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Huanduj: Brugmansia
This ethno-botanical and horticultural monograph is the first full taxonomic revision of Brugmansia , a genus in the Solanaceae family and the most potent and culturally important of South American psychoactive enthogenic plants. It is used extensively in religious and spiritual ceremonies in shamanic cultures, and it is also a spectacularly beautiful garden plant.
Brugmansia combines original field and botanical research with horticultural expertise and the review of more than six hundred bibliographic references spanning the sixteenth century to the present day. It covers every aspect of the plant from its history, anthropology, and ethno-botany, to its taxonomy, biology, pathology, biotechnology, and its cultivation both as a garden plant and for its psychoactive derivatives. Beautifully designed and extensively illustrated with examples of species and cultivars, this comprehensive volume is an excellent resource for anthropologists, botanists, biologists, horticulturalists, and anyone with an interest in this fascinating genus.
Brugmansia combines original field and botanical research with horticultural expertise and the review of more than six hundred bibliographic references spanning the sixteenth century to the present day. It covers every aspect of the plant from its history, anthropology, and ethno-botany, to its taxonomy, biology, pathology, biotechnology, and its cultivation both as a garden plant and for its psychoactive derivatives. Beautifully designed and extensively illustrated with examples of species and cultivars, this comprehensive volume is an excellent resource for anthropologists, botanists, biologists, horticulturalists, and anyone with an interest in this fascinating genus.
- GenresNonfiction
424 pages, Hardcover
First published July 15, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 24, 2019
This is a seriously good book. It's the sort of book I hope to find that really addresses the subject and is informative, interesting and authoritative. I was fortunate enough to pick up my copy in the remainders bin at GleeBooks. It normally retails for around $135 to over $200 and at these prices I would not have bought it. But I think one gets value for money even at the full retail price. I had only a passing interest in the Brugmansia species before buying the book. I've seen them around in my home state of NSW and I had tried photographing one (without much success) in Japan. It's easy enough to get a picture of the large flowers hanging pendulously but very difficult to get some idea of what's inside the flower and they are so long that a photo of the mouth of the flower can't focus on the depths. So I approached the subject from a fairly ignorant perspective but with a significant interest in botany. And this book promised to give an in-depth study of one genus. And it certainly delivers on this promise. Three experts have combined to deliver an absolutely outstanding work. If you are curious...as I was...about the name, the Brugmansia were named after a Professor of Botany in Holland ...Sebald Justinian Brugmans. They appear to originate from the Andean region of South America and there are many many varieties and a rapidly developing number of new hybrids being produced. The book includes an extraordinary register of Brugmansia cultivar names which includes the breeding history and the published reference. I was surprised and fascinated to find the the lead writer had worked a the NSW Herbarium...quite close to where I live and the book includes some lovely pictures of his garden on the South Coast of NSW with various varieties of Brugmansia...many of which he has bred himself.
If you are curious about the botany and the reproduction of the species, this book covers that in detail. Though I was interested to know that despite it being fairly obvious that bees and fruit flies and Bats all visited the flowers, the actual mechanism of pollination has still not been established satisfactorily. I did learn that most varieties are reproduced vegetatively because they tend not to breed true from seed.
One of the most interesting things about these species is that they are profoundly poisonous but extracts are also used as hallucinogenic drugs. Normally botanists simply refer to "alkaloids" from plants as being poisonous but here we have the two main culprits named; hyoscyamine (atropine) and scopolamine (hyoscine). Both of these can occur as D and L enantiomers. Atropine is an artefact of the extraction process and is a 1:1 mixture of the D and L forms. Normally the L form is the biologically active form.
Both Hyoscyamine and scopolamine can cross the blood brain barrier and thus directly affect the brain itself. The relative proportion of the alkaloids in the aerial parts of the plants are 7--90% scopolamine and 5-15% hyoscyamine. They affect the action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and block or interfere with the nervous system. There are a range of effects including increased heart rate, inability to regulate body temperature depression, blurred vision, paranoid and frenzied behaviour. Bottom line is that these are dangerous plants to play around with...though they are used for a variety of folk medicines and in Shamanic practices. They will cause hallucinogenic experiences but are certainly among the more dangerous drugs to do this. The book has a couple of very good sections on the use of Brugmansias in religious or shamanic rites; as medicines and as poisons. (They have also been implicated as stupefying drugs used by criminals....though one would wonder about the ability to control the dosage adequately. Presumably criminals don't worry). I learned that atropine is used to treat organophosphate poisoning (and I think I may have suffered this mildly in my youth as a young research agronomist). And also for treating victims of nerve gases, and has a number of other useful applications in science based medicine.
There is an extensive section on the taxonomy of the Brugmansia and a useful botanical key to the species (excluding hybrids..which are obviously a massively complicating issue). Alistair Hay's photographs are truly superb. Great composition to illustrate a point, sharp and clear and great colouration.
I was intrigued by the photo on p 188 of a plant growing in a pig pen...with the pig in the background. The pig had eaten every bit of vegetation in the pen except for the Brugmansia which was left untouched. (A smart pig). This was in the section about seed dispersal ..and clearly pigs could not be relied upon to disperse them. Nevertheless, as Hay points out..some animals can tolerate the Brugmansias. The humming birds drink toxic Brugmansia nectar and the brown rat feeds on the seeds. Must say, I wondered about the honey being produced by bees who visit these flowers and, apparently toxic honey can be produced. (i wonder what effect it has on the bees....apparently the alkaloids messes up their ability to navigate). Actually, it's impossible to attribute any section of the book to any one of the authors because they seem to have covered their tracks fairly well and no one section appears to be attributed to one of the authors. However, there is a uniformity of style and beautifully clear english which would seem to indicate a native speaker wrote most of it or edited it. (Seems to have been very well proof-read and edited as well).
I loved learning such trivia as a lot of the species have glandular hairs ...which actually produce a toxic secretion....presumably to discourage insect attack. But a number of insects and caterpillars feed on the leaves and ingest the poison to make themselves unpalatable to predators. Another interesting feature is that the leaves do not arise from the axils of leaves but get carried somewhat up the base of the leaf before sprouting. There are some great sections on cultivation, diseases and pests and cultivars. The latter, especially is lavishly illustrated....I suspect with many of the author's own bred varieties. And some of the garden photographs of Hay's gardens are breathtaking.
All in all, as some other reviewer said of this book. It is a tour de force....a triumph. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it and will probably continue to dip into it. Highly recommend it.
If you are curious about the botany and the reproduction of the species, this book covers that in detail. Though I was interested to know that despite it being fairly obvious that bees and fruit flies and Bats all visited the flowers, the actual mechanism of pollination has still not been established satisfactorily. I did learn that most varieties are reproduced vegetatively because they tend not to breed true from seed.
One of the most interesting things about these species is that they are profoundly poisonous but extracts are also used as hallucinogenic drugs. Normally botanists simply refer to "alkaloids" from plants as being poisonous but here we have the two main culprits named; hyoscyamine (atropine) and scopolamine (hyoscine). Both of these can occur as D and L enantiomers. Atropine is an artefact of the extraction process and is a 1:1 mixture of the D and L forms. Normally the L form is the biologically active form.
Both Hyoscyamine and scopolamine can cross the blood brain barrier and thus directly affect the brain itself. The relative proportion of the alkaloids in the aerial parts of the plants are 7--90% scopolamine and 5-15% hyoscyamine. They affect the action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and block or interfere with the nervous system. There are a range of effects including increased heart rate, inability to regulate body temperature depression, blurred vision, paranoid and frenzied behaviour. Bottom line is that these are dangerous plants to play around with...though they are used for a variety of folk medicines and in Shamanic practices. They will cause hallucinogenic experiences but are certainly among the more dangerous drugs to do this. The book has a couple of very good sections on the use of Brugmansias in religious or shamanic rites; as medicines and as poisons. (They have also been implicated as stupefying drugs used by criminals....though one would wonder about the ability to control the dosage adequately. Presumably criminals don't worry). I learned that atropine is used to treat organophosphate poisoning (and I think I may have suffered this mildly in my youth as a young research agronomist). And also for treating victims of nerve gases, and has a number of other useful applications in science based medicine.
There is an extensive section on the taxonomy of the Brugmansia and a useful botanical key to the species (excluding hybrids..which are obviously a massively complicating issue). Alistair Hay's photographs are truly superb. Great composition to illustrate a point, sharp and clear and great colouration.
I was intrigued by the photo on p 188 of a plant growing in a pig pen...with the pig in the background. The pig had eaten every bit of vegetation in the pen except for the Brugmansia which was left untouched. (A smart pig). This was in the section about seed dispersal ..and clearly pigs could not be relied upon to disperse them. Nevertheless, as Hay points out..some animals can tolerate the Brugmansias. The humming birds drink toxic Brugmansia nectar and the brown rat feeds on the seeds. Must say, I wondered about the honey being produced by bees who visit these flowers and, apparently toxic honey can be produced. (i wonder what effect it has on the bees....apparently the alkaloids messes up their ability to navigate). Actually, it's impossible to attribute any section of the book to any one of the authors because they seem to have covered their tracks fairly well and no one section appears to be attributed to one of the authors. However, there is a uniformity of style and beautifully clear english which would seem to indicate a native speaker wrote most of it or edited it. (Seems to have been very well proof-read and edited as well).
I loved learning such trivia as a lot of the species have glandular hairs ...which actually produce a toxic secretion....presumably to discourage insect attack. But a number of insects and caterpillars feed on the leaves and ingest the poison to make themselves unpalatable to predators. Another interesting feature is that the leaves do not arise from the axils of leaves but get carried somewhat up the base of the leaf before sprouting. There are some great sections on cultivation, diseases and pests and cultivars. The latter, especially is lavishly illustrated....I suspect with many of the author's own bred varieties. And some of the garden photographs of Hay's gardens are breathtaking.
All in all, as some other reviewer said of this book. It is a tour de force....a triumph. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it and will probably continue to dip into it. Highly recommend it.
March 18, 2020
A hefty full colour exploration on Brugmansia which covers the ethnobotanical and cultural uses of this magnificent plant, as well as more practical aspects of growing, feeding and general care.
May 2, 2023
10 stars. It has everything.
June 25, 2016
This is the most detailed coverage of Brugmansia, the plant, history and cultivars I have ever found. This covered every question I ever had on the plant and many of its relatives both in growing and its other uses...
May 3, 2015
A truly phenomenal monograph of the Brugmansia genus. Well worth the price for Brugmansia enthusiasts and ethnobotanists alike.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews