Salvia divinorum
| Salvia divinorum | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Lamiaceae |
| Genus: | Salvia |
| Species: | S. divinorum |
| Binomial name | |
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Salvia divinorum Epling & Játiva |
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Salvia divinorum (also known as sage of the diviners,ska maría pastora,seer's sage,yerba de la pastora and just salvia) is a psychoactive plant which can induce visions and other spiritual experiences. Its native habitat is in cloud forest in the isolated Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca, Mexico, where it grows in shady and moist locations. The plant grows to over a meter high, has hollow square stems, large leaves, and occasional white flowers with violet calyxes. Botanists have not determined whether Salvia divinorum is a cultigen or a hybrid; native plants reproduce vegetatively, rarely producing viable seed.
Mazatec shamans have a long and continuous tradition of religious use of Salvia divinorum, using it to facilitate visionary states of consciousness during spiritual healing sessions. Most of the plant's local common names allude to the Mazatecs' post-Columbian belief that the plant is an incarnation of the Virgin Mary, with its ritual use also invoking that relationship.
Its chief active psychoactive constituent is a structurally unique diterpenoid called salvinorin A, a potent κ-opioid and D2 receptor agonist.Salvia divinorum is generally understood to be of low toxicity (high LD50) and low addictive potential since it is a κ-opioid agonist and it has been indicated that κ-opioid agonist activation of the kappa opioid receptor as shown by salvia may, in fact, serve as a potent addiction treatment therapy.
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Wikipedia