells hybrids... you need to check only the pure strains... and i remember that only fresh leaves can be active. afer couple of hours threr is no much left for effects... anyway good luck... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alice Posted July 14, 2006 any updates? anyone found a pure strain of c.blumei? and how to tell the pure strains from the hybrids? distinguishing features? i was quite surprised to read that this is a possibly active species, as i see coleus growing everywhere around here... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rev Posted July 14, 2006 (edited) i cant find the theo report wasnt it clarified that coleus is NOT traditionally used, but was in fact brought home by the shamans daughter from afar and planted cos it looked pretty? it would certainly not be had to confuse the 2 check this out. no shit hey Edited July 14, 2006 by Rev Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
apothecary Posted July 15, 2006 (edited) theobromos report: http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...?showtopic=1077 Rev, personally I don't feel that one quote from the shaman saying his daughter only brought it home 'cos it was pretty is enough to disprove Coleus psychoactivity...in fact I think the quote has been raised before and many possible factors were given as the reason behind the answer... Maybe the shaman didn't want the questioners (wasn't it Wasson?) to know about the psychoactivity...maybe the shaman himself didn't know? It was only one shaman ANYWAY, I believe the same one that claimed the Argyeria sp. growing on the side of his house caused insanity when pressed about how come they didn't use it instead of Ipomoea... Anyway, I think the only people outright disregarding the psychoactivity of the genus are just nay-sayers. wira made a pretty cool old post on a possibility that the psychoactivity may be because of forskolin: http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...?showtopic=1452 So check out this abstract http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...p;dopt=Abstract A preliminary study of possible psychoactive effects of intravenous forskolin in depressed and schizophrenic patients. Bersudsky Y, Kotler M, Shifrin M, Belmaker RH. Ministry of Health Mental Health Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Israel. Forskolin is a unique activator of adenylate cyclase that bypasses membrane receptors and directly raised levels of the second messenger cyclic AMP. Depressed patients and schizophrenic patients with negative symptoms have been reported to have reduced cyclic AMP levels. In the first study of forskolin in psychiatry, we gave iv forskolin in a 75 minute infusion to four depressed and five schizophrenic patients. All four depressed patients showed a transient mood elevation or stimulation, as did two of the five schizophrenic patients. And lastly, I've stated this before (along with the disclaimer that it is pure conjecture): Salvia divinorum seems to be potentiated by the presence of other terpenes upon ingestion. psycho0 said he knew some people doing research into the possibility of use of S. divinorum with Campsis radicans... Torsten used to sell S. divinorum for ingestion (when it was legal!) along with some S. splendens to "soften the hardheads"... And so on. So it seems at least some terpenes have a potentiating effect. The post colonisation naming of the C. blumei/C.pumilus varieties and S. divinorum also seems to indicate the Mazatec shamen were at least aware of a "family" relationship between these plants. So maybe the whole use of Coleus species by the Mazatecs centers around its potentiating relationship when ingested with S. divinorum? Who knows. I had plans to do experiments in this regard but do not have access to enough good S. divinorum to do a series of comprehensive tests (oral ingestion, not smoked). --end conjecture-- Lastly, here is the plant mentioned in the first post, about two weeks after rescuing. At this point it has roots and not much else. Look at it today A very beautiful plant to grow, it is just reshooting now after my neglect over the exam period. Edited July 15, 2006 by apothecary Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
planthelper Posted July 15, 2006 hmm, i spotted a coleus which looks just like "our beloved lady" in the rocky rbg, will take cuttings, now that you aroused my interrest. i remeber a report of a member stating activety after keeping around 40 leaves in the mouth for an extanded periode, some how i think it was wira, but i'm proly wrong about the member name... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
apothecary Posted July 15, 2006 P.S: Anyone who has access to seed for Coleus forskohlii ...let me know :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
