salvia

Salvia Divinorum Clones

June 1, 2014 By John Reed 1 Comment

Salvia Divinorum Clones

Salvia Divinorum may grow from seeds or propagation. Germinated seeds are not often produced by existing salvia plants. The shortage of germinated seed producing plants means that there are more propagated clippings of clones than unique plants grown from seed. Different clones are actively grown and carefully watched over to keep the species alive. Commercial and private growers watch the clones for signs of germinated seeds that may produce exciting new strains.

Seed raised Salvia divinorum Plants

Salvia Divinorum is unique when the plant comes from a seed. The value of a seed born plant is high as the plant is one of a kind. A plant that comes from seed has combined the genes of two other plants and has made a new strain. The new plant may look a little different than it’s parents or have different medicinal salvia effects. Any new traits are a huge deal. If the new plant is favorable it should be cared for and clips may be made if it does not make germinated seed.

There are no known cases of viable Salvia Divinorum seeds being found in the wild on plants. For good seeds to exist, plants are
carefully pollinated in green houses. This is usually done by hand and the seeds which come from this method are not always germinated. The line of parents is kept in record by the grower in most cases so the chance of making good seeds again is increased. Even a plant that has made a germinated seed before may not make one again.

Possibly the most unfortunate part of the saliva plant which is grown from a seed is that is does not often survive. Seed grown plants will appear from their soil briefly. They are known to die at an early age. There is always hope for seed grown plants, but they do have less than a 50% chance to live.

A common Wasson/Hofmann clone is known to have once made germinated seed that grew into various strains by Daniel Siebert. The strains are called: Echo, Oracle, Sacred Spring, Enigma, and Mystique.

Other known strains from good seed: Maka, Hanau.

Salvia divinorum Plants grown from clone clip propagation

A Salvia Divinorum clip clone will look similar and have the same genes as the plant it was clipped from. Most plants that exist are grown this way as it is easy to do with this species. These plants do very well in large pots or when planted outside in the right conditions. Clipped clones can be grown with less than 4 hours of sunlight a day and do not need any complex treatment.

Rural parts of Mexico and Sierra Mazateca are typically sourced for wild plant clippings. Wasson and Hofmann, and Bret Blosser
found most of these plants and began to clone them.

Salvia clones collected from wild strain: Julieta, Catalina, Palatable, Delicious, Cerro Quemado, Wasson/Hofmann, and Bret Blosser #2.

Defining characteristics of Salvia Divinorium: Growth Strength, appearance, chemical strength, and taste. The different clones of Salvia Divinorium show a range of unique attributes.

Growth strength will vary from plant to plant. The plants that exist today are usually the best of the best so they do well. Strong plants are typically bred together in hopes of producing better offspring, weaker strains are phased out this way. Wasson/Hofmann is known to be a strong strain. Growth strength can only be observed if growth conditions are good.

Overall plant and leaf shape is very similar on every clone. Paradox is the only plant known to have special leaf shape. This comes from the lack of clone variety due to low seed germination and viability. The range of plant color is known to include yellow, green and some shades of purple. Height, width, and plant thickness can depend on where then plant is being grown. Small pots will grow smaller plants, they tend to grow more large and with haste when re-potted into a bigger pot. Light and humidity can also alter a plants appearance.

Strength of the Salvinorin A concentrate is not the same in all strains. The typical amount of concentrate in a clone can be between .8 and 2.9, depending on the strain. It is not clear if each clone strain has the same chemical strength from plant to plant. More studies need to be done.

The taste of Salvia Divinorum is known to be bitter in all plants. The delicious strain is bitter as well. The tannins in these plants causes the bitter flavor which varies from season to season. Different strains may have a slight unique second taste.

A small gene pool of Salvia Divinorum plants exists today. Because of the lack of diversity, the measurable qualities do not vary much. Seed born plants are so rare and valued, they give the species a chance to grown and change.

The following video demonstrates a tutorial on how to create a clone from a clipping of a Salvia divinorum plant

Salvia Chemistry

May 27, 2014 By John Reed Leave a Comment

Salvia Chemistry

Salvinorin A (chemical formula C23H28O8) is the molecule responsible for the main psychotropic effects of the Salvia divinorum plant. This compound is present in the dried plant at about 0.18%. Active doses start as low as 100-250 micrograms sublingual; 200-500 micrograms vaporized and inhaled. This translates to 10 times the potency of psilocybin from mushrooms used in similar ways by other Mexican Indians, and more than 1000 times the potency of mescaline, from the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii) used as a visionary drug by the Huichol, Tarahumara and other native peoples of northern Mexico.

