Argyreia nervosa is a perennialclimbing vine native to the Indian subcontinent and introduced to numerous areas worldwide, including Hawaii, Africa, and the Caribbean. Though it can be invasive, it is often prized for its aesthetic and medicinal value. Common names include Hawaiian baby woodrose, adhoguda अधोगुडा or vidhara विधारा, elephant creeper and woolly morning glory. Its seeds are known for their powerful entheogenic value, greater or similar to those of varieties from the Convolvulaceae family, with users reporting significant psychedelic and spiritual experiences. The two botanical varieties are A. n. var. nervosa described here, and A. n. var. speciosa, which are used in Ayurvedic medicine for their medicinal value. Argyreia nervosa seeds contain various ergoline alkaloids such as ergine. A study reported stereoisomers of ergine to be found in the seeds at a concentration of 0.325% of dry weight. A more recent study reported presence of ergometrine, lysergol, lysergic acid and other alkaloids that contribute to its pharmacological effects.
History
While several other plants in the family Convolvulaceae, such as Rivea corymbosa and Ipomoea tricolor, were used in shamanic rituals of Latin America for centuries, A. nervosa was not traditionally used for this purpose. Its properties were first brought to attention in the 1960s.
Cultivation
Where temperatures fall below 13oC, Argyreia nervosa is grown in a warm greenhouse. Elsewhere, it is grown on arbours, pergolas, walls, or trees. It is often grown professionally under glass in a loam-based potting compost in full light, and watered freely from spring to autumn, with a balanced liquid fertilizer applied monthly and reduced water in winter. It is grown outdoors in moderately fertile, moist but well-drained soil in full sun. Pruning is done in late winter.
Glycosides
Argyroside, -ergost-5-en-11-oxo-3β-ol-α-D-glucopyranoside, a steroidal glycoside unique to Argyreia nervosa
shamans used them according to various oral histories. The seeds of Argyreia nervosa produce psychoactive effects. They contain ergot alkaloids varying considerably in concentration with LSA weight ranging between exactly similar looking seeds from 3 μg to 34 μg. However, in its effects, LSA is about one tenth as potent as its cousin LSD, making a threshold dose level for LSA about 500 μg. The psychoactive effects of the seeds may therefore be due to other alkaloids present in them and the safe and effective dose may be difficult to predict.
