Ipomoea corymbosa (Rivea corymbosa,Turbina corymbosa) is a species ofmorning glory, native throughoutLatin America from Mexico as far south as Peru and widely naturalised elsewhere. Itscommon names includeChristmasvine,[2]Christmaspops, andsnakeplant.[3]
Known to natives of north and centralMexico by itsNahuatl name,coaxihuitl and by the south eastern natives asxtabentún (inMayan), it is aperennial climbingvine with white flowers, often grown as anornamental plant. Its flowers secrete copious amount of nectar, and thehoney that bees make from it is very clear and aromatic. It also grows inCuba, where it usually blooms from early December to February. It is considered one of the main honey plants of the island.
This plant is often used for purposes other than recreation, as natives of Mexico consider the flour produced from its seeds (distinguished asololiuhqui (ololiúqui, "round things")) a tool for divination and communion with spirits. Because of the widespread use among native tribes, Colonial rules initially fearedololiuhqui and banned it introducing harsh punishments for users.[4]
TheNahuatl wordololiuhqui means "round thing", and refers to the small, brown, oval seeds of the morning glory,[5] not the plant itself, which is calledcoaxihuitl (“snake-plant") in Nahuatl, andhiedra,bejuco orquiebraplatos in theSpanish language. The seeds, in Spanish, are sometimes calledsemilla de la Virgen (seeds of theVirgin Mary).[citation needed] While little of it is known outside ofMexico, its seeds were perhaps the most commonpsychedelic drug used by the natives.[6]
In 1941,Richard Evans Schultes first identified ololiuhqui asTurbina corymbosa and the chemical composition was first described in 1960 in a paper byAlbert Hofmann.[7] The seeds containergine (LSA), anergolinealkaloid which is also present inergot of rye and is similar in structure toLSD. Ergot of rye was part of theKykeon, the drink which was a component of theEleusinian Mysteries.[8] The psychedelic properties ofTurbina corymbosa and a comparison of the potency of different varieties were studied in theCentral Intelligence Agency'sMKULTRA Subproject 22 in 1956.
My chemical investigations ofOloliuhqui seeds led to the unexpected discovery that the entheogenic principles ofOloliuhqui are alkaloids, especially lysergic acid amide, which exhibits a very close relationship to lysergic acid diethylamide (=ʟsᴅ). It follows therefrom that ʟsᴅ, which hitherto had been considered to be a synthetic product of the laboratory, actually belongs to the group of sacred Mexican drugs.
— Albert Hofmann, Burg i.L., Switzerland, November 1992[9]
^Schultes, R.E. (2014).A CONTRIBUTION TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF RIVEA CORYMBOSA THE NARCOTIC OLOLIUQUI OF THE AZTECS. Botanical Museum of Harvard University.
^Ruck, Carl A. P. (2006).Sacred Mushrooms of the Goddess: The Secrets of Eleusis. Berkeley, California: Ronin Publishing, Inc.ISBN978-1-57951-030-5 “Ololiuhqui was far more prominent as an entheogen here in Mesoamerica than those mushrooms; the mushrooms are mentioned only here and there by a few competent chroniclers; yet almost an entire book was devoted to denouncing mainly the ololiuhqui idolatry. The annals of the Inquisition contain many times more autos de fe for ololiuhqui than for mushrooms.” Jonathan Ott, 15. Mixing the Kykeon Anew (section: Ergine){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^Rätsch, Ch (1998).Enzyklopädie der psychoaktiven Pflanzen (3rd ed.). Aarau: AT Verlag.ISBN3-85502-570-3.
^Ott, Jonathan (1996) [1993-07]. "Foreword".Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History (2nd Edition, Densified ed.). Natural Products Co. p. 13.ISBN9780961423490.