apothecary Posted July 15, 2006 (edited) P.S: I think there was also a paper somewhere stating that salvinorin C potentiates salvinorin A (i.e. another terpene that potentiates salvinorin A) ...will try and find it tomorrow... EDIT: Damn...looks like I just made that up..disregard! Edited July 15, 2006 by apothecary Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prier Posted July 21, 2006 Smoking salvia an coleus together, i've read (or heard maybe) increases the sally effect. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mutant Posted December 7, 2007 (edited) Hi. I suspect the coloured leave coleus in apothecary's photos isn't the original Coleus blumei. Countless hybrids exist. I suggested some things about Coleus in this thread http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...mp;#entry161778 Edited December 7, 2007 by mutant Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Conan Troutman Posted December 8, 2007 surely constant selective breeding would be able to revert genetics back to its parent form? its short time to flowering and growing speed would make it very easy to try...maybe later Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mutant Posted December 8, 2007 (edited) You are right. The plant literally makes flowers all the time. Some third or half it is seed. I already store seeds for the spring. Edited December 8, 2007 by mutant Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Satyr+ Posted May 24, 2008 Hello!Time to (re?)drum up some interest in this plant. I've discovered a C. blumei green/purple plant growing in a crack of concrete in some persons driveway near my home. I'm planning a rescue mission. Anyone have any good advice on taking cuttings of this plant? I've never cared for a rainforest plant before. Also, while we're at it...I know some people on this forum have had hallucinogenic experiences with Coleus, like this post from theobromos ...anyone have any positive experiences from this plant? We should make an attempt to settle this once and for all. Possible starting points include finding a "pure bred" plant, or growing this thing to the crap until a psychoactive chemotype is found (if the psychoactivity is only in specific chemotypes). i've had a successful experience with it. It's very mild in comparrison to other plants but it was interesting and nice. I chewed 10 leaves over the space of 20-30mins. It started to work after 30mins and it lasted for about 2 hrs. Depth perception wasn't present. My friend was standing about 2 metres away from me and he looked like he was about the height of a 10 year old. It was accompanied with a kind of stoned feeling without the confusion and paranoia that may occur after smoking MJ. I would've liked to try a higher dose but the taste of the leaves was quite unpleasant. I may look into again in the future. It's very easy to grow. Plant a cutting (without roots) straight into the ground and water it. It'll start to shoot within a week or 2. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Teotzlcoatl Posted September 27, 2009 wasnt it clarified that coleus is NOT traditionally used, but was in fact brought home by the shamans daughter from afar and planted cos it looked pretty? YES. YES it was... people seem to forget this! It isn't even from the Americas!!! It is from ASIA! Check this out! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Illustro Posted September 27, 2009 YES. YES it was... people seem to forget this!It isn't even from the Americas!!! It is from ASIA! Check this out! Personally, i do not think you are of any authority to say whether it is psychoactive or not. Simply because it is not native to the americas doesn't mean it isn't psychoactive. I think it is a plant worthy of further study, until someone actually does a serious chemical analysis of it (and further analysis of the chemicals isolated) i will remain neutral. But know, it is just as stupid to make skeptical assumptions on uneducated guesses as it is to be fooled by the placebo effect. Now the question is, have you ever had a serious attempt at a bioassay with Coleus before dismissing it so completely? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
t st tantra Posted September 27, 2009 wonder is coleus effects are similar to amaranth family effects? t s t . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mutant Posted September 27, 2009 (edited) Tst what would amaranth's effects be? IMO , Coleus is definately active, albeit mild. I haven't had time and zest and haven't been in the mood to eat a lot of it to check. But there's something active definately there and foafs report notable synergy with a bit leaf and the herb... Some people report on its dream calalyst efects too... Teotz is sure not known for his objectivity or credibility, but many people in the 'community' claim that coleus activity is a myth. people need to test the big, erect bright coloured clone which is propably closer to the original plant 'plant of the gods' describes and talks about... I have answered all these here... http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...mp;#entry161778 and elsewhere I can provide cuttings or seeds to those seriously interested in bioessaying my clone.... Edited September 27, 2009 by mutant Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
t st tantra Posted September 27, 2009 http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...maranth+iresine t s t . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mutant Posted September 28, 2009 I regard coleus a minor to mild stimulant/euphoric/psychedelic and propably dream enhancer... not sedative... if that helps... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites