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Does anyone know why certain species of plants were found with DMT?
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twofourtwo
Rising Star
Maybe they were inspired to do so, like the structure of the benzene molecule was discovered after an archetypical dream:
It's almost the same question as, why did Amazonians put certain plants in their brews, and not others?
Either that, or scientists scan forums like this one to see which plants to analyze,,,
It's almost the same question as, why did Amazonians put certain plants in their brews, and not others?
Either that, or scientists scan forums like this one to see which plants to analyze,,,
The Neural
Rising Star
Makes sense. If they found out that indigenous people used mimosa hostilis root, psychotria viridis leaves, diplopterys etc., they would look into them, then their immediate families and relating geni. They may have speculated that many plants in S. America could potentially contain relevant substances. Then they could analyse the plants' phytochemistry to see what kind of substances exist on those plants that could produce DMT as a metabolite, and then track down other unrelated plants that have the same precursor substances to see if there's a link.
And the list goes on...
And the list goes on...
Ideally, I guess that if we completely understood the biosynthesis of the compound we would narrow down more easily any list of botanical candidates and then trial/error would be acceptable.
But so far, it's observation. You notice someone using something and then you look into it and do some research, and as The Neural said, if there is available knowledge of the botanical family, you might research related species.
The thing is, this observation rule might apply to indigenous cultures where they observe nature, but not necessarily other people, and become interested in a plant or fungus (say, like ancients in Siberia noticing a reindeer eating fly agaric mushrooms)... but is every psychoactive plant consumed by humans a treat for other animal species? Not at all, apparently.
If we try to go to the source, I don't think trial/error sustains as the sole explanation. There must have been insights, such as Hofmann's with LSD, and maybe they came when a non-plant induced visionary state drew a man's attention to a bush in particular.
But so far, it's observation. You notice someone using something and then you look into it and do some research, and as The Neural said, if there is available knowledge of the botanical family, you might research related species.
The thing is, this observation rule might apply to indigenous cultures where they observe nature, but not necessarily other people, and become interested in a plant or fungus (say, like ancients in Siberia noticing a reindeer eating fly agaric mushrooms)... but is every psychoactive plant consumed by humans a treat for other animal species? Not at all, apparently.
If we try to go to the source, I don't think trial/error sustains as the sole explanation. There must have been insights, such as Hofmann's with LSD, and maybe they came when a non-plant induced visionary state drew a man's attention to a bush in particular.
..it's also just 'random'..
e.g. with australian Acacias about 40-100 have been randomly formally selected and tested (and plenty had DMT) but the remaining 8-900 simply haven't been studied..
the same could be be said of all the worlds' plants..public funded institutions never have much money, let alone bosses who want them to find DMT!
e.g. with australian Acacias about 40-100 have been randomly formally selected and tested (and plenty had DMT) but the remaining 8-900 simply haven't been studied..
the same could be be said of all the worlds' plants..public funded institutions never have much money, let alone bosses who want them to find DMT!
This is a rich area of study indeed for all you aspiring ethnobotanists.
Parshvik Chintan
Esteemed member
wow..dreamer042 said:
too bad you have to go to school for that
yes...nen888 said:
random is the answer here.
Scientists usually do not choose to look for dmt (or any other molecule of interest) in plants. They just extract plants, partition their compounds and analyse what they got out of it.
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