Psychotria viridis – Chacruna ‘Shipibo’ (seed)

Description

Psychotria viridis is a member of the Rubiaceae (Coffee) family from South America, traditionally used in the healing Ayahuasca brew. The word Chacruna derives from the Quechua word chaqruy which means ‘to mix’. It is added to Ayahuasca brews to increase the light and changes the style, visions are often in richer colours, different than when only Banisteriopsis caapi is used alone.

Psychotria viridis contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a psychoactive substance found across the plant kingdom in many family, genera and thousands of species (large numbers of Australian Acacia species contain DMT), often only as trace amounts. In Psychotria viridis it is found in the leaves at concentrations varying from 0.1 – 0.61% with traces of other tryptamines (Ratsch 1998).

This variety has been in Australia for many decades and is of Peruvian Amazonia origin, being used by the Shipibo-Conibo indigenous people for medicine and ayahuasca.

More info on Psychotria viridis at Wikipedia!

Care and Cultivation of Psychotria viridis

Sow Psychotria viridis seeds just under the surface of a well drained seed raising mix. Keep moist but not overly wet. Keep in a warm place. Seedlings will emerge in 2-6 months and can be potted up once crowding starts.

Relatively fast growing, Psychotria viridis prefers a shady, moist, well-drained site. Should be grown in warmer conditions, however we find Chacruna to be quite tolerant of temperatures in the single digits and our motherplants are kept outside over winter. Grows 1 – 1.5 metres tall and in width. Fertilise regularly over the warmer months.

We harvest our own seeds each year, in late winter-spring.

20 seeds per packet