Mhlebe

From TripSit wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This South African spurge is used for folk

medicinal purposes in Eastern Transvaal

(Mpumalanga) and is reputedly psychoactive

(Schultes and Hofmann 1980, 367*). Ingestion of

a large piece of the root tuber (how much?) is said

to cause hallucinations and delirium. The local

diviners sometimes swallow pieces of the root in

order to obtain prophetic visions. The plant

contains bioactive alkaloids (Gundiza 1991; de

Smet 1996, 143 f. *) and may contain methylamines

(Emboden 1979, 184*).
Literature

Gundiza, M. 1991. Effect of methanol extract from

Monadenium lugardae on contractile activity of

guinea-pig ileum. Central African Journal of

Medicine 37:141-44.