Mucuna pruriens

[apothecary]

What an interesting plant!

 

quote:

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The hairs lining the pods contain serotonin and are very dangerous as they can cause servere irritations.

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quote:

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Mucuna pruriens seeds have been found to contain between 4% and 9% of L-DOPA as well as the bioactive alkaloids mucunine, mucunadine, mucuadinine, pruriendine and nicotine. The seeds with seed coat showed the presence of a number of bioactive subtances including tryptamine, alkylamines, steroids, flavonoids, coumarins, cardenolides, etc. Other sources state the presence of DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, Bufotenine and beta-carbolines.

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That's quite a cocktail! I'm guessing oral ingestion of serotonin isn't possible without MAOI? What would the effects be like? Could you smoke it?

How does one harvest the seed for consumption? How long do the plants take to yield seed? Or will this depend on enviromental factors (I notice from searching that t st tantra didn't have luck getting beans).

So many questions this plant poses!

[Rev]

They are easy to grow

try sab seed

us ethe sprouting in a bag of spaghnum method for old seed

very vigorous when growing - much like lablab bean (Dolichos sp.)

the problem is in areas with cold winters or frost is that this kills it before it can set seed

its a very late flowerer and needs a frost free and fairly dry winter to propser

if there was no frost i may even overwinter just like dolichos

now harvetsing the seed...

never again

take the warning VERY seriously

that shit gets airborne and EVERYWHERE and its called pruriens for nothing

its also a big concern if you inhale or ingest the hairs

the only way i would harvest again is in a chem suit with breathing aparatus and id pick the bean into a metal pots lined with straw and when full throw a match in to burn off all the hairs - just like u do to get some brachychiton species

[coin]

there's an interesting article here about the different varieties, the use of mucuna root as aphrodisiac, harvesting procedures (with possibility of producing a more potent product) and antidotes to the pod hairs

http://botanical.com/site/column_poudhia/2...27_kevatch.html

[apothecary]

lol yeah I just ordered some :D :D sounds like an amazing plant.

Great article coin, thanks

[Torsten]

Plant them early to get the best harvest. Thye need a long season. Staring them under lights might even be a good idea further south.

We have two varieties. One does not have the irritant hairs and is known to be higher in l-dopa.

The hairy one should only be harvested & shelled in full plastic overalls with sealed facemask and respirator. The sheer cost of harvest means we are not very generous with the beans.

[apothecary]

Which one did I order? lol!

[Torsten]

don't know.

var utilis is the non-hairy one.