Cup of Gold

Family Solanaceae (Nightshade Family); Subfamily Solanoideae, Solandreae Tribe (formerly Datureae Tribe) Forms and Subspecies Ten to twelve species are currently botanically recognized as belonging to the genus Solandra (D'Arcy 1991, 79*; Bartels 1993, 207*; Schultes and Farnsworth 1982, 166*). However, the taxonomy of the genus is rather confusing or, as Schultes (1979b, 150*) expressed it, "very poorly understood:' The species of ethnopharmacological significance are: Solandra brevicalyx Standl.-kieli, kieri, kieri Solandra guerrerensis Martinez-huipatli, hueypahtli, tecomaxochitl291 Solandra guttata D. Don ex Lindley (possibly identical to Solandra brevicalyx; Furst 1995, 55) Solandra nitida Zucco [syn. Solandra maxima P.S. Green, Solandra hartwegii N.B. Brown, Swartzia nitida Zucc.]-cutaquatzitziqui, copa de oro To nonbotanists, these four species are difficult if not impossible to distinguish (Morton 1995, 20*). The Indians regard them as equivalent. The following species, which occur in Mexico and are rich in alkaloids (Evans et al. 1972), have not been ethnobotanically described or investigated to date: Solandra grandiflora Sw. Solandra hirsuta Dun. Solandra macrantha Dun. Synonyms Datura maxima Sesse et Mocifia (= Solandra sp.) Datura sarmentosa Lam. (= Solandra grandiflora Sw.) Datura scandens Velloso (= Solandra sp.) Solandra herbacea Mordant de Launay is a synonym for Datura ceratocaula (see Datura spp.). Folk Names In Mexico, these folk names are used for all of the species in the genus (cf. Martinez 1966): arbol del viento, bolsa de Judas (Spanish, "bag of Judas"), bolute, chalice vine, copa de oro (Spanish, "cup of gold"), cup of gold, cutacua (Tarascan), cutaquatzitziqui, floripondio del monte (Spanish, "angel's trumpet of the forest"), goldkelch, hueipatl, hueypatli, hueytlaca, itzucuatziqui, k'ani bak'el (Lacandon, "yellow bone/scent"), kieli, kieli, kieri, kieri (Huichol, "tree of the wind"), lipa-catu- hue (Chontal), ndari (Zapotec), perilla, tecomaxochitl (Aztec, "offering drink plant"), tetona, tima' wits (Huastec, "jicara decorated gourd flower"), tree of the wind, windbaum, wind tree, xochitec6matl (Nahuatl). History It is not known how ancient the ritual use of the potently hallucinogenic cup of gold in Mexico is, but it may have originated in prehistoric times. The Aztec plant tecomaxochitl, which is very likely to be interpreted as a Solandra species, was first described by Hernandez in the early colonial period. Maximino Martinez was the first to discuss the psychoactive use of Solandra species (1966). It is possible that the Solandra shamanism (also known as kieli shamanism) of central Mexico may be older than the peyote cult, which arose in northern Mexico (cf. Lophophora williamsii) (Furst 1995). The genus was named for the Swede D. C. Solander (1736-1786), a student of Linnaeus and a companion on the journeys of Captain Cook. To date, the ethnobotany of the genus has been only poorly studied, as the plants are often associated with witchcraft and harmful magic and their uses are consequently kept secret and suppressed. The plant (and its associated uses) was earlier often confused with Datura innoxia. The Huichol refer to Solandra brevicalyx as the "true" kieli, and to Datura innoxia as kielitsha, "bad kielt (Knab 1977,81). Distribution The genus Solandra is indigenous to Mexico (Schultes and Farnsworth 1982, 166*). Most of the species occur in central Mexico. The genus is represented to the south as far as the rain forests of Chiapas (Martinez 1966). Several species have spread into the Caribbean and to South America (Peru) (Furst 1995,51). Cultivation Propagation is easily performed with cuttings. A piece of the stem (if possible from the end of the branch) approximately 20 cm long is placed in water. The plant can be placed in the ground as soon as its roots have started to develop. Solandra must be well watered and does not tolerate frost. In the rain forest, often all that is needed is to place a piece of the stem in the ground. Shoots will then quickly appear. Solanda grandiflora and Solandra nitida are the most commonly cultivated species for garden and ornamental use (Bartels 1993,207*). Appearance The perennial, heavily branching, fast-growing climber develops oblong-elliptic leaves that are up to 15 cm in length and tapered at the end. The solitary, terminal, chalice-shaped yellow flowers exude a sweet scent, usually in the evening, that is intoxicating, delicious, and very fine. This scent is comparable to the perfume of Brugmansia suaveolens or Brugmansia x insignis. Because almost all of the plants are the product of cultivation, they only very rarely form fruits (spherical berries enclosed by the calyx). The flower of Solandra nitida can attain a length of 20 cm. Its fruits, known as papaturra, can weigh as much as 1 kg (Bartels 1993,207*). Solandra species can be confused with the tropical dogbane Allamandra cathartica 1., a potent laxative (Blohm 1962, 79 f.*). Psychoactive Material - Flowers - Stalks - Leaves Preparation and Dosage A tea can be made from the stalks (Schultes and Farnsworth 1982, 166*). The fresh stalks can be pressed to obtain a juice; "the shoot juice of Solandra maxima [= S. nitida] is an inebriant of the Mexican Indians" (Bremness 1995, 29*). Unfortunately, no information is available concerning dosages. The fresh leaves (of Solandra brevicalyx) can be crushed and administered as an anal suppository or given as a decoction in the form of an enema (Knab 1977, 85). The dried flowers and leaves can be smoked alone or as a part of smoking blends. A medicinal dosage is regarded as the tea prepared from one fresh flower (Yasumoto 1996, 247). In colonial Mexico, Indians used the cup of gold to add zest to their cacao drinks (cf. Theobroma cacao) (Heffern 1974, 101*).

