Kwashi

This African sea lily, known as kwashi, is said to be a popular hallucinogen among the Bushmen of Botswana. Cut into slices, the bulb is rubbed into incisions made on the scalp (de Smet 1996, 142*). Among the some fifteen species in the genus, this species is considered the most poisonous; it contains a variety of cardiac toxins (Schultes and Hofmann 1992, 52*). A Russian study isolated trisperidine, tacettin, hippeastrine, pancratine, galanthamine, lycorine, hordenine, and two unidentified bases from the bulb (Munvime and Muravjoza 1983). The main alkaloid in the bulb of the Mediterranean Pancratium maritimum 1. is lycorine (Sener et al. 1993). Lycorine, which is present in many amaryllis species, causes paralysis of the central nervous system (Roth et al. 1994, 854*).

Literature Munvime, F. D., and D. A. Muravjova. 1983. Alkaloids of Pancratium trianthum Herb. Farmatsiya 32:22-24. Sener, B., S. Koenuekol, C. Krukl, and U. K. Pandit. 1993. Alkaloids oflycorine and lycorenine class from Pancratium maritimum L. Archiv fur Pharmazie 326:61-62.