Ereriba

This tropical araliaceous plant is said to have been used as a hallucinogen in Papua New Guinea. The leaves of this plant (possibly Homalomena belgraveana Sprague) were ingested together with the bark of Galbulimima belgraveana (F. Muell.) Sprague332 [sm. Himantandra belgraveana F. Muell.] and the root of Zingiber zerumbet (1.) Sm. [syn. Alpinia speciosa] (see Zingiber officinale). This allegedly produced strong visions followed by intense dreams (Barrau 1958). Since this plant is known locally as maraba, the same name given to Kaempferia galanga and Galbulimima, the botanical identity of this purported hallucinogen is still in question. Chemical studies are lacking (Schultes and Hofmann 1995,45*). The species Homalomena cordata Schott and H. versteegii Engler are used in New Guinea for rain and love magic, respectively (Ott 1993,409*). Chemical studies of these species are also lacking (D. McKenna 1995, 101*). The ginger-scented rhizome of the East Indian species Homalomena aromatica was once used as an aphrodisiac (Hirschfeld and Linsert 1930, 180*). In Papua New Guinea, an ointment is made from the stem of a Homalomena species known as iva iva together with coconut oil (cf. Cocos nucifera) (von Reis and Lipp 1982, 10*).

Literature Barrau, Jacques. 1958. Nouvelles observations au sujet des plantes hallucinogenes d'usage autochtone en Nouvelle-Guinee. Journal d'Agriculture Tropicale et de Botanique Appliquee 5:377-78.