View source for Virola

{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = ''Virola''
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Magnoliales]]
| familia = [[Myristicaceae]]
| genus = '''''Virola'''''
| genus_authority = [[Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet|Aubl.]]
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = 
Many species, including:<br/>
''Virola calophylla''<br/>
''Virola colophylloidea''<br/>
''Virola oleifera''<br/>
''Virola theiodora''
}}

'''''Virola''''', also known as '''Epená''', is a genus of medium-sized [[tree]]s native to the [[South America]]n [[rainforest]] and closely related to other [[Myristicaceae]], such as [[nutmeg]]. It has glossy, dark [[Leaf|leaves]] with clusters of tiny yellow [[flower]]s and emits a pungent odor. 

The dark-red [[resin]] of the tree bark contains several [[hallucinogenic drug|hallucinogenic]] [[alkaloid]]s, most notably [[5-MeO-DMT]](Virola calophylla), [[5-OH-DMT]] (Bufotenine), and also [[N,N-DMT]], perhaps the most "powerful" member of the [[Dimethyltryptamine]] family; it also contains [[beta-carboline]] [[harmala alkaloid]]s, [[MAOI]]s that greatly potentiate the effects of DMT. The bark resin is prepared and dried by a variety of methods, often including the addition of ash or [[limestone|lime]], presumably as [[base (chemistry)|basifying]] agents, and a powder made from the leaves of the small [[Justicia]] bush. Ingestion is similar to that of [[Yopo]], consisting of assisted [[insufflation]], with the snuff being blown through a long tube into the [[nostril]]s by an assistant. According to [[Richard Evans Schultes|Schultes]], the use of Virola in magico-religious rituals is restricted to tribes in the Western [[Amazon Basin]] and parts of the [[Orinoco]] Basin.

==Traditional medicine==
The tops cunt of ''[[Virola oleifera]]'' have been shown to produce lignan-7-ols and [[verrucosin]] that have antifungal action regarding ''[[Cladosporium sphaerospermum]]'' in doses as low as 25 micrograms. Lignan-7-ols oleiferin-B and oleiferin-G worked for ''C. cladosporoides'' starting as low as 10 micrograms.<ref>[http://grande.nal.usda.gov/ibids/index.php?mode2=detail&origin=ibids_references&therow=445174 Sartorelli, P. : Young, M.C.M. : Kato, M.J.,  Antifungal lignans from the arils of Virola oleifera.  Phytochemistry-Oxford. Oxford : Elsevier Science Ltd. Mar 1998. v. 47 (6) p. 1003-1006. ]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Ayahuasca]]
* [[Entheogen]]
* [[Psychedelic plants]]

==References and external links==
===Notes===
{{reflist}}

===General References===
* [[Jonathan Ott]] - ''Shamanic Snuffs or Entheogenic Errhines'' (2001) ISBN 1-888755-02-4
* Richard Evans Schultes - ''Plants of the Gods'' (1992) ISBN 0-89281-979-0
* [http://www.erowid.org/plants/virola/virola.shtml Erowid Virola Vault]

[[Category:Entheogens]]
[[Category:Herbal and fungal hallucinogens]]
[[Category:Magnoliales]]
[[Category:Psychedelic tryptamine carriers]]
[[Category:Trees]]


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