Anadenanthera peregrina, also known asyopo,jopo,cohoba,parica orcalcium tree, is a perennial tree of the genusAnadenanthera native to theCaribbean andSouth America.[2] It grows up to 20 m (66 ft) tall, and has a thorny bark. Its flowers grow in small, pale yellow to white spherical clusters resembling Acacia (e.g. wattle) inflorescences. It is anentheogen which has been used in healing ceremonies andrituals for thousands of years in northern South America and the Caribbean.[3] Although the seeds of the yopo tree were originally gathered from the wild, increased competition between tribes over access to the seeds led to it being intentionally cultivated and transported elsewhere, expanding the plant's distribution through introduction to areas beyond its native range.[4]
This plant is almost identical to that of a related tree,Anadenanthera colubrina,[5] commonly known ascebíl orvilca.[6] The beans ofA. colubrina have a similar chemical makeup asAnadenanthera peregrina, with their primary constituent beingbufotenin.[6]
The wood fromA. peregrina produces very hard timber that is used for makingfurniture.[7] It has aJanka rating of 3700 lb.[8][failed verification] and a density of around 0.86 g/cm3.[9] Tannins have also been derived from this plant.[4]
Archaeological evidence showsAnadenanthera beans have been used ashallucinogens for thousands of years. The oldest clear evidence of use comes from pipes made ofpuma bone (Puma concolor) found withAnadenanthera beans presumably of the sister speciesA. colubrina, at Inca Cueva, a site in theHumahuaca gorge at the edge of thePuna ofJujuy Province, Argentina. The pipes were found to contain the hallucinogenDMT, one of the compounds found inAnadenanthera beans.Radiocarbon testing of the material gave a date of 2130 BC, suggesting thatAnadenanthera use as a hallucinogen is over 4,000 years old.[15]Snuff trays and tubes similar to those commonly used for yopo were found in the central Peruvian coast dating back to 1200 BC, suggesting thatinsufflation ofAnadenanthera beans is a more recent method of use.[16] Archaeological evidence of insufflation use within the period 500-1000 AD, in northern Chile, has been reported.[17]
Some Indigenous peoples of the Orinoco basin in Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil prepare yopo snuff for ritual and healing purposes. Among the Piaroa of the Venezuelan Orinoco, yopo is reserved primarily for shamanic specialists known asmeñeruá.[18] These shamans use yopo in visionary rituals to diagnose illness, mediate with spiritual beings, and access ancestral knowledge encoded in myth and cosmology. The yopo experience is considered essential to shaping future realities and maintaining the ethical balance between human and non-human worlds.[19]
Piaroa yopo instruments, bird bones tubes for sniffing, brush and masher.
Yopo snuff is usually blown into the user's nostrils by another person throughbamboo tubes or sometimes snuffed by the user using bird bone tubes. In some areas the unprocessed ground beans are snuffed or smoked producing a much weaker effect with stronger physical symptoms. Some tribes as Piaroas, also prepare yopo by integrating cuttings ofBanisteriopsis caapi (capi), and they may ingest capi decoctions or chew its inner bark shortly before inhaling yopo, with the intention of prolonging and intensifying the visionary experience.[20]
The first report of the effects ofhallucinogenic snuff prepared from the beans ofAnadenanthera peregrina dates back to 1496 when it was observed by Friar Ramon Pane, who was commissioned by Christopher Columbus, among the Taino Indians of Hispaniola. Pane's report was first published in 1511 in Martyr's descriptions of the New World. The description of its effects reads in part: "Thiskohobba powder," described as "an intoxicating herb, is so strong that those who take it lose consciousness; when the stupefying action begins to wane, the arms and legs become loose and the head droops." It is administered with a cane about one foot long of which they introduce one end "in the nose and the other in the powder and ...draw it into themselves through the nose". It worked quickly: "almost immediately they believe they see the room turn upside-down and men walking with their heads downwards". The administering witch-doctor took the drug along with his patients, intoxicating "them so that they do not know what they do and ... speak of many things incoherently", believing that they are in communication with spirits.[21]
The beans have been found to contain up to 7.4%bufotenin.[22] At up to 7.4% (74 mg per gram) bufotenin, an effective 40 mg dose of insufflated bufotenin[22] requires little more than 0.5 grams of beans.
