Legal notice
Regulated as a controlled psychoactive plant in numerous countries; not scheduled under the UN drug conventions.
The legal situation differs considerably from country to country — ranging from full prohibition to medicines legislation to no regulation. Inform yourself about the laws applicable to you. This is not a permission to obtain or consume.
For education and documentation only. Not a consumption guide, not legal or medical advice. Possession, cultivation and use are regulated differently by country and species — check the law that applies to you.
© Alexander Abair · CC BY 4.0 · Commons
Diviner's sage (Salvia divinorum)
CautionAztekensalbei (Wahrsage-Salbei) · (Salvia divinorum)
Mint family (Lamiaceae)
Description
Salvia divinorum is a perennial herb in the mint family that can exceed one metre in height. It has distinctive hollow square stems, large green ovate leaves 10-30 cm long, and occasional white flowers with a violet calyx. The species is endemic to the cloud forests of the Sierra Mazateca in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, where it grows in shaded, moist locations along stream banks. Because it produces few viable seeds, it reproduces mainly by vegetative means. Mazatec healers have long used the plant in shamanic and healing ceremonies; it was documented academically from 1939 (J. B. Johnson), with specimens collected by R. Gordon Wasson and Albert Hofmann in 1962, after which Carl Epling formally described the species.
- RawLeafInternalTraditional use
Mazatec healers in Oaxaca traditionally use the fresh leaves or leaf preparations in shamanic divinatory and healing ceremonies to induce visionary states. Historical-ethnobotanical use only; not an instruction.
- RawLeafInternalFolk medicine
In Mazatec folk medicine, low doses of the leaves were also used for medicinal purposes. Traditional folk use without scientific proof of efficacy.
- TinctureLeafInternalFolk medicine
The isolated compound salvinorin A, a selective κ-opioid receptor agonist, is being studied preclinically for non-addictive analgesics, mood and addiction indications. Status: mostly animal/lab studies, no completed placebo-controlled human trials — not an approved medicine.