Salvia divinorum

''Salvia divinorum'' (Latin: "sage of the diviners"; also called ska maría pastora, seer's sage, yerba de la pastora, magic mint or simply salvia) is a plant species with transient psychoactive properties when its leaves are consumed by chewing, smoking, or as a tea. The leaves contain opioid-like compounds that induce hallucinations. Because the plant has not been well-studied in high-quality clinical research, little is known about its toxicology, adverse effects, or safety over long-term consumption.

Its native habitat is cloud forest in the isolated Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca, Mexico, where it grows in shady, moist locations. Valdes 1987, p. 106. The plant grows to over a meter high, has hollow square stems like others in the mint family Lamiaceae, large leaves, and occasional white flowers with violet calyxes. Botanists have not determined whether ''Salvia divinorum'' is a cultigen or a hybrid because native plants reproduce vegetatively and rarely produce viable seed. Marushia 2002, p. 3.

Mazatec shamans have a long and continuous tradition of religious use of ''Salvia divinorum'' to facilitate visionary states of consciousness during spiritual healing sessions. Valdés, Díaz & Paul 1983, p. 287.

Its chief active psychoactive constituent is a structurally unique diterpenoid called ''salvinorin A'', Prisinzano 2006, p. 527. Imanshahidi & Hosseinzadeh 2006, p. 430. a potent κ-opioid agonist. Although not thoroughly assessed, preliminary research indicates ''Salvia divinorum'' may have low toxicity (high ). Its effects are rapid but short-lived.

''Salvia divinorum'' is legal in some countries including the U.S., although many states have passed laws criminalizing it.

Etymology

The genus name, ''Salvia'', was first used by Pliny for a plant that was likely ''Salvia officinalis'' (common sage) and is derived from the Latin ''salvere''. Kintzios 2000 Sutton 2004 The specific epithet, ''divinorum'', was given because of the plant's traditional use in divination. Reisfield 1993, Introduction. It is often loosely translated as "diviner's sage" or "seer's sage". Albert Hofmann, who collected the first plants with Wasson, objected to the new plant being given the name ''divinorum'': "I was not very happy with the name because ''Salvia divinorum'' means "Salvia of the ghosts", whereas ''Salvia divinatorum'', the correct name, means "Salvia of the priests". It is now in the botanical literature under the name ''Salvia divinorum'' due to priority rules. Grof 2001

Common names

There are many common names for ''S. divinorum'', including ''sage of the diviners'', Medana et al. 2005, p. 131. ''ska maría pastora'', Valdés, Díaz & Paul 1983, p. 288. ''seer's sage'', ''yerba de la pastora'', simply ''salvia'' also ''sally-d'' and ''magic mint''.

History

''Salvia divinorum'' is native to the Sierra Mazateca in Oaxaca, Mexico, where it is still used by the Mazatec, primarily to facilitate shamanic visions in the context of curing or divination. ''S. divinorum'' is one of several species with hallucinogenic properties that are ritually used by Mazatec shamans. In their rituals, the shamans use only fresh ''S. divinorum'' leaves. They see the plant as an incarnation of the Virgin Mary, and begin the ritual with an invocation to Mary, Saint Peter, the Holy Trinity, and other saints. Ritual use traditionally involves being in a quiet place after ingestion of the leaf—the Maztec shamans say that "La Maria (''S. divinorum'') speaks with a quiet voice."

It is also used remedially at lower dosages as a diuretic, and to treat ailments including diarrhea, anemia, headaches, rheumatism, and a semi-magical disease known as ''panzón de borrego'', or a swollen belly (literally, "lamb belly"). Valdés, Díaz & Paul 1983.

The history of the plant is not well known, and there has been no definitive answer to the question of its origin. Speculation includes ''Salvia divinorum'' being a wild plant native to the area; a cultigen of the Mazatecs; or a cultigen introduced by another indigenous group. Botanists have also not been able to determine whether it is a hybrid or a cultigen. Marushia 2002, p. 6.

