Virola, also known as Epená, is a genus of medium-sized trees native to the South American rainforest and closely related to other Myristicaceae, such as nutmeg. It has glossy, dark leaves with clusters of tiny yellow flowers and emits a pungent odor.

The dark-red resin of the tree bark contains several hallucinogenic alkaloids, most notably 5-MeO-DMT(Virola calophylla) or N,N-DMT, perhaps the most "powerful" member of the Dimethyltryptamine family; it also contains beta-carboline harmala alkaloids, MAOIs that greatly potentiate the effects of DMT. The bark resin is prepared and dried by a variety of methods, often including the addition of ash or lime, presumably as basifying agents, and a powder made from the leaves of the small Justicia bush. Ingestion is similar to that of Yopo, consisting of assisted insufflation, with the snuff being blown through a long tube into the nostrils by an assistant. According to Schultes, the use of Virola in magico-religious rituals is restricted to tribes in the Western Amazon Basin and parts of the Orinoco Basin.

See also

• Ayahuasca
• Entheogen

References and external links

• Jonathan Ott - Shamanic Snuffs or Entheogenic Errhines (2001) ISBN 1888755024
• Richard Evans Schultes - Plants of the Gods (1992) ISBN 0892819790
• Erowid Virola Vault

Entheogens | Herbal and fungal hallucinogens | Magnoliales | Psychedelic tryptamine carriers | Trees

Virola