Hawaiian Baby Woodrose, a relative plant has been used shamanically, for healing, in Hawaii. Morning glory grows in abundance around New Zealand, as a weed. It is however also a great easy growing garden vine, with very attractive flowers. Both these plants contain, in the seeds, D-lysergic Acid Amide and related compounds which are chemically very similar to LSD.

San Pedro, and also Peruvian torch, are cacti with a similarly long history of use. They contain primarily the active Mescaline, also found in the cactus peyote. These cacti have been used as sacred Entheogens for healing rituals and visionary states by Native American Indian and Peruvian Shamans (Going back historically to at least 1300 BC, as we have found a carving of a San Pedro held in the hands of a God from then in Peru) with similar importance to Peyote culturally.

The Native American Indians use it for vision questing, for strengthening the psyche, and healing physical and mental problems through shamanistic ritual. Of course, it has sometimes been also considered a fertility symbol by some cultures. The fast growing cactus, not only has that classic “western movie” tall branching shape, making it very popular as a garden plant, but it has a very rare blooming, almost never occuring flower (I’ve never seen one apart from on the net).

Here is a shaman’s account of its effects: “the drug first ... produces ... drowsiness or a dreamy state and a feeling of lethargy ... a slight dizziness ... then a great 'vision', a clearing of all the faculties ... it produces a light numbness in the body and afterward a tranquility. And then comes detachment, a type of visual force ... inclusive of all the senses ... including the sixth sense, the telepathic sense of transmitting oneself across time and matter ... like a kind of removal of one's thought to a distant dimension. “

Its very important to note, that while both these types of plants are ideal for a Entheogen collection, rewarding and easy to grow, attractive looking, legal and easy to get; they both contain banned substances. Morning glory and relatives contain LSA, which is considered a banned precursor to LSD, and mescaline in the cacti is a Class A substance. For this reason, one should never, under any circumstance ingest, or extract from, these plants - it's illegal!