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| Banisteriopsis caapi | ||||||||||||||
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| Banisteriopsis caapi |
Banisteriopsis caapi, also known as Ayahuasca, Caapi or Yage is a South American jungle vine of the family Malpighiaceae. Its bark is used to prepare ayahuasca, a substance with highly hallucinogenic and other psychotomimetic effects. It contains beta-carbolines such as include harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine.
An earlier name for the genus Banisteriopsis was Banisteria, and the plant is frequently referred to as Banisteria caapi in everyday usage.
The name ayahuasca means "vine of the soul", and the shamans of the indigenous western Amazonian tribes used the plant in religious and healing ceremonies. It has been the subject of a dispute between a US entrepreneur, Loren Miller, and the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA). In 1986 Miller obtained a US patent on a variety of B. caapi. COICA successfully argued that the patent was invalid because Miller's variety was neither new nor distinct, and the patent was overturned in 1999; however in 2001 the US Patent Office has since reinstated the patent because, at the time it was granted, the law did not allow a third party such as COICA standing to object. B. caapi is now being cultivated commercially in Hawaii.
External link
Report on indigenous use of the plant, and the patent dispute