TheintraperitonealLD50 of bufotenin is between 200 and 300 mg/kg (in rodents) with death occurring by respiratory arrest.[23] Human intravenous tests usingbufotenin suggest the LD50 may be much lower in humans with subjects showing signs of peripheral toxicity (purple face,tachycardia, difficulty breathing, etc.) at doses as little as 8 mg in some subjects.[24] Free base bufotenin when insufflated, taken sublingually, orally, or intrarectally, elicits strong hallucinogenic effects with far less side effects.[22]
The beans have been found to contain up to only 0.04% 5-MeO-DMT and 0.16% DMT.[22] The leaves and bark also contain small amounts of DMT, 5-MeO-DMT and related compounds.[25][26][27]
At up to 0.04% (0.4 mg per gram) 5-MeO-DMT, an effective light 5 mg dose of insufflated 5-MeO-DMT would require over 12 grams of beans. It would be extremely difficult to insufflate such a quantity, as tolerance would likely develop before the 12-gram nasal intake could be completed. Individual sensitivity to 5-MeO-DMT varies. It has been documented that the threshold dose in some individuals is as much as 10 mg insufflated[28] requiring over 24 grams of beans for an effective dose of 5-MeO-DMT.
At up to 0.16% (1.6 mg per gram) DMT, an effective 40 mg dose of insufflated DMT would require 25 grams or more. Because of its volume, it's likely to be impossible to insufflate the 25 grams of beans required to reach the active dose of DMT present in the beans. An extract of 25 grams of beans could contain up to 1,850 mg of bufotenin, a potentially dangerous dose. With insufflated freebase bufotenin, the maximum published safe dose used has been 100 mg.[22]
Unlike bufotenin, both DMT and 5-MeO-DMT are relatively unstable and begin to degrade rather quickly. Schultes and colleges (1977) examined a 120-year-old bean collection and found 0.6% bufotenin with no DMT or 5-MeO-DMT present at all. They also examined a batch of beans that contained all three compounds when fresh, but found only bufotenin in the beans after only two years ofstorage.[23]
When taken orally by some tribes in South America, small amounts are often combined with alcoholicchichas (maize beer).[23]: 29 Moderate doses are unpleasant, producing nausea and vomiting. The beans were a main ingredient in bilca tauri, an oral purge medicine used to induce ritual vomiting once a month.[23] Large amounts are not usually consumed orally as many tribes believe oral use is dangerous.
Some South American tribes have been documented to use various bean preparations along withBanisteriopsis caapi, an herb containingmonoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs).[23] TypicallyBanisteriopsis caapi is chewed in the mouth while the Anadenanthera beans are snuffed or smoked.[23] OccasionallyBanisteriopsis caapi is found mixed in with the snuff.[23]
^Carod-Artal, F. J.; Vázquez Cabrera, C. B. (July 2007). "[Ritual use of Anadenanthera seeds among South America natives]".Neurologia (Barcelona, Spain).22 (6):410–415.ISSN0213-4853.PMID17610173.
^Juan P. Ogalde; Bernardo T. Arriaza; Elia C. Soto (2010). "Uso de plantas psicoactivas en el north de Chile: evidencia química del consumo de ayahuasca durante el periodo medio (500-1000 d.C.)".Latin American Antiquity.21 (4):441–450.doi:10.7183/1045-6635.21.4.441.S2CID163915994.
^Mansutti Rodríguez, A. (2012). Yuruparí: máscaras y poder entre los piaroas del Orinoco.Espaço Ameríndio, 6(2), 46–75.
^Rodd, R., & Sumabila, A. (2011). Yopo, Ethnicity and Social Change: A Comparative Analysis of Piaroa and Cuiva Yopo Use.Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 43(1), 36–45.doi:10.1080/02791072.2011.566499
^Rodd, R. (2002). Snuff synergy: preparation, use and pharmacology of yopo andBanisteriopsis caapi among the Piaroa of southern Venezuela.Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 34(3), 273–279.doi:10.1080/02791072.2002.10399963
^abcdefgTorres, Constantino Manuel; David B. Repke (2006).Anadenanthera: Visionary Plant of Ancient South America. New York, New York: Haworth Herbal Press.ISBN0-7890-2642-2.
