The Oppressed Shepherdess from Oaxaca
In the minds of the Mazatecs, Salvia Divinorum is considered the most important plant used by Shamans to aid in illness, this plant is well respected in Oaxaca for its power to bring wellness and its strong effect. Natives have given several nicknames for the plant such as Ska Pastora, meaning The Shepherdess, Hojas de la Pastora, Ska Maria Pastora, and Yerba de la Pastora, meaning the Herb of the Shepherdess.
Natural from the Sierra Mazateca this plant was brought to light by the Ethnobotanist R.Gordon Wasson and Albert Hofmann, giving the name of one of the Salvia Divinorum Strains, Salvia Divinorum Wasson/Hofmann. However, this plant was first introduced to American Lands by Sterling Bunnell in 1962, this leads to several misconceptions of the Wasson/Hofmann strain since it was believed that the plants were propagated from the samples collected by R.Gordon Wasson.
Years later Gordon Wasson proposed S.Divinorum as the unidentified ancient Aztec plant pipiltzintzinli, this hypothesis would carry an enormous impact as it would imply a long history of cultivation, use, and culture. However, this proposal was not accepted and pipiltzintzinli remains an active mystery.
Just like the samples collected by Bunnel and Wasson, many other vegetatively propagated samples were collected, between them, Blosser also named Palatable found by Bret Blosser 1991 named after it less bitter taste than the other species, Cerro Quemado, collected by Valdes near the village of Cerro Quemado, this discovery lead to the first isolated Salvinorin A by Valdés, the trans-neoclerodane diterpene responsible for the psychoactivity in Salvia Divinorum, Delicious and Julieta collected by Daniel Siebert, the first person to have what is now called a smoked salvia trip, Catalina, a sample collected by Kathleen Harrison in 1996..
In between the samples collected several distinctive clones were collected throughout the years, Luna, a sample collected by Siebert in Hawaii, this sample is often considered a type of polyploid due to the leaf morphology and different characteristics and possible different chemistry, Appaloosa a variegated clone produced by an unknown mother plant, Paradox, a seed raised plant from the very unique Appaloosa, Julieta, a stronger Salvia strain collected from a Shaman in Hautla de Jimenez in 1999, La Fuerza, collected by Kathleen Harrison, Owens, a potent strain collected by Jack Owens, one of the major suppliers of Salvia in both Mexico and US, on Cerro Rabon.
The reasoning of why the plant contains Salvinorin A and if it does variate from strain to strain remains inconclusive, the substrate where most of the plants previously presented is mainly formed by limestone, sandy soils, allochthonous Jurassic sandstones, shales, mudstones, and thin limestones, the exception being Hawaii with rich coconut choirs, red clays and sandy soils, being all of the substrates rich in organic matters and nitrogen, the metambolization of rich nitrogen soil for a higher percentage of alkaloids and stronger effects might be an hypothesis, whatsoever with the scientific improvement, new polyploid species can be created via Genetic modifications, Biotechnology and CRISPR for stronger, fast growing and more durable against pests, fungi and bacteria.
Despite the respect of the Maztecs towards the plant the history is told differently in United States and Europe, after the viralization of several intense salvia youtube videos and media scare stories in the 2000s and later on, in 2010 Miley Cyrus experienced with the plant giving it more recognition, Salvia was turned illegal in 2016 in most of the States in America and in Most of the countries in Europe, however the plant remains legal in Mexico and its still used often, respectfully and as a medicine by Shamans.
Unlike the classic psychedelic substances which bind mainly to Serotonin receptors, the chemistry of Salvinorin A is different, the substance lacks a Nitrogen bond and lack of ionizable unabling it to form soluble salts, making it hard to be absorbed as a tea, instead, salvia must be absorbed by the oral mucous membranes or smoked. When entering the body Salvinorin A binds to the Kappa- Opioid receptor (κ opioid), giving short-intense hallucinations, sedation effects, and dysphoria,uncontrollable laughter similar to the effects of Nitrous Oxide, Salvinorin A being a highly potent psychedelic shows effect at small doses of 200–500 micro grams lasting from several minutes to an hour.
Since the discovery of Salvinorin as the only known natural occurring, non-nitrogenous kappa opioid receptor agonist research leading to clinical use of Salvinorin for potential treatment for addiction, depression and neuroprotective properties for brain injury due to oxygen insufficiency have been shown in the literature. During studies observed in newborn pigs, indicated that specific cerebrovasodilation effects happen while on Salvia finding it’s way to a number of acute brain pathologies and vasoconstriction events.
