Tabernanthe iboga – Wikipedia

Species of plant

Tabernanthe iboga (iboga) is a perennial rainforest shrub native to Central Africa. An evergreen bush indigenous to Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Republic of Congo, it is cultivated across Central Africa.

In African traditional medicine and rituals, the yellowish root or bark is used to produce hallucinations and near-death outcomes, with some fatalities occurring.[3][4] In high doses, ibogaine is considered to be toxic, and has caused serious comorbidities when used with opioids or prescription drugs.[3][5] The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) lists ibogaine as a controlled substance of the Controlled Substances Act.[3]

Iboga is native to tropical forests, preferring moist soil in partial shade.[3] It bears dark green, narrow leaves and clusters of white tubular flowers on an erect and branching stem, with yellow-orange fruits resembling an olive.[3]

Normally growing to a height of 2m, T. iboga may eventually grow into a small tree up to 10m tall, given the right conditions. The flowers are yellowish-white or pink and followed by a fruit, orange at maturity, that may be either globose or fusiform. Its yellow-fleshed roots contain a number of indole alkaloids, most notably ibogaine, which is found in the highest concentration in the root-bark. The root material, bitter in taste, causes a degree of anaesthesia in the mouth as well as systemic numbness of the skin.[6]

Tabernanthe iboga was described by Henri Ernest Baillon and published in Bulletin Mensuel de la Socit Linnenne de Paris 1: 783 in the year 1889. The plant even though was discovered and used long before in central Africa as a cultural plant.

The genus name Tabernanthe is a compound of the Latin taberna, "tavern"/"hut"/"(market) stall" and Greek: (anthos) "flower" giving a literal meaning of "tavern flower". On the other hand, it may equally well have been intended (by way of a type of botanical shorthand) to mean "having a flower resembling that of plants belonging to the genus Tabernaemontana " (q.v.). If the first conjecture is the correct one, the name could also have been intended to suggest that the plant is cultivated near huts, sold at market stalls or even that like the beverages sold at a tavern the plant is intoxicating, all of which alternatives would constitute apt descriptions of an oft-cultivated and popular psychoactive plant. The specific name iboga is simply one of a number of similar names given to the plant in its native Gabon.[7]

The first (probable...and confused) reference to Iboga is that of Bowdich in chapter 13 of his "Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee..." of 1819

The Eroga, a favourite but violent medicine, is no doubt a fungus, for they describe it as growing on a tree called the Ocamboo, when decaying; they burn it first, and take as much as would lay on a shilling.

If this is indeed a reference to the drug derived from Tabernanthe iboga (Eroga appears to be a variant form of the names iboga and eboka) it is, of course, grossly in error in its assumption that iboga is not a plant but a fungus. Notable however is the observation of the potency of the drug effective in small quantities. The description of the plant as growing on a tree is puzzling: Tabernanthe iboga does not usually grow as an epiphyte if at all.[8][9]

The ritual use of iboga in Africa was first reported by French and Belgian explorers in the 19th century, beginning with the work of French naval surgeon and explorer of Gabon Griffon du Bellay,[10] who identified it correctly as a shrub belonging to the Apocynaceae as recorded in a short essay by Charles Eugne Aubry-Lecomte on the plant poisons of West Africa, published in the year 1864.

Parmi les plantes rares ou nouvelles rapportes par le docteur Griffon du Bellay, la famille des apocynes contient encore deux poisons; l'un, nomm iboga, n'est toxique qu' hautes doses et a l'tat frais. Pris en petit quantit, il est aphrodisiaque et stimulante du systeme nerveux; les guerriers et chasseurs en font grand usage pour se tenir veills dans les affts de nuit; de mme que pour le M'boundou, le principe actif rside dans la racine qu'on mche comme la coca.

[ Translation: Among the rare or new plants brought back by Dr. Griffon du Bellay, the plant family Apocynaceae contains two further poisons; the first of these, called Iboga, is only toxic in high doses and in the fresh state. Taken in small quantities, it is an aphrodisiac and stimulant of the (central) nervous system; warriors and hunters make considerable use of it in order to stay awake during their night vigils; as with the (plant) M'boundou, the active principle (of Iboga) resides in the root which is chewed like coca (leaf) ].[11]

Indole alkaloids, which make up about 6% of the root chemical composition of iboga,[3] include:

The Iboga tree is central to the Bwiti spiritual practices in West-Central Africa, mainly Gabon, Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo, where the alkaloid-containing roots or bark are used in various ceremonies to create a near-death experience.[3] Iboga is taken in massive doses by initiates of this spiritual practice, and on a more regular basis is eaten in smaller doses in connection with rituals and tribal dances performed at night. Bwitists have been subject to persecution by Catholic missionaries.[3]

In lower doses, iboga has a stimulant effect and is used to maintain alertness while hunting.[12][13]

Anecdotal reports of self-treated opioid addicts indicated a reduced desire to sustain opiate abuse following iboga ingestion.[3] Since 1970, iboga has been legally prohibited in the United States following several fatalities.[3][4] Iboga extracts, as well as the purified alkaloid ibogaine, have attracted attention because of their purported ability to reverse addiction to drugs such as alcohol and opiates.[3]

Ibogaine is classified as a schedule 1 controlled substance in the United States, and is not approved there for addiction treatment (or any other therapeutic use) because of its hallucinogenic and cardiovascular side effects, as well as the absence of safety and efficacy data in human subjects.[3][5] In most other countries, it remains unregulated and unlicensed.[14]

Independent ibogaine treatment clinics have emerged in Mexico, Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa, and New Zealand, all operating in what has been described as a "legal gray area".[14][15] Covert, illegal neighborhood clinics are also known to exist in the United States, despite active DEA surveillance.[13] Addiction specialists warn that the treatment of drug dependence with ibogaine in non-medical settings, without expert supervision and unaccompanied by appropriate psychosocial care, can be dangerous and, in approximately one case in 300, potentially fatal.[3][15]

Iboga is outlawed or restricted in Belgium, Poland, Denmark, Croatia, France,[16] Sweden, and Switzerland. In the United States, ibogaine is classified by the Controlled Substances Act on the list of schedule I drugs,[3] although the plant itself remains unscheduled.

Non-profit organization Freningen fr hollistisk missbruksvrd is trying to convince the Swedish government to start up clinical investigations of its anti-addictive properties, loosen up the prohibition law against ibogaine, and allow the creation of treatment facilities in Sweden.[17]

Exportation of iboga from Gabon is illegal since the passage of a 1994 cultural protection law.[18]

While little data is available on the exploitation and existing habitat of the iboga plant, the destructive effects of harvesting and slow growth could have already severely damaged the wild iboga population.[19]

Plant in fruit: fusiform-fruited form.

Read more:
Tabernanthe iboga - Wikipedia