Tucanaca (Banisteriopsis Caapi) Ayahuasca Vine – Roughly Shredded Caapi Vine from Brazil

Ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) shredded “Tucanaca” in the Brazilian state of Acre. This specimen was harvested wild from the forest near the Bolivian border. It is a mature vine, estimated to be about thirty years old. The harvested plants were from a community affiliated with the Union of the Plants, one of Brazil’s many religions. No further treatment has been carried out, other than drying.

Three of these plants are used in conjunction with other plants in order to prepare Ayahuasca. B. inebriens, B. caapi and B. quitensis are three of thousands of species of plants in tropical South America. Banisteriopsis caapi is the best known of these three plants and is the main component of Ayahuasca. Based on the region where the vines grow, the B. caapi family of plants has many subspecies.

Because Banisteriopsis caapi only contains harmaline, a reversible monoamine oxidase inhibitor, it could adversely affect the effect of some drugs, since harmaline is a reversible MAO inhibitor.

Because the plant grows throughout the entire Amazonian region, its geographical origin is unknown. The plant grows in the wild in Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Equador, Colombia and other countries of the Amazonian basin. It has been used in their religious traditions for millennia by local tribes.

This liana is found in tropical forests where it can grow either as a shrub or an extensive liana. The bark has a chocolate-brown complexion and is usually smooth. Its oval-shaped, bright green leaves are 8 to 18 cm long and between 3.5 to 8 cm broad, with their upper surface being glabrous. Axillary and terminal cymose panicles bear the flowers which measure 12 to 14 mm in diameter, with pink petals of 5 to 7 mm length and 4 to 5 mm width. Propagation takes place both vegetatively and through the fan-shaped seeds which appear green when fresh but eventually turn brown with age.