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Brooms (Genista, Cytisus, Spartium etc)

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dithyramb

dithyramb

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Is anybody familiar with the psychoactivity of these plants? These are very understudied entheogens, the canary islands broom being the most well known. A few species grow abundantly where I live and I was called to get to know Spartium junceum through its flowers this spring. I was surprised at the definite psychedelic effect from a tea of just a few flowers. Very magical. Drank before sleeping it animates dreams to a degree that could get scary, feels like a lot of contact with real entities. Dream recall is highly enhanced.

These plants are rich in Cytisine, a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist, but the pharmacology is not well studied and other components such as terpenes are suspected to play a role in psychoactivity.

Cytisine is the main alkaloid of mescal beans which are the ancient ceremonial medicine of Southern Native Americans (Peyote is said to be a recent tradition). It is said to have a similar toxicity to nicotine (potentially lethal), and also highly purgative. I have not felt nausea or toxicity in the doses I have tried so far.

The seeds of Spartium are supposed to be much richer in Cytisine, I will give them a try when they mature, which might be soon.
 
I tried an infusion of the flowers with a tiny amount of rue before sleeping. I experienced intense colorful patterns in an extended hypnogogic phase (along with strong dream enhancement). I should try this combination when I am awake.
 
I can't locate anything online which states that it does. Wiki says this about the genus:

"They are commonly known as baccharises but sometimes referred to as "brooms", because many members have small thin leaves resembling the true brooms. They are not at all related to these however, but belong to an entirely different lineage of eudicots."

I'm probably out of luck.
 
Grey Fox said:
Is Desert Broom (Baccharis sarothroides) also in this category of plants? It is abundant in my area.
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It's in the Asteraceae, daisy family. The most common alkaloids in this plant family are pyrrolizidines, which you definitely don't want.

Other alkaloids related to cytisine include anagyrine, lupanine and sparteine.

I've chewed a Laburnum seed or two now and again. These also contain cytisine and I've found the effect to be similar to that of nicotine. It always seemed like a good idea to be very cautious about the dose.
 
Spartium... This is true medicine. I have experienced it through eating raw beans for the first time. Just two beans (the beans are very small, and the seeds are tiny, in contrast to mescal) gave an awe inspiring religious experience, strong cleansing, and magical dreams all night.

I am not so familiar with nicotine. While I guess it does have commonalities with nicotine, there are some serious differences as well. Calming, euphoria, powerful opening of senses especially to outer world. The plant probably has more than cytisine going on, too. But *extreme* caution with dose is a must, this plant is extremely potent and potentially lethal in high doses.
 
I thought to make another thread but this one seems more or less appropriate.

So it's about mescal bean. I ordered some seeds few monts ago. I know it's quite toxic but I didn't know it cytisine can be absorbed through skin?

I have no idea how to explain weird thing that happen to me. Took the seeds to scarify them as I read it will improve germination. With knife I was scraping off white waxy powder. Nothing else. Few minutes after that I felt weird, colors become more saturated and everything looked a bit weird, I started breathing more relaxed (idk you know when you have big fight with someone how you breathe after?) etc. After that I felt tired although I slept good today. Now little less so but still sleepy.

Mescal beans have really otherworldly vibe to them, something like maze of rooms, filled with books, maybe even underground, with old style furniture and a lot of brown and red colors and heavily decorated (idk how that style is called 😂).

I can't complain, the feeling is very pleasant. But I was scared for a bit. From now one I will handle them more carefully. But I also think that I will experiment with this in the future.

Basically does anyone know if cytisine can be absorbed through the skin or am I just going insane?
 
dithyramb said:
Spartium... This is true medicine. I have experienced it through eating raw beans for the first time. Just two beans (the beans are very small, and the seeds are tiny, in contrast to mescal)
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English is my second language so I'm not sure I got it right? You first say beans than seeds? Both cases you think seeds/beans or something else?

I found the plant in Greece and collect seeds. One night I ate half or one whole I can't remember. You gave me idea. Didn't notice any effects but had a vibe of a plant as he is good guy ready to help. Asked him to give me the answer in dream. I got the answer and it helped me. So thank you dithyramb for the info on this plant.

I still have few more seeds so thats why I'm asking. I just want clarification did you think seeds or something else. And also to ask if you can describe your experience a bit more? Did you take it again?

By the way I don't know if anyone said it but I heard that Cytisus scoparius flowers are psychodelic when fermented for a year. Didn't get the chance to try it out. But so Castaneda thread and discussion on little smoke. One of the plants there should be from this genus because Don Juan also fermented yellow flowers from bush for a year. That sounds like cytisus to me, and in Ratsch encyclopedia it is written that indians from that region use it. I tried to find the source but couldn't. If I find it I'll post it. It was from a site of some californian herbalist I think who read that Merlin smoked scotch broom and he figured somehow that it first needs to be fermented. You can ferment it for shorter period of time but it won't be quite as good
 
Hi volshebnik, nicotine does get absorbed through the skin, so I would not be surprised if structurally similar cytisine also does.

By bean I meant the pods that hold the seeds. You know, like the edible green beans. They were intact with the seeds inside them. However I forgot to mention that even though eating them gave a very strong magical psychoactivity, it also gave a certain toxic feel, which is not surprising. Most likely low heat simmer would be the less toxic option, similar to how it is with some nightshade plants. But in any case it has to be a tiny amount. Cytisine has a lethality similar to nicotine and other tropanes.

Last year I experimented with some simmered flowers. İt definitely has its own strong character and spirit and certain specific healing power. The euphoria and magical psychoactivity is very nice. Flower tea in the way that I made it did not give any toxic feel. But as is usual for me I felt that it is healthier and more appropriate for me to drink it combined with rue.

Spartium junceum is one of those plants that are found in infinite abundance where I live. I always have a hunch that plants that are extremely abundant are meant to be used by humans.

Thank you for bumping the thread and reminding me of this beautiful plant. İn a few months I will be harvesting flowers.
 
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