Unique in it’s structure, salvinorin A is considered a diterpenoid and not an alkaloid (opiates fall into this category), due to it’s lack of nitrogen atoms. Morphine, for example, contains carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Since salvinorin A only has carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, it is cannot be broken down into salt as opiates can. It is reported to be the most potent, naturally occurring hallucinogen. Terpenoids, also called isoprenoids, are naturally occurring organic lipids that are found in all living things. Other terpenoids in Salvia divinorum have been isolated and tested, none have yet been linked to the psychoactive aspects of the plant.

There are three main opioid receptor groups called: mu, kappa, and delta. Depending on which ones are activated, different reactions can occur. Research has shown that salvinorin A is a potent κ-opioid (kappa) receptor agonist; meaning that it binds to the receptor and triggers a response by the corresponding cell. Agonists often have the same effect as a naturally occurring substance. The κ-opioid receptor is a protein and one of five receptors that bind opium-like compounds in the brain, controlling the effects of said compounds(including mood, consciousness, motor control, and pain). It also is the main receptor associated with visual hallucinations. Opiates such as morphine also weakly trigger the k-opioid receptor, but also strongly activate the mu-opioid receptor (the receptor which is thought to produce the addictive quality). Salvinorin A triggers only the k-opioid receptor, inducing strong visual hallucinations, without the addictive quality common to other opiates.

Salvinorin A has a high affinity for the receptor, indicated by the low dissociation constant of 1.0 nanomolar (nM), meaning it makes a strong paired bond. It has been reported that the effects of salvinorin A in mice are blocked by κ-opioid receptor antagonists. This makes it unlikely that another mechanism contributes independently to the compound’s observed effects in mice. Salvinorin A has also recently been found to act as a dopamine D2 receptor partial agonist, with an affinity of 5–10 nM, an intrinsic activity of 40–60%, and an EC50 of 50–90 nM, which is several-fold higher than its EC50 of 235 nM for the κ-opioid receptor. The EC50 is a measurement derived from when the concentration of a substance’s response is halfway between the baseline and maximum after some specified exposure time, i.e. 50% of max response. This suggests that the D2 receptor may also play an important role in its effects.

Molecular structure of salvinorum A

Molecular formula: C₂₃H₂₈O₈
Molecular weight: 432.47 g/mol

Dopamine receptors range from 5 confirmed (D1 to D5) along with a possibility of at least 2 more (D6-D7). They are all ubiquitous throughout the brain, D1-D2 receptors being found in quantities 10-100 times that of D3-D5. Dopamine, being the main neurotransmitter concerning reward pathways in the brain, has long been associated with euphoric effects and drug use. Many drugs (recreational and prescribed) change the way dopamine is processed, usually limiting the ability of the DAT (dopamine transporter protein) to flush out the dopamine, in turn causing an increase of both dopamine and related signaling (mostly in the D1 and D2 receptors).

There isn’t much data about what dosages cause damage, because even at high doses salvia is non-toxic. Pulse pressure has been reported to elevate slightly (but remained statistically insignificant about 1.5-2 times the control group) and mice chronically given an extremely large dosage did not show signs of organ damage. People who smoked 580 micrograms of the pure drug had urine salvinorin A concentrations of 2.4–10.9 micrograms per liter during the first hour, but the levels fell below the detection limit by 1.5 hours after smoking, indicating that it moves out of the system quickly, or at least at any currently detectable levels.

The Botany Of Salvia Divinorum (LABIATAE)

May 26, 2014 By John Reed 1 Comment

Taxonomy of Salvia

Salvia divinorum is a perennial herb in the mint family. Of the nearly 1000 known species of Salvia, the most recently discovered is Salvia divinorum. Salvia divinorum is known both for its hallucinogenic properties and its unique botanical traits. The history of salvia was first encountered by Western scientists in 1939, but the secrecy of the indigenous people who introduced salvia to scientists made classification impossible until 1962.

The Salvia divinorum plant grows over a meter tall, with leaves that reach up to 30 centimeters long. In it’s native habitat, salvia blooms from September to May, when exposure to the sun is less than 12 hours, but blooming specimens are rare. The flowers are curved and white, averaging 3 centimeters in diameter. The delicate flowers bloom in clusters, radiating around shoots growing from the main branch. Originally, salvia flowers were mistakenly documented as blue. This error was the result of observing dried specimens, it was corrected when live plants made their way to scientists in the United States.

