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Went for a hike, think I found some Acacia Confusa. Please help identify.

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jimmy4fingers

jimmy4fingers

Rising Star
So I went foraging this morning in the hills and think I've stumbled onto some A.Confusa. Can any experts here help confirm/identify this. Sorry for the poor image quality.

I didn't have the tools to get any rootbark but managed to bring back some branch bark from one that wasn't flowering. I read somewhere that it should have a good % of dmt content. We will see.

Anyone know how to prepare the branch? I'm thinking to strip away the outer skin and use the core. Will it need to be dried out?

https://imgur.com/a/bwQFg
 

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:thumb_up:
please let us know if your branch is filled with goodies

also i don't think its the core you wanna work with but rather the inner bark.
 
Im very familiar with the tree, but for some reason it says I dont have privileges to view your photos. If you have a knife, you can cut some long strips of rootbark. The trees are quite strong for about 40 years or so and have a ton of roots anyways.
 
yeah it appears you've got confusa.. :)

Reap removing rootbark from acacia will often kill the tree... and there is no need to anyways.. the phyllodes (leaves) or stems/branches should contain alkaloids in healthy amounts- even the fallen phyllodes should have something in there. less potent than the bark usually but who's complaining when you can pick them up off the ground or just prune a few little branches and leave the tree standing... you should be able to get some alkaloids out. please do not harvest the rootbark

Active acacia's generally contain alkaloids in the other areas of the tree too, eg the phyllodes, trunk(though this should not be taken) and branch/stem bark.. I think the main reason we see rootbark advertised still is to appeal to people who are familiar with mimosa rootbark and the belief that it is the only dmt containing area of the plant.. this has been shown on a thread here recently not to be the case.. mimosa trees on farms are stripped all over the branches and trunk and the rootbark often being left..

the bark should probably be dried first i reckon.. a low setting on your oven should do the trick.. then grind it to a fibrous texture or powder..
 
Thanks acacian, I will attempt with branch bark first. If this fails I may try some trunk bark by taking little pieces from many trees. If all goes well I'll try some phyllodes and little branches to compare the difference.
 
I believe ripping off small pieces of trunk bark off many trees could be more damaging to tree`s from reading other comments, but I am sure someone who knows Acacia`s better can answer.
 
no need to take the entire root, as acacian said.
lets say your finger nails were 50% dmt, you wouldn't need to take off your finger for it, right?
the plant will survive if those are aired roots, the important basal ones are still there.
next time just take some bark, kindly and respectfully, because it's like taking off your nails.
 
jimmy4fingers said:
Thanks acacian, I will attempt with branch bark first. If this fails I may try some trunk bark by taking little pieces from many trees. If all goes well I'll try some phyllodes and little branches to compare the difference.
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if its not in the branch bark i very much doubt it will be in the trunk bark.. the timing of your statement is interesting actually. I should link you to this thread, regarding damage to acacia trees... and ideas about ethical ways of harvesting

.. ultimately taking trunk bark from lots of different trees is probably going to put them worse off than just harming one- my point is that the trunk needn't be used anyways though. if its in the trunk it will be in the branch bark too, so just use that if you are adamant on using bark... if its not in the branch bark you can assume it won't be in the trunk either so theres no need to touch it. I think you should find it is indeed in the branch in pretty good amounts.. the branches you've got there should be plenty really. confusa seems a pretty consistent source and a lot of vendors are using branch/stem bark anyways....but harvest with care-taking thick branches isn't particularly good for the tree either. thinner ones would be more ideal.. you could probably get a nice personal amount of material from carefully pruning the smaller tips of branches off a few trees. the phyllodes will help boost the yield too..

i suggest that anyone who is experimenting with these trees to start working with phyllodes and put your research up here at the nexus so the info can be made more available... over here in aus phyllodes are becoming more and more popular.. trunk slowly becoming a thing of the past. this should be the case for confusa too.. i get the feeling confusa could see a similar fate to the obtusifolia over here otherwise

I enjoyed your analogy iracema :) and we are ultimately hurting ourselves too by harming them. we should be respecting these teachers so that we can see them preserved for future generations to come..
 
sure my friend.
bonsai cultivation requires aired roots and branches pruning, which applies to natural harvest and actually end up stimulating the plant if done right.
but taking entire root is not prunning..
the trunk is very sensitive part, better leave the bark there, so the nutrient flux keep running well muffled.
when I said stem bark in other posts, I reffered to the branches bark.
leaves and flowers are good choice too.

jimmy, if you really have 4 fingers, I'm deeply sorry for my inconvenient analogy. :roll:
 
..it's A. confusa..
pruning branches, as iracema suggests, is the most friendly thing to do to a tree for bark..

taking strips from the trunk leads to branch die back and poor health, and if enough taken, eventual slow death..
 
iracema said:
jimmy, if you really have 4 fingers, I'm deeply sorry for my inconvenient analogy. :roll:
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I have 4 fingers and a thumb on each hand :lol:

99.9% certain its A.Confusa. The more I notice the trees in my area the more I see them now. One even has a big label on it 😁
 
iracema said:
no need to take the entire root, as acacian said.
lets say your finger nails where 50% dmt, you wouldn't need to take off your finger for it, right?
the plant will survive if those are aired roots, the important basal ones are still there.
next time just take some bark, kindly and respectfully, because it's like taking off your nails.
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I love to see people who respect and love theese wonderfull plants, i would suggest maybe cloning and starting yournown enthobotanical garden 😁 perpetual harvests
 
I love to see people who respect and love theese wonderfull plants, i would suggest maybe cloning and starting yournown enthobotanical garden 😁 perpetual harvests
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I guess it depends on where you are.. In Hawaii, where it's considered to be an invasive species, these trees are murdered by the acre with herbicides. I imagine that you can even get a government grant to murder these trees. You can find 50 kilo bags of root bark on eBay, so it's obviously become a big business in Hawaii.

Those of you outside of the tropics who are buying your root bark online are buying the bark of trees that have been killed. I was reading one advertisement where the bark dealer claimed that his bark was carefully and lovingly harvested :!:. . . (ummm ya, rite)

I'm on one of the islands where Acacia Confusa is thought to have originated. All trees are protected here and the last thing that I would want to do is harm one of them. I'm still looking for conclusive statistics relating to the medicinal content of the phyllodes as well as other parts.
 
hmm just chiming in here. I've only had 1 Confusa experience so far. This was a 'huasca experience using 60g b. caapi and approximately 12g or so Confusa tea.

the confusa was definitely trunk bark and came from a vendor that I trust very much. It was taken from recently naturally-fallen Acacias in the mountainous regions of Taiwan.

I can confirm that the strength of this tea was equal or greater to that of Mimosa hostillis tea. I've had mimosa rootbark tea a handful of times and the stuff I swigged most definitely was on par.

I've recently purchased some supposed Hawaiian confusa rootbark for spice purposes and I feel like I may have spent too much money on an unethical product. Being invasive certainly makes me feel better about it, but I think the cheaper-priced trunk bark is probably the way to go considering my tea experience. I will say that this rootbark smells like pure spice though.

Hooray for domestic invasives!!!
 
AluminumFoilRobots said:
Acacia retinodes?

Ive seen this guy mostly around Santa Cruz in California, and S. california . Apparently has a more shrub-like habit, 6m-10m. How tall was your subject?
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heeeeey there partner you pass through Santa Cruz often? I'm interested as a friend lives there and i visit veeery often. In fact I know the entire city like the back of my hand.

do you know if any interesting plants grow around here? (other than weed lol)

I'm kinda lacking in plant identification experience but would love to go out and see if there are in fact some goodies to be found out there.
 
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