vestigated problem. This chemical constituent is believed not 
to be active when taken orally, unless it is accompanied by a 
monoamine oxidase inhibitor. No such inhibitor has been re- 
ported from the roots of Mimosa hostilis. Is there one present 
in minute amounts which has not yet been detected? Or per- 
chance did the Indians employ as additives parts of other plants 
which contain a monoamine oxidase inhibitor? There are here 
indicated several courses of investigation: 1) chemical exam- 
ination with modern sophisticated techniques of the roots of M. 
hostilis, an abundant shrub now of relatively easy access; and, 
2) if it still be possible, ethnobotanical field work in northeast- 
ern Brazil in the hope that there are still living in the hinterlands 
a few elderly Indians knowledgable about the preparation of 
vinho de jurema. 
Species indicated in the foregoing discussion: 
Mimosa hostilis (Mart.) Bentham in Trans. Linn. Soc. 30 (1875) 415. 
Mimosa verrucosa Bentham in Hooker Journ. Bot. 4 (1842) 390. 
MAPIGHIACEAE 
Banisteriopsis C.B. Robinson et Small 
Undoubtedly the most widely used and probably culturally 
the most important South American hallucinogen is the drink 
variously known as ayahuasca, caapi, natema, pindé or yaje. 
Employed in the western half of the Amazon Valley in Bolivia, 
Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, in the uppermost reaches 
of the Orinoco in Colombia and Venezuela and even, in spora- 
dic localities, on the Pacific slope of the Colombian and Ecua- 
dorian Andes, the drug understandably varies significantly in 
its preparation from locality to locality and even from tribe to 
tribe (Naranjo, 1970). 
Made basically from the bark of lianas of the Malpighiaceae, 
the major ingredient is either Banisteriopsis Caapi or B. ineb- 
rians, the bark of which contains three 8-carboline alkaloids. 
Other malpighiaceous plants in this and other genera have, 
however, on occasion been indicated as sources of the hallu- 
cinogenic drink: B. Cabrerana Cuatr., B. Martiniana (Juss.) 
322 