Ritual Use The cup of gold is only rarely used as a shamanic trance drug, and the ethnographic reports are correspondingly few. The Huastec are said to still ingest the flowers of Solandra nitida ritually and to place the scented flowers on altars as an offering (Alcorn 1984, 320, 793*). The Mixtec also are reported to traditionally ingest Solandra as a hallucinogen for divination (Avila B. 1992*). The most well-known use of the "plant of the gods" known as kiili or kiiri occurs among the Huichol Indians who now live in the Mexican state of Jalisco. One of the plants they use has been botanically identified as Solandra brevicalyx (Knab 1977, 86). In the mythology of the Huichol, the plant was originally a god: Kieli Tewiali, the god of wind and of magic. At the beginning of the world, he was born of the union of the cosmic serpent and the rain. Later, for the use and the blessing of humankind, he transformed himself into the enchantingly scented plant the "tree of the wind." An entire cycle of myths relates to this theme (Furst and Myerhoff 1966).292 The Solandra is often identified with Kieritawe, the "drunken Kieri" (Furst 1989; Yasumoto 1996). This divine plant is regarded as very powerful and mighty and thus can be used for all types of magic Ckieli shamanism"), including for dark purposes (harmful magic, death magic). Shamans-to-be must complete a five-year training period before they are allowed to use this potent magical plant. The leaves, which only experienced shamans (mara'akame) may remove from the tree, are later used as magical weapons for healing illnesses caused by magic or foreign, perfidious shamans (Knab 1977). The divine plant must not be disturbed or offended lest one be punished with madness or death. The gifts offered to the plant are similar to those offered to the peyote (Lophophora williamsii): ceremonial pipes, tortillas, a homemade tequila known as tuche (cf. Agave spp.), tobacco gourds (cf. Nicotiana rustica) , coins, yarn paintings, jewelry, bead necklaces, et cetera. The Huichol sometimes approach the plant and offer it prayers, e.g., before they undertake a journey or make a pilgrimage to Wirikuta, the land of the peyote. They also ask it for fertility, improvements in singing ability, and artistic creativity (Knab 1977, 83). Shamans are able to receive sacred knowledge from the "tree of the wind." The Huichol artist Jose Bautista Corrillo provided the following explanation of such a ritual of knowledge portrayed in one of his yarn paintings: Kauyumari, the leader of the shamans in the shape of a deer, eats Kieri, the tree of the wind, to learn about the legends of the past and the art of healing. He passes this knowledge on to the shaman who asks Kieri to teach him everything while he sings throughout the entire night. The puma, who was once the fire, and the wolf, who was once a shaman, help the shaman to understand the teachings. (1996) The plant is apparently used only extremely rarely as a hallucinogen. The leaves seem to be preferred for this purpose, although the fruits (which develop only infrequently) and the roots are thought to be more potent (Knab 1977,85). It is said that the plant is able to help a person fly (Furst 1995, 53). Sometimes the hallucinogenic use of Solandra is regarded as a sure sign of sorcery, witchcraft, and black magic (Knab 1977, 85; Furst 1995). On the other hand, some Huichol say that this plant opens their mind for the "highest levels of enlightenment." Some Huichol say that people are not allowed to ingest the plant but may only be exposed to its scent. Even the scent is capable of inducing trance, and the Huichol use it as a spiritual guide into mystical domains (Valadez 1992, 103 f.). They climb a steep mountain, upon which a kieli plant is growing, for this purpose. They must fast (no food or beverages, including water) both before and while they are climbing, and they spend the night near the scented plant, inhaling its perfume and showing the bush their respect and attention (Meier 1996). While they sleep, they hope to receive meaningful visionary dreams in which they will be able to find messages.Artifacts Kieri is sometimes depicted in the visionary yarn paintings of many Huichol artists (Valadez 1992). Although the plant can appear in varying degrees of abstraction, it usually is shown in a quite realistic and botanically correct manner (yellow flowers, leaf