Christmas Vine- LSA Plant?

So tonight's post is coming from my friends suggestion that I do it!He stumbled upon it a few weeks ago when looking for entheogens online but didn't know anything about it except that a few of the comments were saying it was great for gardening with, and the rest said eating them got you high. Me, being curious decided to track down these mystery seeds.

Reading through the wikipedia page for morning glory it bounces around as to where its from exactly.

-Medicinal use in china as a laxative
-The Japanese cultivated it as an ornamental flower. And so there are hundreds of varieties in all different colors.
-Then it gets down to Mesoamerica some how. Where they... used it to convert latex from the castille elastica tree. A proccess that predates goodyear by 3,000 years... wait what? I had no idea ancient mesoamericans could make rubber
-And then the Aztecs find a way to get high off of it just like everything else

There we go. Next to that entry was a blue ( see Rivea corymbosa ) 

That takes me to a plant called the Christmas Vine. So this climbing plant is from North Mexico and Cuba. And aparently its seeds were the most used hallucinogen used by the natives. The meso american word for the drug is "round things" and actually refer to its seeds which... contain LSA.

In 1941, Richard Evans Schultes first identified ololiuhqui as Turbina corymbosa and the chemical composition was first described on August 18, 1960, in a paper by Dr. Albert Hofmann. The seeds contain ergine (LSA), an ergoline alkaloid similar in structure to LSD. The psychedelic properties of Turbina corymbosa and comparison of the potency of different varieties were studied in the Central Intelligence Agency's MKULTRA Subproject 22 in 1956.

Okay thats where wikipedia left off. Onto Erowid.com

Here's where I found some firsthand data from Albert Hofmann in 1971

Three magic drugs were used mainly by the Aztecs and neighbouring tribes in their religious ceremonies and medical practices, which were strongly influenced by magical concepts; these drugs are still used today for the same purpose by the witch doctors in remote districts of Mexico. They are: 1. peyotl, a cactus species; 2. teonanácatl, certain foliate mushrooms; 3. ololiuqui, the seeds of bindweeds.

 Ololiuqui is the Aztec name for the seeds of certain convolvulaceous plants which have been used since prehispanic times by the Aztecs and related tribes, just as the sacred mushrooms and the cactus peyotl have been used in their religious ceremonies for magic and religious purposes. Ololiuqui is still used in our day by certain tribes, such as the Zapotecs, Chinantecs, Mazatecs, and Mixtecs, who live in the remote mountains of southern Mexico in comparative isolation, little or not at all influenced by Christianity.

An excellent review of the historical, botanical, and ethnological aspects of ololiuqui was given in 1941 by Schultes in his monograph "A Contribution to Our Knowledge of Rivea corymbosa: The Narcotic Ololiuqui of the Aztecs" ([38] ). The following information on the history of ololiuqui, its botanical identification and its past and present use have been taken mainly from Schultes' monograph.

One of the first descriptions and the first illustration of ololiuqui were given by Francisco Hernandez, a Spanish physician who between 1570 and 1575 carried out extensive research on the flora. An extract of a free translation of the 1651 Latin version reads as follows: "Oliliuhqui, which some call coaxihuitl, or snake-plant, is a twinning herb with thin, green, cordate leaves, slender, green terete stems, and long white flowers. The seed is round and very like coriander."
In this work Hernandez claims that priests ate ololiuqui which induced a delirious state during which they were able to receive messages from the supernatural and communicate with their gods. He reported that priests saw visions and went into a state of terrifying hallucinations under the influence of the drug.

If we are to judge from the many ancient writers quoted in Schultes' monograph, ololiuqui must have been very extensively used in the valleys of Mexico in prehispanic times. It seems to have been more important in divinity than peyotl or teonanácatl. However, the medicinal use was also very extensive. Ololiuqui served to cure flatulence, to remedy venereal troubles, to deaden pain, and to remove tumours. Ololiuqui was believed to possess a deity of its own, which worked miracles if properly propitiated.

Ololiuqui was used by the ancient Aztecs not only as a potion but also as an ingredient of magical ointments. At the present time the crushed seeds are taken in water or in alcoholic beverages such as pulque, mescal, or aguardiente. Reko described in detail the present use of ololiuqui in his monograph "Magische Gifte" ([39] ). Usually the professional soothsayers, "piuleros", give their clients advice under the influence of the piule drink, another name for ololiuqui. Sometimes they also give the ololiuqui drank to their client or patient, who then replies to the piulero's leading questions in a narcotic-hypnotic state produced by the drug and thus reveals facts or discovers his illness, for which the piulero then finds the medicines.