In nature, salvia is unique to the Sierra Mazateca region of Oaxaca, Mexico. It is found beneath the persistent fog of tropical evergreen forests at an elevation between 300 and 1800 meters. The common growing condition for salvia is in black soil along stream banks, near trees and bushes that create a low light, high humidity environment. It has also been found thriving in similar conditions in coffee plantations.

The following video was made by a senior University student that is majoring in the Health and Science with a minor in Biology and discusses the botanical properties of Salvia officinalis (sage)

Cultivation of Salvia

Producing Salvia divinorum seeds is exceedingly difficult. Salvia seeds have only ever been observed in cultivated plants, and even then, few viable seeds are ever produced. The lack of sexual reproduction in Salvia divinorum is due to reduced pollen fertility. The likely cause for this is either a degradation in the plant from the inbreeding of extensive cultivation, or possibly that salvia is a hybrid and suffers from the fertility problems associated with most hybrids. One candidate for hybrid progenation is Salvia cyanea, but as of yet, this has possibility has not been tested. In 2010 a study involving hereditary analysis using DNA sequencing established some evidence indicating that salvia’s infertility is most likely caused long-term cultivation, but there is still no conclusive findings. Salvia divinorum is one of three Salvia species whose origins are unknown.

While sexual reproduction is rare, it readily reproduces vegetatively. The detached nodes and internodes of salvia stems from a mother plant easily establish roots in the span of two or three weeks. The reproduction of Salvia divinorum is mostly driven by semi-cultivation. In the Mazatec region, the natives, who place great value on the plant, care for local salvia populations, insuring their reproduction and protecting them from outsiders. The vast majority of salvia plants observed in the wild are clones from a handful of original plants.

About fifteen strains of salvia have been found in the wild, and two strains are most common in Western cultivation. The first strain is descended from the original live plant received as a gift from a Mazatec shaman to Sterling Bunnell in 1962. The other existing strain was collected in 1991 by anthropologist Bret Blosser. Nearly all salvia plant material available in the Western world comes from one of these two strains.

Botanists consider Salvia divinorum to be an interesting plant because of its unique physical characteristics and unidentifiable origin, but perhaps more interesting is the devout and secretive cultivation that has kept the species flourishing. The Mazatec devotion to this plant is certainly tied to the singular psychoactive properties it possesses. Salvia divinorum’s incredible traits have earned it a place of permanent interest in both Western culture and science.

Salvia for sale is available for purchase in our online store.

External Links:

SageWisdom: Salvia Clones
Botany of Salvia

History of Salvia

May 20, 2014 By John Reed 1 Comment

History of Salvia divinorum began in the late 1990’s, tied to commercial availability via the Internet, but the history of salvia may span hundreds of years or more.

Anthropologists and ethnobotanists began observing and experimenting with salvia in the 1900’s. Some experts proposed that salvia might actually be the drug referred to by the Aztecs as pipizizintli. The use of entheogens in Aztecan culture is widely documented. Aztec priests used psychoactive plants for healing, vision interpretation, and prophecy. Most of the psychoactive plants have been identified, but the true identity of pipizizintli is still unknown. Many people believe that Salvia divinorum is pipizizintli. There is some evidence to support this, although the issue is far from settled. If salvia is in fact the ancient Aztecan entheogen, the use of salvia may date back to at least the 13th century.

Salvia’s Debut In The Western World

Salvia was first mentioned in print in 1939 by anthropologist Jean Basset Johnson, who was studying Mazatec shamanism. The Mazatec shamans consumed salvia in a liquid preparation as a part of healing rituals. Johnson also experimented with salvia on himself and recorded his experiences. Throughout the first half of the 1900’s, salvia was documented by several anthropological and ethnobotanical researchers visiting Mexico and Central America.

Salvia First Research Steps

The first live salvia plants were brought to the United States by psychiatrist Sterling Bunnell. Bunnell originally travelled to the Sierra Mazateca to collect psilocybin mushrooms in the spring of 1962. He returned in the fall of the same year with his newlywed wife and was given a live plant by the shaman Isauro Nave. He began cultivating salvia at home from that plant. Bunnell gave a live plant to Carl Epling of the University of California at Berkley, an expert on the mint family (Labiatae), to which salvia belongs. Epling contributed a salvia plant to the UCLA Berkley Botanical Garden. Bunnell also gave a salvia plant to to Alexander Shulgin, who famously experimented with and meticulously documented hundreds of psychoactive drugs. Salvia is propagated from clippings, rather than from pollination, so new plants are in fact clones of their parent. The Salvia divinorum strain originally grown by Sterling Bunnell is the most widely cultivated and commonly available strain of salvia.

