Psychotria viridis
The size of the plant and of its bag can vary a little from the photograph — each one grows at its own pace. We keep them as consistent as we can.
Overview
Chacruna is an understory shrub in the coffee family, with glossy bright green leaves, reaching about 3 meters. It grows naturally from Mexico to the Amazon and through the Antilles, always under forest shade. In Amazonian traditions it is the companion of the ayahuasca vine, which is why it's known throughout the region. It's long-lived and, in the shade of a system, one of the least demanding plants there is.
Culture
- Habit
- Evergreen Shrub
- Height
- 3.00 m
- Cultivation Status
- Wild
It does well in gentle sun and partial shade, which is where it lives in the forest. It wants well-drained soil — it prefers the alkaline side, uncommon in our acid ground, so a handful of ash or agricultural lime suits it — and steady moisture without waterlogging. Multiply it from stem cuttings. It grows unhurriedly and can live 20 to 40 years. Plant 1–2 m apart.
Edible Uses
Not edible.
Medicinal
Its leaves are traditionally added to ayahuasca, within the ceremonies of Amazonian peoples, to give the preparation strength and duration; they contain dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which acts together with the alkaloids of the Banisteriopsis vine. This is a ceremonial use, belonging to that tradition and to those who know it. We offer the plant, not the preparation.
Traditional uses for information only. Not a substitute for advice from a health professional.
Agroforestry
A shrub of the low stratum with a secondary life cycle, made to live under the shade of the taller strata: that place in a mature system where the light is already thin and few species keep producing. It's long-lived, 20 to 40 years, so it's planted alongside the trees that will come to shade it. Plant 1–2 m apart.