Academic discovery

Jean Basset Johnson, who studied Mazatec shamanism during the 1930s.
''Salvia divinorum'' was first recorded in print by Jean Basset Johnson in 1939 while he was studying Mazatec shamanism. Marushia 2002, p. 2. He later documented its usage and reported its effects through personal testimonials. Valdés, Díaz & Paul 1983, p. 290. It was not until the 1990s that the psychoactive mechanism was identified by a team led by Daniel Siebert. Marushia 2002, p. 11.

Gordon Wasson tentatively postulated that the plant could be the mythological ''pipiltzintzintli'', the "Noble Prince" of the Aztec codices. Wasson 1963. Wasson's speculation has been the subject of further debate amongst ethnobotanists, with some scepticism coming from Leander J. Valdés, Valdés 2001. and counterpoints more supportive of Wasson's theory from Jonathan Ott. Ott 1995.

The identity of another mysterious Aztec entheogen, namely that of ''poyomatli'', has also been suggested as being ''Salvia divinorum''. Dweck 1997, p.15.
Here too there are other candidate plants, notably Cacahuaxochitl (''Quararibea funebris''), Erowid (Cacahuaxochitl) 2007. again suggesting that there is no consensus.

Botany

''Salvia divinorum'' has large green ovate (often also dentate) leaves, Giroud 2000. with a yellow undertone that reach long. The leaves have no hairs on either surface, and little or no petiole. The plant grows to well over in height, on hollow square stems which tend to break or trail on the ground, with the plant rooting quite readily at the nodes and internodes.

The flowers, which bloom only rarely, grow in whorls on a inflorescence, with about six flowers to each whorl. The flowers are white, curved and covered with hairs, and held in a small violet calyx that is covered in hairs and glands. When it does bloom in its native habitat, it does so from September to May.

Early authors erred in describing the flowers as having blue corollas, based on Epling and Játiva's description. The first plant material they received was dried, so they based the flower color on an erroneous description by Hofmann and Wasson, who didn't realize that their "blue flowers, crowned with a white dome" were in fact violet calyces with unopened white corollas. Reisfield 1993, Previous Research.

Distribution and habitat

''Salvia divinorum'' is endemic to the Sierra Mazateca in the state of Oaxaca in Mexico, growing in the primary or secondary cloud forest and tropical evergreen forest at elevations from . Its most common habitat is black soil along stream banks where small trees and bushes provide an environment of low light and high humidity.

Reproduction

''Salvia divinorum'' produces few viable seeds even when it does flower—no seeds have ever been observed on plants in the wild. For an unknown reason, pollen fertility is also comparatively reduced. There is no active pollen tube inhibition within the style, but some event or process after the pollen tube reaches the ovary is aberrant. The likeliest explanations are inbreeding depression or hybridity, Reisfield 1993, The Barrier to Fertility. although the latter was rejected in 2010. All of the Mazatec populations appear to be clonal. Marushia 2002, p. 4. The plant's square stems break easily and tend to trail on the ground, rooting easily at the nodes and internodes. Reisfield 1993, Distribution, Ecology, & Flower Initiation.

Taxonomy

''Salvia divinorum'' was first documented in 1939, but it was many years before botanists could identify the plant due to Mazatec secrecy about the growing sites. Flowers were needed for a definitive identification of the species. In 1962, the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, and ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson, traveled throughout the Sierra Mazateca researching Mazatec rituals and looking for specimens of the plant. They were unable to locate live plants. Eventually, the Mazatec provided them some flowering specimens. These specimens were sent to botanists Carl Epling and Carlos D. Játiva, who described and named the plant as ''Salvia divinorum'', after its use in divination and healing by the Mazatec. By 1985, up to fifteen populations of the plant had been found. Clebsch & Barner 2003, p. 106.

