Of t he numerous plant hallucinogens ut ilized by indigenous populat ions of t he Amazon Basin, perhaps none is as int erest ing or complex, bot anically, chemically, or et hnographically, as t he hallucinogenic beverage known variously asay ah u asc a,c aap i, ory ag e. The beverage is most widely known as ay ah u asc a , a Quechua t erm meaning " vine of t he souls," which is applied bot h t o t he beverage it self and t o one of t he source-plant s used in it s preparat ion, t he Malpighiaceous jungle liana, Banist eriopsis caapi (Schult es, 1957). In Brazil, t ranslit erat ion of t his Quechua word int o Port uguese result s in t he name,Ho asc a.A y ahuasc a, or ho asc a, occupies a cent ral posit ion in Mest izo et hnomedicine, and t he chemical nat ure of it s act ive const it uent s and t he manner of it s use makes its st udy relevant to cont emporary issues in neuropharmacology, neurophysiology, and psychiat ry.

leaves ofP. viridis cont ains alkaloids which are necessary for t he psychoact ive ef fectA y ahuasc a is unique in t hat it s pharmacological act ivit y is dependent on a synergist ic int eract ion bet ween t he act ive alkaloids in t he plant s. One of t he component s, t he bark ofBanist eriopsis caapi,

cont ains \u00df-carboline alkaloids, which are pot ent MAO-A inhibit ors; t he ot her component , t he leaves ofPsychot ria viridis or relat ed species, cont ains t he pot ent short -act ing psychoact ive agent N,N-dimet hylt rypt amine (DMT) . DMT is not orally act ive when ingest ed by it self, but can be rendered orally act ive in t he presence of a peripheral MAO inhibit or - and t his

int eract ion is t he basis of t he psychot ropic act ion of ay ah u asc a (McKenna, Towers, & Abbot t , 19 84 ). There are also report s (Schult es, 19 72 ) t hat ot herPs y c h o t r i a species are similarly ut ilized in ot her part s of t he Amazon. In t he Nort hwest Amazon, part icularly in t he Colombian

are frequent ly added, depending on t he magical, medical, or religious purposes for which t he
drug is being consumed. Alt hough a virt ual pharmacopoeia of admixt ures are occasionally added,
t he most commonly employed admixt ures (ot her t hanPs y c h o t r i a, which is a const ant component
of t he preparat ion) are various Solanaceous genera, including t obacco (Nicot iana sp.),

cent ury. For exposit ory purposes, t he hist ory of ayahuasca et hnopharmacology can be divided int o several segment s, st art ing wit h t he prehist orical orgins of t he beverage and leading up t o t he present , where ayahuasca is st ill an act ive area of research. The modern hist ory of

hist orically impact ed religion, polit ics, and societ y, as well as science, (e.g., in t he Brazilian goverment \u2019s accept ance of t he legit imacy of t he sacrament al use of ayahuasca beverages by t he UDV and ot her Brasilian syncret ic sect s) and t he implicat ions and consequences of it s cont inued and spreading use is likely t o be felt on a number of levels now and in t he fut ure.

The origins of t he use of ayahuasca in t he Amazon Basin are lost in t he mist s of prehist ory. No one can say for cert ain where t he pract ice may have originat ed, and about all t hat can be st at ed wit h cert aint y is t hat it was already spread among numerous indigenous t ribes t hroughout t he Amazon Basin by t he t ime ayahuasca came t o t he at t ent ion of West ern et hnographers in t he mid- 19t h cent ury. This fact alone argues for it s ant iquit y; beyond t hat , lit t le is known. Plut arco Naranjo, t he Equat orian et hnograper, has summarized what lit t le informat ion is available on

t he hallucinogenic snuff derived from Anadenant hera species and known as vilka and various ot her names. There is not hing in t he form of iconographic mat erials or preserved bot anical remains t hat would unequivocally est ablish t he prehist orical use of ayahuasca, alt hough it is probable t hat t hese pre-Colombian cult ures, sophist icat ed as t hey were in t he use of a variet y

