''Tabernaemontana undulata'', the becchete or bëcchëte (pronounced b'-chéw-teh, a Matis and

Matsés The Matsés or Mayoruna are an indigenous people of the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon. Their traditional homelands are located between the Javari and Galvez rivers. The Matsés have long guarded their lands from other indigenous tribes and stru ...

word for a

medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against h ...

) is a plant species in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (, from '' Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison. Notable mem ...

. It occurs in the

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...

Effects

Preparation of the medicine begins with a shaman scraping off the outer layers of root bark of the Samá becchete into a leaf. The shaman recites calls to specific animal spirits, such as the

squirrel monkey Squirrel monkeys are New World monkeys of the genus ''Saimiri''. ''Saimiri'' is the only genus in the subfamily Saimiriinae. The name of the genus is of Tupi origin (''sai-mirím'' or ''çai-mbirín'', with ''sai'' meaning 'monkey' and ''mirím' ...

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

and

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

. The shavings are placed inside kapok cotton, combined with water, and wrapped into a leaf that functions as an eye-dropper. When applied directly to the eye, becchete is reported by tribes to have the effect of giving the environment greater texture and dimension, making it easier to spot animals during hunting. The effects are reported to be long-term, lasting days or weeks, not just a few hours. In addition to visual enhancement, there is also an increase in energy. On application, the eyes sting, however this would be expected considering that becchete is extracted with Amazonian River water that is high in

tannic acid Tannic acid is a specific form of tannin, a type of polyphenol. Its weak acidity (Acid dissociation constant, pKa around 6) is due to the numerous phenol groups in the structure. The chemical formula for commercial tannic acid is often given as ...

, which on its own would sting and burn the eyes. In the ''Amazonian Ethnobotanical Dictionary'' by James A. Duke and Rodolfo Vásquez, it is reported that Amazonian Indians from the Ticuna tribe mix the

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

from a closely related species, '' Tabernaemontana sananho'', with water in order to treat eye wounds. In addition to be applied to the eyes as the Matis and Ticuna tribes do, it is most commonly taken orally by the Matsés.

Active ingredients

''Tabernaemontana undulata'' contains iboga alkaloids, naturally occurring psychoactive compounds. Ibogaine is used in pain management and to treat opiate addiction. In low dosages, ibogaine is a stimulant and

aphrodisiac An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases libido, sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. These substances range from a variety of plants, spices, and foods to synthetic chemicals. Natural aphrodisiacs, such as ...

History

Scott Wallace of ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'' was the first person to report the use of this indigenous Amazonian medicine by the Matis tribe.

Dan James Pantone Dan James Pantone is an American ecologist and conservation movement, conservationist with a Ph.D. from the UC Davis, University of California, Davis. A former professor at Texas A&M University, Dr. Pantone is a researcher who has published numero ...

, one of the founders of the Movement in the Amazon for Tribal Subsistence and Economic Sustainability (MATSES), discovered that the Matsés tribe also uses becchete. In September 2008, Pantone collected plant samples from the

in the Matsés Indian Territory in the region of the Yaquerana River on the border of

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

with

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Working together with other botanists at the Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana (UNAP) in

Iquitos Iquitos (; ) is the capital city of Peru's Maynas Province, Peru, Maynas Province and Loreto Region. It is the largest metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon, east of the Andes, as well as the List of cities in Peru, ninth-most populous city in Peru ...

, Peru, he was able to identify the plant species as ''Tabernaemontana undulata'', part of the genus ''

Tabernaemontana ''Tabernaemontana'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae. It has a pan-tropical distribution, found in Asia, Africa, Australia, North America, South America, and islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. These plants are everg ...

'' and the plant family

. Pantone has produced a documentary video showing the Matis using Becchete as a traditional medicine.documentary video
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References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2386501 undulata Medicinal plants

Effects

Active ingredients

History

See also

References