The first person to send plant material to Carl Epling was Robert Gordon Wasson. Wasson also travelled to Mexico seeking psilocybin mushrooms. On regular visits to Mexico between 1955 and 1962, Wasson encountered salvia occasionally and sent back samples when he could. In 1961 he was finally able to ingest salvia and describe his experience. In 1962, he finally sent samples to Epling that were suitable for classification, and at this time Epling and his colleagues recognized Wasson’s plant as a new species and named it Salvia divinorum. Wasson contributed some important observations to the body of knowledge about salvia. In particular, he documented that Mazateca cultivation of the plant is secret and guarded from outsiders. Although he saw freshly harvested samples, he was not allowed to see the remote ravines in which they were grown. Wasson saw that salvia is indeed a cultigen. It may occur in the wild, but he did not observe it growing wildly and the plants used by native Mexicans in rituals were definitely cultivated. It was Wasson who first proposed that Salvia divinorum might be pipizizintli, although this suggestion was tentative.

Research and observation of salvia divinorum continued in the second half of the 1900’s. Researchers made little progress in identifying the exact psychoactive mechanism of salvia, or in understanding how it works in the brain. During this time, smoking salvia as a method of ingestion, as opposed to the traditional method of drinking a liquid preparation, began to rise. In 1994, the compound salvinorin A was identified in the 1994 by ethnobotanist Daniel Siebert as the psychoactive element of salvia divinorum. Siebert has studied Salvia divinorum for over twenty years and is one of the leading contemporary experts. In a 2002 study, headed by B.L. Roth, it was discovered that salvia acts by selectively inhibiting (3)H-bremazocine binding to cloned kappa opioid receptors. In other words, salvia is a kappa-opioid agonist. This makes Salvia divinorum unique, as most classical hallucinogens, such as LSD, mescaline and DMT are serotonergic agonists. The finding is significant, because it poses the possibility that salvia may have therapeutic use in treating diseases such as schizophrenia and dementia, which are manifested by perceptual distortions.

Besides being pharmacologically unique, Salvia divinorum has been the subject of some unique research methods. Scientists at San Diego State University conducted the first drug-behavioral research involving YouTube by studying videos of salvia use. In the San Diego State University study, a sample of videos was taken from the thousands of videos on YouTube documenting Salvia divinorum trips. The sample was then filtered to contain only videos that documented the entire hallucinogenic experience, without any video edits. Research assistants were trained to watch the videos and documented the observed effects in thirty second intervals. Prior to screening the videos, forty-two different effects were listed for the three assistants to watch for. This study not only contributed to the body of knowledge regarding Salvia divinorum, but the Salvia divinorum helped the scientific community in pioneering new methods and exploring the feasibility and shortcomings of using non-clinical settings and YouTube in assessing emerging drugs and drug effects.

Salvia Divinorum and Mass Marketization

The rise of the Internet has been instrumental in bringing Salvia divinorum out of hidden Mexican ravines and into the world of mainstream hallucinogenic experimenters. In the decades before the Internet, salvia was not as accessible or well known as other hallucinogenics such as LSD and psilocybin mushrooms. Thanks to the Internet, information about salvia divinorum has become more widely distributed, and the plant has taken its place among the traditionally more popular hallucinogens for people embarking on psychedelic exploration. Electronic commerce has also contributed to the accessibility of salvia for sale. Because the legality of Salvia divinorum is nebulous, it has been possible to easily obtain either plant material or extract from e-commerce websites.
The use of psychedelic entheogens by human beings is as old as the human race itself. It is not known for certain how long humans have been using Salvia divinorum. Clearly, salvia has been regarded as a sacred plant by the Mazatec shamans, and very likely by cultures before them. Modern science has shown that Salvia divinorum is a tremendously unique psychoactive plant, and modern technology has woven itself into the culture of this entheogen in a way unlike the interaction between technology and any other hallucinogen. Today, people from all around the globe are using Salvia divinorum to connect with the ancient rite of psychedelic experience. Governments around the world have changed laws in order to prevent people from experiencing Salvia.

Sources for this piece:

Erowid.org https://www.erowid.org/plants/salvia/
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia_divinorum

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