Until 2010, there were differing opinions on whether ''Salvia divinorum'' is an interspecific hybrid. The plant's partial sterility was suggestive of a hybrid origin, though no two parent species have been found with an obvious affinity to ''Salvia divinorum''. One other possibility for the plant's partial sterility is that long-term cultivation and selection have produced an inbred cultigen.Botanist Valdés (1987), wrote that, "It is doubtful that the Salvia is a true cultigen", based partly on his belief that it was first "collected in the highlands and planted in more accessible places, where it becomes naturalized". The main cultigen proponent is Gordon Wasson, who is not a botanist.

In 2010, a molecular phylogenetic approach by DNA sequencing of ''Salvia divinorum'' and a number of related species suggest that the species is not a hybrid. One earlier proposed parent was ''Salvia cyanea'' (a synonym for ''Salvia concolor''), which Epling and Játiva believed to be closely allied to ''Salvia divinorum''. Ott 1996 Reisflield 1987, p. 199.Reisfield is unsure why Epling "used the invalid name (the synonym rather than the valid name ''S. concolor''), nor why he considered this species close to ''S. divinorum''". The 2010 study demonstrated ''Salvia divinorum''s closest relative to be '' Salvia venulosa''—a rare and endemic ''Salvia'' that is native to Colombia, growing in shaded, wooded gullies at elevation. It also showed that ''Salvia divinorum'' does not belong to the ''Salvia'' section ''Dusenostachys'', as believed earlier. The genetic study also indicated that ''Salvia venulosa'' was likely misplaced into ''Salvia'' section ''Tubiflorae'', and that it may not be related to other Colombian ''Salvia'' species, though further tests are needed. A 2013 follow-up analysis of more ''Salvia'' species reports the same result.

The origin of ''Salvia divinorum'' is still a mystery (as of 1993), one of only three plants in the extensive genus ''Salvia'' (approximately 900 species) with unknown origins—the other two are '' Salvia tingitana'' and '' Salvia buchananii''. Foley 1993, p. 56.

Strains

There are two commonly cultivated strains which are known to be distinct. One is the strain that was collected in 1962 by ecologist and psychologist Sterling Bunnell (the ''Bunnell'' strain), colloquially mis-attributed as the ''Wasson-Hofmann strain''. The other was collected from Huautla de Jiménez in 1991 by anthropologist Bret Blosser (the ''Blosser'' or ''Palatable'' strain). There are other strains that are not as well documented, such as the ''Luna'' strain (possibly ''Bunnell'') isolated from a Hawaiian patch of ''Salvia divinorum'' clones, featuring unusually serrated and rounded rather than ovate leaves.

Cultivation

Propagation by cuttings

''Salvia divinorum'' is usually propagated through vegetative reproduction. Small cuttings, between long, cut off of the mother plant just below a node, will usually root in plain tap water within two or three weeks. Siebert (Cultivation advice). Beifuss 1997.

Flowering

Blooms occur when the day length becomes shorter than 12 hours (beginning in mid-October in some places), necessitating a shade cloth in urban environments with exposure to light pollution ( HPS). Siebert and hobbyist literature report that viable seeds can (rarely) form in cultivation after manual or hummingbird pollination.

Chemistry

The known active constituent of ''Salvia divinorum'' is a ''trans''-neoclerodane diterpenoid known as salvinorin A (chemical formula C₂₃H₂₈O₈). Prisinzano 2006, p. 528. This compound is present in the dried plant at about 0.18%.

Salvinorin A is not an alkaloid, (meaning it does not contain a basic nitrogen), unlike most known opioid receptor ligands. Harding, Schmidt & Tidgewell 2006, p. 107. Salvinorin A is the first documented diterpene hallucinogen.

Similar to many psychoactive herbs, ''Salvia divinorum'' synthesizes and excretes its active constituent (salvinorin A) via trichomes, of the peltate-glandular morphology, located just beneath the cuticle (subcuticular) layer.

