by request the ETHNO BOTANICAL thread

[crossedwires]

Quote:
you gotta love this plant!!! yes its highly toxic and can be absorbed through the skin, but it sure does contain some great chemicals some of wich most people will have heard of, before i go on about why it works/worked for ring worm i should point out there are better plants (much safer) to use for ring worm.

so what does the faboulous DEADLY nightshade contain

well it contains approx 31 different chemicals/compounds but those of interest are are a group known as tropane alkaloids, of wich the most important in nightshade and the ones you probaly heard of are atropine and scapolomine! another important one you may not know is hyoscyamine. its the hyoscyamine thats the main culprit for the worms demise, the preparation was/is useally applied topicaly (on the skin) NEVER EVER EVER taken orally! DO NOT USE this plant.
it can be used safely but only by someone who knows exactly what they are doing, like i said before there are safer ways.
it is also used by some shamanic tribesman for contacting spirits! wich would seem reasonable as small amounts of root exstracts lead to very very vivid hallucinations! and the chemical thats mainly responsable for that is scapolomine! however the plants LD50 (lethal dose for a 50% of population study) is so low that its worth saying again DO NOT TAKE this plant its one of the easiest plants to kill yourself with. best left to the idiots and those that realy know there stuff

 

[chuckzoo]

the link for a copy of the african paper is here http://jarvm.com/articles/Vol3Iss2/MWALE.pdf"

Unfortunately the link to the African paper - paper is missing.

I too did my undergrad in Biology, my Masters in Science and originate from Southern Africa so I am very interested in reading this.

 

[crossedwires]

Quote:
yes i am indeed a brit!

the international bit is where other BYC members come in, if i mention a plant that anyone knows isnt availiable in the states or contravenes some law let me know, alot of the time i should be able to find a more local plant that has simmilar properties. most of what people reasearch when it comes to ethno plants are the well known ones, the way i do it is to start with the active chemical wich is known to work for a given problem then work back and find a common plant that contains enough of the chemical to be of use. then i check that the plant dosnt have any toxic compounds in high concentration to cause problems. also any research i need to do for this thread will be through various journal resouices i have at my disposal and scientific studies rather than the google method!! that way i am trying ensure that the info i post is accurate and safe (if theres any safety issues i will point them out)

 

[crossedwires]

Quote:
i do have a copy of the paper on my pc at the uni, when i next pop in i will grab it and post a link to it from my server. is an interesting read. which region of africa is mainly of interest to you? there has been many many african studies done due to the high use of ethnovetenary plants, i may be able to dig some papers up from a specific region your interested in

 

[LeezyBeezy]

oh, great thread! Very interesting. I look forward to more installments!

 

[flowerchild59]

Very interesting thread. I have always been interested in herbs and their uses. My kids called me "VooDoo" maman growing up because I was always brewing some tea or making ointments and the such.

 

[Organics North]

Oh thank you so much crossedwires....>!
I much appreciate your time and effort. Spectacular read.

Darn I wished I would have known this last week, as we made Raspberry jam. The birds enjoyed the seeds, but I did not grind them first..

Thanks again..

Any good suggestions on reading on this subject?

ON

 

[crossedwires]

actualy organics i am reading thru a few books but at the mo i hesitate to recomend any as i am finding some horendous errors in some! most the realy good stuff is in subscription only journals

but where poss i will post the scientific papers i find in pdf format

 

[redhen]

Great thread! Thanks for the info!!

 

[chuckzoo]

Quote:
i do have a copy of the paper on my pc at the uni, when i next pop in i will grab it and post a link to it from my server. is an interesting read. which region of africa is mainly of interest to you? there has been many many african studies done due to the high use of ethnovetenary plants, i may be able to dig some papers up from a specific region your interested in

Thanks! That would be great. I am from Zimbabwe/South Africa.