Petunia

It is said that the Indians of the Ecuadoran highlands smoke this plant, known as shanin, the effects of which resemble those of Coriaria thymifolia. The plant is said to give its user "the feeling of rising into the air or floating weightlessly away" (Alvear 1971, 23*; Schultes and Hofmann 1992, 53*). Chemical studies to date have not detected the presence of any alkaloids (Butler at al. 1981; Ott 1993,417*). It is possible, however, that new diterpenes may be present, as they have been found in a relative, Petunia patagonica (Speg.) Millan (Guerreiro et al. 1984). Ketones have also been found in the genus (Elliger et al. 1990).

Literature Butler, Edward Grant, Trevor Robinson, and Richard Evans Schultes. 1981. Petunia violacea: Hallucinogen or not? Journal ofEthnopharmacology 4 (1): 111-14. Elliger, Carl A., Anthony C. Waiss Jr., Marby Benson, and Rosalind Y. Wong. 1990. Ergostanoids from Petunia parodii. Phytochemistry 29 (9): 2853-63. Guerreiro, Eduardo, J. de Fernandez, and O. S. Giordano. 1984. Beyerene derivatives and other constituents from Petunia patagonica. Phytochemistry 23 (12): 2871-73.