Potency

By mass, salvinorin A "is the most potent naturally occurring hallucinogen." Imanshahidi & Hosseinzadeh 2006, p. 431. It is active at doses as low as 200 µg. Synthetic chemicals, such as LSD (active at 20–30 µg doses), can be more potent. Research has shown that salvinorin A is a potent and selective κ-opioid (kappa-opioid) receptor agonist. Roth et al. 2002, p. abstract. It has been reported that the effects of salvinorin A in mice are blocked by κ-opioid receptor antagonists. Zhang et al. 2005, p. abstract. However, it is an even more potent D₂ receptor partial agonist, and it is likely this action plays a significant role in its effects as well. Seeman et al. 2009. Salvinorin A has no actions at the 5-HT_2A serotonin receptor, the principal molecular target responsible for the actions of 'classic' hallucinogens, such as mescaline and LSD, nor is it known to have affinity for any other sites to date.

Salvinorin's potency should not be confused with toxicity. Rodents chronically exposed to dosages many times greater than those to which humans are exposed show no signs of organ damage. Mowry, Mosher & Briner 2003, p. 382.

Other terpenoids

Other terpenoids have been isolated from ''Salvia divinorum'', including other salvinorins and related compounds named divinatorins and salvinicins. None of these compounds has shown significant (sub-micromolar) affinity at the κ-opioid receptor, and there is no evidence that they contribute to the plant's psychoactivity. Bigham et al. 2003. Munro & Rizzacasa 2003.

Other pharmaceutical action

Salvinorin A is capable of inhibiting excess intestinal motility (e.g. diarrhea), through a combination of κ-opioid and cannabinoid (mainly CB₁ receptor) receptors in ''inflamed'' but not normal gut ''in vivo''. The mechanism of action for Salvinorin A on ileal tissue has been described as 'prejunctional', as it was able to modify electrically induced contractions, but ''not'' those of exogenous acetylcholine. Results from a study at the University of Iowa indicate that it may have potential as an analgesic and as a therapeutic tool for treating drug addictions. Prisinzano, Tidgewell & Harding 2005.

A pharmacologically important aspect of the contraction-reducing (antispasmodic) properties of ingested Salvinorin A on gut tissue is that it is only pharmacologically active on ''inflamed'' and ''not'' normal tissue, thus reducing possible side-effects.

Ingestion

There are a few ways to consume ''Salvia divinorum''. In traditional Mazatec ritual, shamans use only fresh ''Salvia divinorum'' leaves. Modern methods have been developed to more effectively absorb the active principle, salvinorin A. If enough salvinorin A is absorbed, an altered state of consciousness can occur. The duration of experience varies with the method of ingestion and the amount of salvinorin A absorbed.

Traditional methods

Mazatec shamans crush the leaves to extract leaf juices from about 20 to 80 or more fresh leaves (i.e. about ). They usually mix these juices with water to create an infusion or 'tea' which they drink to induce visions in ritual healing ceremonies.

Chewing and swallowing a large number of fresh leaves is the other Mazatec method. Harrison. The Leaves of the Shepherdess. 2000. Oral consumption of the leaf makes the effects come on more slowly, over a period of 10 to 20 minutes. The experience, from the onset of effects, lasts from about 30 minutes up to one and a half hours.

Doses for chewing vastly exceed doses used for smoking. By calculating the concentrations per leaf ("an average concentration of 2.45 mg per gram" of leaf), Siebert (FAQ)—Section X. the average weight per leaf ("about 50 g" per 20 leaves, or 2.5 g/leaf), Valdes 1983. and the standard dose for chewing (about 8–28 leaves), the doses can range from about 50 mg to 172 mg.

Modern methods

Modern methods of ingestion include smoking or chewing the leaf, or using a tincture, as described in the following sections.

''Salvia divinorum'' is becoming more widely known and used in modern culture. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual US based survey sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), for 2006 estimated that about 1.8 million persons aged 12 or older had used ''Salvia divinorum'' in their lifetime, of which approximately 750,000 had done so in that year. The following year, 2007, saw the annual figure rise from 750,000 to 1 million US users. Sullum 2009.

