Anadenanthera colubrina

Anadenanthera colubrina is known by many names throughout South America. In Peru it is known as willka (also spelled wilca, vilca and huilca) which in the Quechua languages means "sacred".{{cn|date=June 2024}}

A. colubrina is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Cuba, and Mauritius.[http://www.ildis.org/LegumeWeb?sciname=Anadenanthera+colubrina ILDIS LegumeWeb]

File:Anadenanthera colubrina flowers.JPG

A. colubrina grows at altitudes of about {{convert|315–2200|m|abbr=on}} with roughly {{convert|25–60|cm|abbr=on}} per year of precipitation and a mean temperature of {{convert|21|C|F}}. It tends to grow on rocky hillsides in well-drained soil, often in the vicinity of rivers. It grows quickly at {{convert|1-1.5|m|abbr=on}} per year in good conditions.[http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/Publications/1032/1032_PDF/7%20-%20South%20and%20Central%20America.pdf Desiccation and storage of Anadenanthera colubrina beans.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060716113340/http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/Publications/1032/1032_PDF/7%20-%20South%20and%20Central%20America.pdf |date=July 16, 2006 }} International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI). Edilberto Rojas Espinoza. The growing areas are often "savannah to dry rainforest." Flowering can begin in as soon as two years after germination.[http://www.ethnobotanica.org/wiki/index.php?title=Anadenanthera_spp. Ethnobotanica.org Anadenanthera spp.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930111911/http://www.ethnobotanica.org/wiki/index.php?title=Anadenanthera_spp. |date=September 30, 2007 }}

File:Anadenanthera colubrina branch.jpg

A sweetened drink is made from the bark.

Gum from the tree can be used in the same way as gum arabic.{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cMSFT5K3C9wC&dq=Anadenanthera+peregrina+falcata&pg=PR9 | title = Anadenanthera: Visionary Plant of Ancient South America | author = Constantino Manuel Torres | author2 = David B. Repke | year = 2006 | page = 98| publisher = Psychology Press | isbn = 9780789026422 }}

A. colubrina's tannin is used in industry to process animal hides.

The beans of A. colubrina are used to make a hallucinogenic snuff called vilca (sometimes called cebil). The bean pods are roasted to facilitate removal of the husk, followed by grinding with a mortar and pestle into a powder and mixed with a natural form of calcium hydroxide (lime) or calcium oxide. The main active constituent of vilca is bufotenin; to a much lesser degree DMT and 5-MeO-DMT are also present.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}} A. colubrina has been found to contain up to 12.4% bufotenin.{{cite journal |author=Ott J |title=Pharmañopo-psychonautics: human intranasal, sublingual, intrarectal, pulmonary and oral pharmacology of bufotenine |journal=J Psychoactive Drugs |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=273–81 |year=2001 |pmid=11718320 |url=http://entheology.org/edoto/anmviewer.asp?a=9&z=8 |doi=10.1080/02791072.2001.10400574 |s2cid=5877023 |access-date=2007-08-04 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303175808/http://entheology.org/edoto/anmviewer.asp?a=9&z=8 |url-status=dead |url-access=subscription }}

It is also believed that the ground beans were used as a snuff by the Tiwanaku.[https://web.archive.org/web/20130305122735/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27441890 Hallucinogens Found in Mummy Hair] There have been reports of active use of vilca by Wichi shamans, under the name hatáj.{{cite book |author =Ott, Jonathan |author-link =Jonathan Ott |title=Shamanic Snuffs or Enthogenic Errhines |publisher=EthnoBotanica |year=2001 |page=90 |isbn=1-888755-02-4 |url=http://www.erowid.org/library/books/shamanic_snuffs.shtml}}

Between 2013 and 2017, archaeological excavations at the Quilcapampa site in southern Peru, found that the Wari used seeds from the vilca tree and combined the hallucinogenic drug with chicha, or beer made from the molle tree.{{cite journal |last1=Biwer |first1=Matthew E. |last2=Álvarez |first2=Willy Yépez |last3=Bautista |first3=Stefanie L. |last4=Jennings |first4=Justin |title=Hallucinogens, alcohol and shifting leadership strategies in the ancient Peruvian Andes |journal=Antiquity |date=February 2022 |volume=96 |issue=385 |pages=142–158 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2021.177|s2cid=246999684 |doi-access=free }}

Archaeological evidence shows Anadenanthera colubrina beans have been used as hallucinogens for thousands of years. The oldest clear evidence of use comes from pipes made of puma bone (Felis concolor) found with A. colubrina beans at Inca Cueva, a site in the Humahuaca gorge at the edge of the Puna of Jujuy Province, Argentina. The pipes were found to contain the hallucinogen DMT, one of the compounds found in Anadenanthera beans. Radiocarbon testing of the material gave a date of 2130 BC, suggesting that Anadenanthera use as a hallucinogen is over 4,000 years old. Snuff trays and tubes were found in the central Peruvian coast dating back to 1200 BC. Archaeological evidence of insufflation use within the period 500-1000 AD, in northern Chile, has been reported.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

Image:Anadenanthera colubrina.jpg

Image:Anadenanthera colubrina at Iguazu Falls (Argentina).JPG.]]

