Plants and Human Cosmologies

Areas where special plants are used to enter another world

Wysoccan – Datura sp.

Native Virginians - 1673

A priest and a conjurer

Black Elk’s Vision Quest

Wysoccan - Datura stramonium

• Given to boys in adolescent rites lasting 18-20 days - after which they were considered to be adults

• From it comes stramonium a drug used in the treatment of asthma - hallocinogenic agents are tropane alkaloids hyoscamine and hyoscine

Marijuana – Cannabis sativa

Ancient Use of Cannabis

• 2000 BCE – Writings of Shen Nung mention Cannabis as an important plant for the treatment of various illnesses including beri-beri, malaria, and forgetfulness. He also described the plant as freeing the psyche: “If taken over a long term, it makes one communicate with spirits and lighten one’s body.”

Ancient Use of Cannabis

• Writers in China warned that Cannabis was a “liberator of sin.” ~ 2000 BCE

• By 1500 BCE the plant known as “ma” was reported as useful for shamanistic purposes

• 2nd Century AD Chinese physicians mixed it with wine and used it as an anaesthetic during surgery

Ancient Use of Cannabis

• 500 – 300 BCE - ancient Scythians in the Near East used Cannabis as a psychotropic drug

• Herodotus reported that Scythians delighted in vapor baths scented by Cannabis seeds placed on heated stones

• 4th Century BCE - discovered with skeleton in tomb in Jerusalem

Al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbah

• By 1090 had established fortress on trade routes to China and India – ruled army of thieves whom he supplied with hashish and women in return for their loyalty

Introduction to Europe

• Europeans were introduced to Cannabis as a psychoactive plant by Napoleon’s soldiers after the conquest of Egypt in 1800. They began by consuming resin of Cannabis flowers and leaves (hashish). At first the resin was used to treat mentally ill, but soon it was used recreationally too. By 1844 so many fashionable Parisians were enjoying their visions from use of hashish that they formed a club, Le Club des Haschischins, and held monthly meetings at the Hotel Pimodan on the Ile Saint-Louis.

The Hotel Pimodan

Modern Water Pipe and Hashish

Bob Marley and the Wailers Album Cover - 1973

Cannabis smoker – Southeast Asia

Coca plant – Erythroxylum coca

Growing coca plant

Use of Coca Plant

• Coca was domesticated in Pre-Columbian times - it may have been domesticated as long ago as 7000 years ago

• The first Spanish explorers reported the natives of the Andes chewing coca leaves with mineral lime, a substance that helps the mucous membranes of the mouth absorb the alkaloids from the leaves

• This practice probably dates back at least 5000 years and is still done today

Clay vessel depicting Coca chewer – from Peru – 400-600 AD

Medicinal and Dietary Properties of Coca

• Chewing coca leaf helps relieve the headache, nausea, and weakness of altitude sickness and helps relieve the general fatigue of travel

• Coca leaves also contain an assortment of vitamins and minerals that make a valuable contribution to the often impoverished Andean diet

• One hundred grams of coca leaves contains more calcium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin A, vitamin B2, and vitamin E than called for by the US recommended daily allowance

Coca leaves for sale in market in La Paz, Bolivia

John Styth Pemberton and Coca Cola

Advertisement for French “Tonic” Wine made of red bordeaux and coca leaves

Plants for Dyes and Decorations

Woad – Isatis tinctoria

Woad Dyes

• Woad produces a substance in its leaves called isatan B which, when exposed to the air, forms the blue compound indigo.

• This compound can easily be removed from the leaves by boiling them in water and an alkaline solution, a process used by home dyers today to make indigo today

Woad Dye and Woad Dyed Wool

Woad Body Decoration

Source of Henna – Lawsonia inermis

Henna Dye

• Henna, Lawsonia inermis, produces a red-orange dye molecule lawsone. This molecule has an affinity for bonding with protein, and thus has been used to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather, silk and wool.

• Henna body art is made by applying henna paste to the skin: the lawsone in the paste migrates into the outermost layer of the skin and makes a red-brown stain.

• Products sold as "black henna" or "neutral henna" are not made from henna, but may be derived from indigo (in the plant Indigofera tinctoria) or Cassia obovata

Henna Preparation

• Dried ground, sifted henna leaves are easily worked into a paste that can used to make intricate body art.

• Commercially available henna powder is made by drying the henna leaves and milling them to powder, then the powder is sifted.

• This powder is mixed with lemon juice, strong tea, or other mildly acidic liquids. Essential oils with high levels of monoterpene alcohols such as tea tree, eucalyptus, cajeput, or lavender will improve skin staining characteristics.

Mehndi – traditional Indian bridal henna art

Modern body art with Henna

Traditional tattoo on resident of Nuka Hiva- late 1700’s

Candlenut tree – Aleurites moluccana

Traditional Samoan Tattooing

• The pigments used in traditional Samoan tattooing comes from the nuts of the candlenut tree Aleurites moluccana (Euphorbiaceae) - called lama in Samoan

• The seeds are burned to produce soot which is collected on banana leaves and stored in coconut shells

Candlenut seeds ready to be burned to produce soot

Samoan Tattooing Technique

• Tattooing is done by grinding the soot with a mortar and pestle

• A serrated comb of pig bone is used to penetrate the skin, and a mallet pounds the comb and pigment into the skin

• A towel of bark cloth is used to wipe away the blood

Traditional Samoan tattoo process as done today

Completed modernversion of traditionalSamoan tattoo