Silene undulata

Silene undulata (Xhosa: iindlela zimhlophe—"white ways/paths", also known as Silene capensis, and African dream root) is a plant native to the Eastern Cape of South Africa.[1][2]

Silene undulata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Caryophyllaceae
Genus: Silene
Species:
S. undulata
Binomial name
Silene undulata
Synonyms
  • Silene capensis Otth
  • Melandrium undulatum (Ait.) Rohrb.
Silene undulata in a small pot

Cultivation

In cultivation, S. undulata is an easily grown, but moisture hungry herb. It is tolerant of extreme heat, >40 °C (104 °F), and moderate cold, −5 °C (23 °F). A moisture retentive seedbed is essential. The fragrant flowers open at night and close in the day. It is a biennial to short lived perennial and the root can be harvested after the second year.

Uses

Silene undulata is regarded by the Xhosa people as a sacred plant. Its root is traditionally used to induce vivid (and according to the Xhosa, prophetic) lucid dreams during the initiation process of shamans, classifying it a naturally occurring oneirogen similar to the more well-known dream herb Calea zacatechichi.[1]

gollark: Yes, lisp good however ””””normies““““ bad.
gollark: Some apioapeiroforms even derive satisfaction from being "not a computer person".
gollark: Normal people are in fact uncool and cannot read lisp, as they just dismiss it as incomprehensible eldritch symbols.
gollark: It's a mathematical thingy to make a polynomial going through some points, so you can use it to approximate functions. I put in the first 8 factorials.
gollark: That looks like output from my lagrange interpolator thing.

References
  1. J. F. Sobiecki (2008). "A review of plants used in divination in southern Africa and their psychoactive effects" (PDF). Southern African Humanities. 20: 333–351.
  2. H. Wild: Caryophyllaceae in Flora Zambesiaca, Vol. 1, Pt 2, 1961: Silene undulata - Online

Further reading
  • Jean-Francois Sobiecki: Psychoactive Spiritual Medicines and Healing Dynamics in the Initiation Process of Southern Bantu Diviners. In: Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 44, 2012, S. 216–223, doi:10.1080/02791072.2012.703101.
  • Watt, J.M. & Breyer-Brandwijk, M.J. 1962. The medicinal and poisonous plants of southern and eastern Africa. Second edition. Edinburgh: E. & S. Livingstone.

Data related to Silene undulata at Wikispecies

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