among plant hallucinogens in t hat it is prepared from a combinat ion of t wo plant s: The bark or st ems of Banist eriopsis species, t oget her wit h t he leaves of Psychot ria species or ot her DMT- cont aining admixt ures. The beverage depends on t his unique combinat ion for it s act ivit y. There seems small likelihood of \u201c accident ally\u201d combining t he t wo plant s t o obt ain an act ive

t hough t here are several charming myt hs which address t he t opic. Mest izo ayahuasqueros in Peru will, t o t his day, t ell you t hat t his knowledge comes direct ly from t he \u201c plant t eachers\u201d (Luna, 1984), while t he mest res of t he Brasilian syncret ic cult , t he UDV, will t ell you wit h equal convict ion that the knowledge came from \u201cthe first scientist,\u201d King Solomon, who

impart ed t he t echnology t o t he Inca king during a lit t le publicized visit t o t he New World in ant iquit y. In t he absence of dat a, t hese explanat ions are all t hat we have. All t hat we can say wit h confidence is t hat t he knowledge of t he t echniques for preparing ayahuasca, including

By cont rast , what might be called t he modern or t he scient ific hist ory of ayahuasca, is t raceable
t o 1851, when t he great English bot anist Richard Spruce encount ered t he use of an int oxicat ing
beverage among t he Tukano Indians of t he Rio Uapes in Brasil (Schult es, 19 82 ). Spruce
collect ed flowering specimens from t he large jungle liana used as t he source of t he beverage, and
t his collect ion was t he basis for his classificat ion of t he plant as Banist eria caapi; it was
reclassified as Banist eriopsis caapi by t he t axonomist Mort on in 19 31 as part of his revision of

Seven years lat er, Spruce again encount ered t he same liana in use among t he Guahibo Indians on t he upper Orinoco of Colombia and Venezuela, and, lat er t he same year, found t he Z\u00e1paro Indians of Andean Peru t aking a narcot ic beverage, prepared from t he same plant , which t hey called

(Spruce, 19 08 ). Credit for t he earliest published report s of ayahuasca usage belongs t o t he Ecuadorian geographer Manuel Villavicencio, who, in 18 58 , wrot e of t he use of ayahuasca in sorcery and divinat ion on t he upper Rio Napo (Villavicencio, 18 58 ). Alt hough Villavicencio supplied no bot anical det ails about t he plant used as t he source of t he beverage, his account of

indigenous Amazonian t ribes, and purport edly prepared from t he \u201c root s\u201d (Cr\u00e9vaux, 18 83 ), of various \u201cshrubs\u201d (Koch-Gr\u00fcnberg, 1909) or \u201clianas\u201d (Rivet, 1905) of uncertain botanical provenance. Unlike Spruce, who had t he presence of mind not only t o collect bot anical voucher specimens, but also mat erials designat ed for event ual chemical analysis, t hese lat er

result s in a broil bet ween at least t he part akers of t he beverage.\u201d None of t he ingredient s were ident ified, nor were voucher specimens collect ed, but t his report is t he earliest indicat ion t hat ot her admixt ure species were employed in t he preparat ion of ayahuasca.

disproport ionat e number of nat ural product s isolat ed for t he first t ime during t his period were alkaloids, probably because t hese bases are relat ively easy t o isolat e in a pure form, and part ly because t he plant s which cont ain t hem were and are import ant drug plant s wit h obvious and

Peganum harmala. Six years lat er, his colleague, J. Frit sch isolat ed harmine from t he seeds in 18 47 . More t han 50 years lat er, a t hird alkaloid, harmalol, was also isolat ed from Syrian Rue seeds by Fisher in 19 01 . Harmine, like t he ot her \u00df-carbolines named aft er t he species epit het of Peganum harmala, would lat er t urn out t o be ident ical t o t he major \u00df-carboline found in