Smoking

Dry leaves can be smoked in a pipe, or through the use of a water pipe to cool the smoke. Siebert (Smoke advice). The temperature required to release salvinorin from the plant material is quite high (about 240 °C). A cooler flame will work, but the direct application of a more intense flame, such as that of a torch lighter, is often preferred.

Some find that untreated dry leaf produces unnoticeable or only light effects. Concentrated preparations or extracts which may be smoked in place of untreated leaves, have become widely available. This enhanced (or "fortified") leaf is described by a number followed by an x (e.g. ''5x'', ''10x''), the multiplicative factors being generally indicative of the relative amounts of leaf concentrate, though there is no accepted standard for these claims. Other sources may use a system of color codes to form their own standards of potency; for example, "green", "yellow", and "red."

These grades of potency may be roughly indicative of the relative concentration of the active principle, (salvinorin A), but the measure should not be taken as absolute. Overall extract potency will depend on the (naturally varying) strength of the untreated leaf used in preparing the extract, as well as the efficiency of the extraction process itself. Extracts reduce the overall amount of inhalations needed to ingest a given amount of active principle, thus facilitating more powerful experiences. Siebert (FAQ)—Section IV.

If salvia is smoked, then the main effects are experienced quickly. The most intense 'peak' is reached within a minute or so and lasts for 1–5 minutes, followed by a gradual tapering off. At 5–10 minutes, less intense yet still noticeable effects typically persist, giving way to a returning sense of the everyday and familiar until back to baseline after about 15 to 20 minutes. Siebert (FAQ)—Section VI.

Quid chewing

The traditional method of chewing the leaves has continued in modern use. However, salvinorin A is generally considered to be inactive when orally ingested, as salvinorin A is effectively deactivated by the gastrointestinal system. Therefore, in what's understood to be a modern innovation, the ' quid' of leaves is held in the mouth as long as possible in order to facilitate absorption of the active constituents through the oral mucosa. 'Quid' refers to the fact that at the end of this method the user spits out the leaves rather than swallowing them because ingesting the leaves has no known effect. Chewing consumes more of the plant than smoking, and produces a longer-lasting experience.

Using a tincture

Less commonly, some may ingest salvia in the form of a tincture. This is administered sublingually, usually with the aid of a glass dropper. It may be taken diluted with water just before use, which may slightly reduce the intensity of its effects, but can also serve to lessen or avoid a stinging sensation in the mouth caused by the presence of alcohol. Tinctures vary in potency, and the effects can range from inducing a mild meditative state to bringing about a more intense hallucinatory one. Sage Student - Sd User Guide.

When taken as a tincture the effects and duration are similar to other methods of oral ingestion, though they may be significantly more intense, depending on extract potency.

Effects

Aside from individual reported experiences, there has been a limited amount of published work summarising salvia divinorum effects. A survey of salvia users found that 38% described the effects as unique in comparison to other methods of altering consciousness. 23% said the effects were like yoga, meditation or trance. Baggott & Erowid 2004, p. 14. Users have written prose about their experiences; Lizard 2001. Siebert (Arts) some describing their visions pictorially, and there exist examples of visionary art which are 'salvia-inspired'. Others claim musical inspiration from the plant.

Near-death experience

A 2019 large-scale study found that ketamine, ''Salvia divinorum'', and DMT (and other classical psychedelic substances) are linked to near-death experiences.

Safety

Dale Pendell expressed some concerns about the use of highly concentrated forms of salvia. In its natural form, salvia is more balanced and benevolent and quite strong enough, he argues. High strength extracts on the other hand can show "a more precipitous, and more terrifying, face" and many who try it this way may never wish to repeat the experience. Pendell 1995.

Vaporization

Ethnobotanist Daniel Siebert cautions that inhaling hot air can be irritating and potentially damaging to the lungs. Vapor produced by a heat gun needs to be cooled by running it through a water pipe or cooling chamber before inhalation.

Research

An ABC news report said excitement over research into ''Salvia'' "could vanish overnight if the federal government criminalized the sale or possession of salvia, as the Drug Enforcement Agency

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases