Red Caapi (Banisteriopsis Caapi) – Shredded Ayahuasca Vine from Napo, Peru

Sacred tobacco smoke is blown over this Red Caapi vine before harvesting, and tobacco gifts are left around the mother vine to show respect and to thank her. Shredded Red (Banisteriopsis caapi) Caapi vine from the Napo region. As soon as these vines are harvested in the early morning, when they are at their most potent, the roots of the mother vine remain in the ground, and a new vine is born.

In tropical South America, there are thousands of different types of plants, among them Banisteriopsis caapi. Three of them are used to prepare Ayahuasca together with other plants: Banisteriopsis inebriens, Banisteriopsis caapi, and Banisteriopsis quitensis. Among these three species, Banisteriopsis caapi is the most widely known and is the main component of Ayahuasca. B. caapi vines have a wide variety of subspecies depending on the region where they grow.

As Banisteriopsis caapi only contains harmaline, a reversible MAO inhibitor, it is not hallucinogenic on its own.

The geographical origin of the plant is unknown because it is cultivated throughout the entire Amazonian region. Native tribes have used the plant in their religious traditions for millennia in Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Equador, Colombia and other countries of the Amazon basin.

An extensive liana native to tropical forests, this liana has brown bark and oval-shaped green leaves. Its flowers have pink petals. Inflorescences are axillary or terminal cymose panicles. Both vegetative and seed propagation are possible; the latter has a fan-like shape and is green when young, but browns over time.