The tree's bark is the most common part used medicinally. Gum from the tree is used medicinally to treat upper respiratory tract infections, as an expectorant and otherwise for cough.[https://web.archive.org/web/20071007115516/http://www.plantamed.com.br/plantaservas/especies/Anadenanthera_colubrina.htm Plantamed (Portuguese)]

File:Anadenanthera colubrina trunk.JPG

In northeastern Brazil, the tree is primarily used as timber and for making wooden implements. "It is used in construction and for making door

and window frames, barrels, mooring masts, hedges, platforms, floors,

agricultural implements and railway sleepers."

The wood is also reportedly a preferred source of cooking fuel, since it makes a hot and long-lasting fire. It is widely used there in the making of fences, since termites seem not to like it. At one time, it was used in the construction of houses, but people are finding it more difficult to find suitable trees for that purpose.

Chemical compounds contained in A. colubrina include:

• 2,9-dimethyltryptoline – plant[http://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgspub/xsql/duke/plantdisp.xsql?taxon=72 Dr. Duke's] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130219223907/http://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgspub/xsql/duke/plantdisp.xsql?taxon=72 |date=February 19, 2013 }} Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
• 2-methyltryptoline – plant
• 5-MeO-DMT – bark
• 5-Methoxy-N-methyltryptamine – bark
• Bufotenin – plant beans{{cite journal |url=https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1965-01-01_2_page006.html |title=Native hallucinogenic drugs piptadenias |last=Granier-Doyeux |first=Marcel

|year=1965 |journal=Bulletin on Narcotics |volume=1965 |issue=2 |pages=29–38 }}

• Bufotenin-oxide – fruit, beans
• Catechol – plant
• Leucoanthocyanin – plant
• Leucopelargonidol – plant
• DMT – fruit, beans, pods, bark[http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=981893406&dok_var=d1&dok_ext=pdf&filename=981893406.pdf Medicina traditional Ergebnisse einethnomedizinischen ...(German)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205184910/http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=981893406&dok_var=d1&dok_ext=pdf&filename=981893406.pdf |date=February 5, 2012 }}
• DMT-oxide – fruit{{Cite book

|title=Psychedelics Encyclopedia

|author =Peter Stafford

|author2 =Jeremy Bigwood

|year=1993

|publisher=Ronin Publishing

|isbn=0-914171-51-8

|pages=420 pages

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ec5hNgYWHtkC

}}

• Methyltryptamine – bark
• Orientin – leaf
• Saponarentin – leaf
• Viterine – leaf

The bark and leaves contain tannin and the beans contain saponin.

• Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell.Conc.)Brenan var. cebil (Griseb.)Altschul
• Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell.Conc.)Brenan var. colubrina

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite book |author =Rätsch, Christian |author2 =Schultes, Richard Evans |author2-link =Richard Evans Schultes |author3 =Hofmann, Albert |title=Plants of the gods: their sacred, healing, and hallucinogenic powers |publisher=Healing Arts Press |location=Rochester, Vt |year=2001 |isbn=0-89281-979-0 }}
• {{cite journal |vauthors =Pachter IJ, Zacharias DE, Ribeiro O |title=Indole Alkaloids of Acer saccharinum (the Silver Maple), Dictyloma incanescens, Piptadenia columbrina, and Mimosa hostilis |journal=J. Org. Chem. |volume=24 |issue= 9|pages=1285–1287 |year=1959 |doi=10.1021/jo01091a032}}

{{Commons}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929111123/http://fm1.fieldmuseum.org/vrrc/?page=results&rpno=1&family=&genus=Anadenanthera&species=&intPerPage=25&x=76&y=10 Anadenanthera colubrina Specimens Click View Med] at the Field Museum
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20230509223923/http://legacy.tropicos.org/Image/38354 Anadenanthera colubrina photo]
• [http://www.ipef.br/identificacao/nativas/detalhes.asp?codigo=16 Anadenanthera colubrina] {{in lang|pt}}

{{Psychedelics}}

{{Serotonin receptor modulators}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q2719018}}

colubrina

Category:5-HT2A agonists

Category:Entheogens

Category:Herbal and fungal hallucinogens

Category:Medicinal plants of South America

Category:Plants described in 1831

Category:Psychedelic drugs

Category:Psychedelic tryptamine carriers

Category:Serotonin receptor agonists

Category:Trees of Argentina

Category:Trees of Bolivia

Category:Trees of Brazil