Silene specie

[hypnotoad]

Hey guys so went walking around the bush looking for plants found a Silene specie. Is it the Ubulawu (african dream root) that produces vivid dreams.

I'm not 100% sure if its S.capensis? Or is it different Silene specie?

Thanks any help appreciated!

 

[Infundibulum]

...a Silene specie.

It is spelled species; same for the singular and plural forms

I wouldn't know to id it, but good luck with the id, I hope you stand lucky!

 

[Ufostrahlen]

Flora Zambesiaca could give you a hint:

Plants of the World Online | Kew Science

apps.kew.org

You searched for: 'Silene'
Your search returned 13 records

The writing of Flora Zambesiaca was started in 1960 as a joint project involving the collaboration of the Governments of the Federation of Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe), Nyasaland (now Malawi), Portugal and the United Kingdom, as well as the following institutions: Natural and History Museum, London; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Centro de Botânica, Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, Lisbon; Government Herbarium, Salisbury, Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Its main objective is the taxonomic study of native and naturalised plants of the Zambezi River basin, covering the territories of Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Caprivi Strip.

Edit: Alright, there are even more Silene plants which grow in SA

Threatened Species Programme | SANBI Red List of South African Plants

redlist.sanbi.org

Why not ask a local expert?

 

[hypnotoad]

Sorry my English is not the best. Wow never knew there were so many Silene species! I'm busy looking through the list now.

Does only capensis (now undulata I think) have the vivid dream inducing properties or do other Silene species aswell? What alkaloids (if the do contain alkaloid's)?

 

[Vodsel]

It's difficult to ID accurately the species with the pictures, but it does look like Silene.

There's reports claiming that other Silene species, also found often in the northern hemisphere (specifically Silene Latifolia, and most likely Silene Alba) show very similar properties to the known Silene Capensis/Undulata.

And just a note about active compounds... it is not clear whether the oneirogenic properties of Silene are due to alkaloids. Traditional ubulawu usage and available information suggest the triterpenoid saponins found in the roots may be the actives instead.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

So, trawling back over the old threads, this catches my eye. S. alba certainly occurs in my region and I've often wondered about it in this respect.

As far as the Caryophyllaceae as whole goes, I'll add the note that the fairly closely-related Arenaria kansuensis is listed (in TiHKAL) as a harmine-containing plant. So that sort of brings alkaloids back into the equation.