The only report on chemical investigations with the seeds of Rivea corymbosa mentioned in Schultes' review on ololiuqui is that of the pharmacologist Santesson in Stockholm in 1937. He was, however, unsuccessful in isolating definite crystalline compounds. Alcoholic extracts produced a kind of narcosis or partial narcosis in frogs and mice. Certain chemical   reactions seemed to suggest the presence of a gluco-alkaloid.

Okay. So I guess I stumbled upon a natural plant that contains LSA. I guess that this discovery was the first time anyone had discovered LSA  in a plant. Ever. According to the study:

The discovery of ergot alkaloids in ololiuqui i.e. in R. corymbosa and I. violacea was quite unexpected and of particular interest from the phytochemical point of view because lysergic acid alkaloids, which had hitherto been isolated only from the lower fungi of the genus Claviceps, Penicillium, or Rhizopus, were now, for the first time, found in higher plants, in the phanerogamic family Convolvulaceae. Subsequent chemical investigations in various other laboratories confirmed the occurrence of ergot alkaloids in lpomoea species 

Well... wait why isn't this common knowledge even in the pretty wide drug community. LSA is really easy to get and even legal, considering that these seeds aren't even a controlled substance. There is no scheduling on them. I bought 30 tonight off Ebay.

How to ingest these guys.

From the experience vault.

One seed produces very light hallucinogeniceffects.

the subject aquired 10 seeds of rivea corymbosa from a local supplier here in vienna. 

one seed was coarsely crushed with a teaspoon, the crumbs were poured into a glass of water. the glass was kept in a dark place for about 25 minutes, occasionally stirred. the water was filtered through a coffee - filter. 

the end product was sipped over a timespan of around 45 minutes. the water was held in the mouth for some time before swallowing. 

this amount (1 seed, water - extracted with mediocre efficiency) produced noticeable, albeit not very dramatic psychotropic as well as peripheral effects (hands seemed a bit numbed, maybe just an illusion). 

the psychological effects are hard to be put into words, since they were quite subtle. it did have a little spiritual tonality to it. 

15 Seeds Produce mild effects. Not worth it to write about.

45-50 Seeds are very rewarding experience.

After learning of it a little over a year ago, I have really wanted to have an experience with LSA. Having tried Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds with no affect (I think I bought inferior quality seeds and did not take a high enough dose), I have tried quite a few different drugs but would consider myself pretty new to physcoactives. Having read a lot about HBWR and morning glory I came across rivea corymbrosa seeds and as there was only one report on someone taking just one seed I thought it would be good to explore this plant. I read about two different methods of taking the seeds of which I tried both. The first time I took around 15 seeds crushed them up and soaked them in water for 12hours. I then drank the LSA water and ate the seed pulp. The affects were barely noticeable and not really worth writing about. 

The second time was a lot more rewarding. I have a very boring weekend job so I thought I would try these seeds a second time just before I left for work one day. This time I took around 45-50 seeds and chewed them up for about 30minutes then swallowed them. After I'd swallowed the pulp I sat down to put my work shoes on and looked around the room. I was already noticing visual distortions, as I looked at a chair across the room the legs looked as if they were bending and distorting and the cushion on top of it appeared to be melting. I only noticed these visual affects when I looked at something for more than a couple of seconds. 

I walked to work feeling a bit strange, kind of a slightly stoned feeling I guess. About 30 minutes into work the visual distortions were getting stronger. The floor looked as if it was flowingand moving up and down like water. Things on the shelves (I work in a supermarket) appeared to move apart then get closer to each other. Work was certainly beginning to be a lot more fun! Another 30 minutes on I was feeling really happy and was smiling a lot. I also kept humming without realising I was until someone went to talk to me. The stupidest things would make me laugh and everything appeared more interesting than it actually was. 

2 hours into the experience I was feeling a bit ill, I hadn't eaten anything since the night before so thought I might just be a bit hungry. I had my lunch and shortly afterwards began suffering from quite a bad stomach ache. But after a while I was able to ignore it and it didn't really bother me that much so I got back to work. I started finding it very hard to concentrate on anything and was still in a quite euphoric mood. 

The visual distortions and euphoria lasted for around 6 hours, my entire shift at work, and was a really enjoyable experience. Although it made my job a lot harder to do since I kept getting distracted by the liquid floor and moving shelves, work was a lot more fun that day 

It is possible to extract the LSA from this plant but it is illegal to do so! I do not by any means think anyone should look up how to extract this chemical from these seeds. LSA is a schedule III drug.