arrangement). Many floral elements in the pre-Columbian wall paintings at Teotihuacan may symbolize Solandra vines (cf. Turbina corymbosa). Some of the illustrations resemble the typical iconography of the plant in modern Huichol yarn paintings (cf. Lophophora williamsii). Medicinal Use In Mexico, the cup of gold is used in folk medicine primarily as a love drink and aphrodisiac. Warnings against overdoses are common: one can dry out and die from an excessive sex drive. The Huastec use the rainwater or dew that has collected in the buds of Solandra nitida as eyedrops to improve sight (Alcorn 1984, 793*). A tea made from the flowers is drunk to treat coughing (Yasumoto 1996, 247). Constituents All of the Mexican species of Solandra contain potently hallucinogenic tropane alkaloids. The primary alkaloids are atropine, noratropine, and (-)-hyoscyamine (originally described as "solandrine"); the secondary alkaloids are littorine, hyoscine, norhyoscine, tigloidine, 3a-tigloyloxytropane, 3a-acetoxytropane, valtropine, norhyoscyamine, tropine, nortropine, x-tropine, and cuscohygrine (Evans et al. 1972; Schultes and Farnsworth 1982, 166*). According to another source, scopolamine is the primary alkaloid, present at a concentration of 0.1 to 0.2% (Diaz 1979, 84*). The stalks of Solandra guttata have been found to contain norhyoscine. Solandra is chemotaxonomically closely related to the genera Datura and Duboisia (Evans 1979,245*). Most Solandra species contain approximately 0.15% alkaloids (Schultes 1979b, 150*). The highest concentration of alkaloids (calculated as atropine) was found in the roots of Solandra grandiflora (0.64% ). The roots generally exhibit the highest alkaloid concentrations (Evans et al. 1972). However, in Solandra nitida, the alkaloid concentration is clearly highest in the fruits (Morton 1995,20*). Effects The Huichol compare the visions produced by Solandra brevicalyx with the effects of Lophophora williamsii but warn against the former because they may frighten a person "to death" (Knab 1977). In Mexico, Solandra nitida Zucco (Perilla) is regarded as poisonous (Jiu 1966, 256*). A tea made from one flower induced a "toxic psychosis" in an adult, who required thirty-six hours to make a complete recovery (Morton 1995,20*). Internal administration of Solandra preparations can lead to severe hallucinations, delirium, delusions, et cetera. The spectrum of effects is very similar to that of Brugmansia sanguinea. Smoking the flowers and/or leaves produces effects that are more subtle but still clearly psychoactive and aphrodisiac and generally very similar to the effects produced by smoking other nightshades (Brugmansia, Datura, Latua pubiflora). It has been said that merely inhaling the scent can produce entheogenic states (Meier 1996). The Lacandon say that the scent has erotic effects and awakens sexual desire. Commercial Forms and Regulations Solandra species are not subject to any legal restrictions. In North America, young plants are occasionally available in nurseries. Literature See also the entries for scopolamine and tropane alkaloids. Evans, W. C., A. Ghani, and Valerie A. Woolley. 1972. Alkaloids of Solandra species. Phytochemistry 11:470-72. Furst, Peter T. 1989. The life and death of the crazy kieri: Natural and cultural history of a Huichol myth. Journal ofLatin American Lore 15 (2): 155-77. ---.1995. The drunkard kieri: New observations of an old problem in Huichol psychotropic ethnobotany. Integration 5:51-62. ---.1996. Introduction to chapter 8. In People of the peyote, ed. Stacy Schaefer and Peter T. Furst, 232-34. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Furst, Peter T., and Barbara G. Myerhoff. 1966. Myth as history: The jimson weed cycle of the Huichols of Mexico. Antropol6gia 17:3-39. Huysmans, Joris-Karl. 1994. Tief unten. Stuttgart: Reclam. (Orig. pub. 1972.) Knab, Tim. 1977. Notes concerning use of Solandra among the Huichol. Economic Botany 31 :80-86. Martinez, Maximino. 1966. Las solandras de Mexico con una specie nueva. Anales del Instituto de Biologia 37 (1/2): 97-106. Mexico City: UNAM. Valadez, Mariano, and Susana Valadez. 1992. Huichol Indian sacred rituals. Oakland, Calif.: Dharma Enterprises. Yasumoto, Masaya. 1996. The psychotropic kieri in Huichol culture. In People ofthe peyote, ed. Stacy Schaefer and Peter T. Furst, 235-63. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.