Leo in N E Illinois

The Professor
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on the IL-WI border, a mile from ''da Lake''
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@Carol 83 & @JoeR - From the photos, I would guess that you both have the same species, with Joe's being a decade or more older. But @Anthony - has much more ''live & in person'' experience with Malpighia than I do, and I am only looking at photos. So I would go with Anthony's suggestion. There are several species of Malpighia that have fruit, and but key the same general flower shape is constant. Short stamens, 5 petals, color of white or pink is not important, short stamen length and 5 petal are the key that puts them all in the genus Malpighia.

I have the smooth barked Malpighia I bought from a Vietnamese owned nursery specializing in fruit, not bonsai. I think I have Malpighia emarginata.

Eugenia is the genus with ''pompoms'' of long stamens on a flower with only 4 petals. And if you think it is difficult telling one Malpighia from another, Eugenia has many more species that are cultivated for fruit, so there has been some human selection beyond just natural species variation. If you have more than one Eugenia species, and mix the tags up, you may never be able to sort them out.

I am a big advocate of putting labels in the pots with your plants and being careful to keep them labelled correctly.

@JoeR - I had a botanist friend who's hobby was building a ''magic garden'', and he was a priceless source of wacky information. Banisteriopsis is currently legal in some states and illegal in others, the law is always changing. Being a tropical lliana, it is not that easy to grow so most northern states don't bother regulating it. Look up Ayahuasca and Yage, these are two names for the finished, prepared blend that the Banisteriopsis is one of several ingredients. The Banisteriopsis is the donor of an MAOI, and the other plants in the blend donate the DMT and or other related psychedelics. The warning is that you must not eat certain monoamine containing foods (like cheese) within 12 hours of consuming Ayahuasca or the discussion with your neurologist will be about the severity of your brain damage from the seizures. I enjoy discussing these ''magic plants'' using is a different matter, something I would never personally risk. Fun mental exercise, but I like to keep what is left of my brain. And at my age, anything, any drug, that gets my heart pounding is a bad idea, I know I have enough plaque to easily throw a blood clot and stroke out, I'm not a teenager anymore.

The Amazonian indigenous peoples over the 10,000+ years they lived there did discover these herbal blends, usually out of brutal necessity to treat various diseases, living a hard life. The jungle was both hospital and pharmacy. The ''Vine of Souls'' in the form of Ayahuasca was used by the shamans, to help divine the ailments affecting the patients.
 

JoeR

Masterpiece
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Sandhills of North Carolina
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@Carol 83 & @JoeR - From the photos, I would guess that you both have the same species, with Joe's being a decade or more older. But @Anthony - has much more ''live & in person'' experience with Malpighia than I do, and I am only looking at photos. So I would go with Anthony's suggestion. There are several species of Malpighia that have fruit, and but key the same general flower shape is constant. Short stamens, 5 petals, color of white or pink is not important, short stamen length and 5 petal are the key that puts them all in the genus Malpighia.

I have the smooth barked Malpighia I bought from a Vietnamese owned nursery specializing in fruit, not bonsai. I think I have Malpighia emarginata.

Eugenia is the genus with ''pompoms'' of long stamens on a flower with only 4 petals. And if you think it is difficult telling one Malpighia from another, Eugenia has many more species that are cultivated for fruit, so there has been some human selection beyond just natural species variation. If you have more than one Eugenia species, and mix the tags up, you may never be able to sort them out.

I am a big advocate of putting labels in the pots with your plants and being careful to keep them labelled correctly.

@JoeR - I had a botanist friend who's hobby was building a ''magic garden'', and he was a priceless source of wacky information. Banisteriopsis is currently legal in some states and illegal in others, the law is always changing. Being a tropical lliana, it is not that easy to grow so most northern states don't bother regulating it. Look up Ayahuasca and Yage, these are two names for the finished, prepared blend that the Banisteriopsis is one of several ingredients. The Banisteriopsis is the donor of an MAOI, and the other plants in the blend donate the DMT and or other related psychedelics. The warning is that you must not eat certain monoamine containing foods (like cheese) within 12 hours of consuming Ayahuasca or the discussion with your neurologist will be about the severity of your brain damage from the seizures. I enjoy discussing these ''magic plants'' using is a different matter, something I would never personally risk. Fun mental exercise, but I like to keep what is left of my brain. And at my age, anything, any drug, that gets my heart pounding is a bad idea, I know I have enough plaque to easily throw a blood clot and stroke out, I'm not a teenager anymore.

The Amazonian indigenous peoples over the 10,000+ years they lived there did discover these herbal blends, usually out of brutal necessity to treat various diseases, living a hard life. The jungle was both hospital and pharmacy. The ''Vine of Souls'' in the form of Ayahuasca was used by the shamans, to help divine the ailments affecting the patients.
I dont believe the tree I have to be all that old. Older than hers, yes, but even cuttings from this plant will show age as well. The bark is such a great feature especially in contrast to the delicate flowers.

I would LOVE to know more about your friends mystical garden, if you would, pictures would be even better. And thanks for the info on the plant, that poor soul who found out the hard way not to eat cheese beforehand. I have no personal interest in the finished products, however I think it’s super intriguing how the locals used it. The more you learn the more you find out there is to learn!
 

Leo in N E Illinois

The Professor
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Location
on the IL-WI border, a mile from ''da Lake''
USDA Zone
5b
@JoeR
The friend with the "magic garden" passed away some 10 years ago. I don't have photos. He used to live in the Sarasota Florida area. The Marie Selby Botanical Garden in Sarasota has about half of the plants in his collection. Of course, they don't label them as intoxicating or psychedelic. There's plenty of on line information available, I've seen many websites devoted to these types of plants. Google Johnathan Ott, he wrote several books on the topic. Also search on the term "entheogen". Dr Ott was an acquaintance of my friend, they had met in Peru.
 
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