Stinking Strawflower

It is said that the magician-physicians of the African Zulu made a powder of this strawflower that they inhaled or smoked in order to induce a divinatory trance. This vague information comes only from a note belonging to an herbarium specimen of this plant and has no other ethnographic support (von Reis and Lipp 1982, 303*). Helichrysum stenopterum is said to have been used in the same manner (de Smet 1996, 142*; von Reis and Lipp 1982, 303*). Various derivatives of phloroglucinol have been detected in this plant (Jakupovic et al. 1986). Other members of the genus have yielded coumarins and diterpenes (D. McKenna 1995, 101*; Schultes and Hofmann 1992, 44*). Helichrysum serpyllifolium, which has been characterized as "Hottentot tea;' is drunk as an infusion (Lewin 1980 [orig. pub. 1929], 352*).

Literature Jakupovic, J., J. Kuhnke, A. Schuster, M. A. Metwally, and F. Bohlmann. 1986. Phloroglucinol derivatives and other constituents from South African Helichrysum species. Phytochemistry 25: 1133-42.