Rivea corymbosa

Rivea corymbosa (common synonym: Turbina corymbosa), is a species of morning glory plants, native throughout Latin America from Mexico in the North to Peru in the South and widely naturalised elsewhere. It is a perennial climbing vine with white flowers, often planted as an ornamental plant.

Related Topics:
Morning glory - Latin America - Mexico - Peru - Perennial - Vine - Ornamental plant

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Known to natives of Mexico as Ololiuhqui (also spelled ololiuqui), its seeds, while little known outside of Mexico, were perhaps the most common hallucinogenic drug used by the natives.

Related Topics:
Mexico - Hallucinogenic drug

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In 1941, Richard Evans Schultes first identified ololiuhqui as Rivea corymbosa and the chemical composition was first described on August 18, 1960, in a paper by Dr. Albert Hofmann. The seeds contain ergoline alkaloids similar in structure to LSD.

Related Topics:
1941 - Richard Evans Schultes - August 18 - 1960 - Dr. Albert Hofmann - Ergoline - Alkaloid - LSD

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The Nahuatl word ololiuhqui means "round thing", and refers to the small, brown, oval seeds of the morning glory, not the plant itself, which is called coaxihuitl, "snake-plant", in Nahuatl, and hiedra or bejicco in the Spanish language. The seeds, in Spanish, are sometimes called semilla de la Virgen (little seeds of the Virgin Mary).

Related Topics:
Nahuatl - Spanish language - Virgin Mary

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The seeds are also used by Native curers in order to gain knowledge in curing practices and ritual, as well as the causes for the illness.

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