Virola

Virola, also known as Epená, is a genus of medium-sized trees native to the South American rainforest and closely related to other Myristicaceae, such as nutmeg. It has glossy, dark green leaves with clusters of tiny yellow flowers and emits a pungent odor.

The dark-red resin of the tree bark contains several hallucinogenic alkaloids, most notably 5-MeO-DMT (Virola calophylla), 5-OH-DMT (Bufotenin), and also N,N-DMT, perhaps the most powerful members of the Dimethyltryptamine family; it also contains beta-carboline harmala alkaloids, MAOIs that greatly potentiate the effects of DMT. The bark resin is prepared and dried by a variety of methods, often including the addition of ash or lime, presumably as basifying agents, and a powder made from the leaves of the small Justicia bush. Ingestion is similar to that of Yopo, consisting of assisted insufflation, with the snuff being blown through a long tube into the nostrils by an assistant. According to Schultes, the use of Virola in magico-religious rituals is restricted to tribes in the Western Amazon Basin and parts of the Orinoco Basin.

Traditional medicine

The tops of Virola oleifera have been shown to produce lignan-7-ols and verrucosin that have antifungal action regarding Cladosporium sphaerospermum in doses as low as 25 micrograms. Lignan-7-ols oleiferin-B and oleiferin-G worked for Cladosporium cladosporoides starting as low as 10 micrograms.

Species

There are about sixty-seven species, including:

• Virola aequatorialis
• Virola albidiflora
• Virola araujovii
• Virola atopa
• Virola bicubyba
• Virola boliviensis
• Virola brachycarpa
• Virola caducifolia Photo
• Virola calophylla (Spruce) Warb., Photos: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
• Virola calophylloidea
• Virola carinata Photo
• Virola coelhoi
• Virola crebrinervia
• Virola cuspidata
• Virola decorticans Photo
• Virola divergens Photo
• Virola dixonii Photos: [8]
• Virola duckei, Photos: [9][10][11][12]
• Virola elliptica
• Virola elongata (syn. V. theodora) Photos
• Virola flexuosa, Photos: [13][14][15]
• Virola gardneri, Photo: [16]
• Virola glaziovii
• Virola glycycarpa
• Virola guatemalensis
• Virola guggnheimii
• Virola incolor
• Virola koschnyi, Photos: [17][18][19]
• Virola kukachkana
• Virola kwatae Photo
• Virola laevigata
• Virola lepidota
• Virola lieneana
• Virola lorentensia (or V. loretensis), Photo: [20]
• Virola macrantha
• Virola macrocarpa A.C. Sm., Photo: [21]
• Virola malmei
• Virola marlenei
• Virola megacarpa A.H. Gentry Photo: [22]
• Virola melinonii
• Virola merendonis
• Virola micheli'i Heckel, Photos: [23][24]
• Virola micrantha
• Virola minutiflora Photo
• Virola mocoa
• Virola mollissima, Photos: [25][26][27]
• Virola multicostata Ducke
• Virola multiflora (Standl. ) A. C. Sm., Photos: [28][29]
• Virola multinervia, Photos: [30][31][32]
• Virola mycetis
• Virola nobilis, Photo: [33]
• Virola obovata, Photos: [34][35]
• Virola officinalis
• Virola oleifera
• Virola panamensis
• Virola papillosa
• Virola parvifolia
• Virola pavonis, Photos: [36][37][38][39][40][41]
• Virola peruviana, Photo: [42]
• Virola polyneura
• Virola reidii, Photo: [43]
• Virola rufula
• Virola rugulosa
• Virola schultesii
• Virola schwackei
• Virola sebifera, Photos: [44][45][46][47][48][49]
• Virola sessilis
• Virola steyermarkii
• Virola subsessilis
• Virola surinamensis (Rol. ex Rottb. ) Warb., Photos: [50][51][52][53]
• Virola theiodora
• Virola urbaniana
• Virola venezuelensis
• Virola venosa (Benth.) Warb.
• Virola villosa
• Virola warburgli
• Virola weberbaueri

See also

• Ayahuasca
• Entheogen

References

General references

• Jonathan Ott - Shamanic Snuffs or Entheogenic Errhines (2001) ISBN 1-888755-02-4
• Richard Evans Schultes - Plants of the Gods (1992) ISBN 0-89281-979-0
• Erowid Virola Vault

External links

• Virola koschnyi Photos and Info
• Info on Growing Virola (www.gardening.eu)

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original article was at Virola. The list of authors can be seen in the page history.