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My World: Huanduj

Peter Dexter

Well-known member
…is the Kitchwa (Quechua) name for Brugmansia species or common name Angel’s Trumpet, a shrub or small tree that has been used for thousands of years by native peoples of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru for religious purposes. Most Brugmansia species are psychoactive as their leaves , flowers and seeds contain scopolamine. An “overdose” from drinking a tea made from the leaves for example can produce visions and hallucinations but also retrograde amnesia. For that reason it has long been a popular “knock out” drug for robbery in South America because the victim can’t remember what happened. It has been used by some tribes to intensify the hallucinatory effects and religious experience produced by ayahuasca or yagé.

Botanically it is interesting for a number of reasons. When flowering It produces a powerful aroma I liken to a perfumed soap but only from about 6 pm to about 6 am (roughly sunset to sunrise) so it is pollenated by night flying creatures such as insects or bats. During the day there is no scent at all. Another curiosity is that it is considered by the IUCN Red List to be extinct in the wild (I have never seen it growing very far into the woods) and may have been for thousands of years. But it happily springs up near human habitation like country homes, throughout the Andes and is considered a cultivar. Some research suggests it is inclined to disturbed areas which would explain it’s presence near homes in the country side today and Indian communities in the past. It grows very quickly and there are about ten of them on my 8000 square meter lot none of which I planted. Mine are probably B. arborea.

29665382717_d9453ecbae_b.jpg
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Peter,

…is the Kitchwa (Quechua) name for Brugmansia species or common name Angel’s Trumpet, a shrub or small tree that has been used for thousands of years by native peoples of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru for religious purposes. Most Brugmansia species are psychoactive as their leaves , flowers and seeds contain scopolamine. An “overdose” from drinking a tea made from the leaves for example can produce visions and hallucinations but also retrograde amnesia. For that reason it has long been a popular “knock out” drug for robbery in South America because the victim can’t remember what happened. It has been used by some tribes to intensify the hallucinatory effects and religious experience produced by ayahuasca or yagé.

Botanically it is interesting for a number of reasons. When flowering It produces a powerful aroma I liken to a perfumed soap but only from about 6 pm to about 6 am (roughly sunset to sunrise) so it is pollenated by night flying creatures such as insects or bats. During the day there is no scent at all. Another curiosity is that it is considered by the IUCN Red List to be extinct in the wild (I have never seen it growing very far into the woods) and may have been for thousands of years. But it happily springs up near human habitation like country homes, throughout the Andes and is considered a cultivar. Some research suggests it is inclined to disturbed areas which would explain it’s presence near homes in the country side today and Indian communities in the past. It grows very quickly and there are about ten of them on my 8000 square meter lot none of which I planted. Mine are probably B. arborea.

29665382717_d9453ecbae_b.jpg

Thank you for that lovely shot and the wonderful essay.

Best regards,

Doug
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
“Quechua”!

Sounds like a character from Star Wars!

But the flowers have long pink dresses!

I have been fascinated by this plant which grows in a recess on a mound by one of the several magnificent 19th Century Churches around the corner from my house. So many times I have tried to photograph the flowers when they are fresh and the light was right, but I have never have succeeded to date!


29665382717_d9453ecbae_b.jpg


I would want to look up the skirts of this upside down hanging flower to get to the inner delicate parts. The priest and the homeless that get food, want to know why a Jewish gentleman is on his knees outside the church, seemingly in submission to the flowers!


Your shot works as it’s less angled and intrusive! ?

Asher
 

Peter Dexter

Well-known member
Star Wars? Well it was the language of the Incan Empire and there remain eight to ten million speakers. Everybody seemed to be bilingual when I visited Peru.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Star Wars? Well it was the language of the Incan Empire and there remain eight to ten million speakers. Everybody seemed to be bilingual when I visited Peru.

It was worse than Star Wars when the Spanish came and destroyed the Meso American civilizations.

Amazingly, enemies of the Incas massively swelled the meager conquistador forces of mere thousands to make an army of 200.000!

How is it that South America bears so little animus to the Spain, Portugal and the Church that erased thousands of years of culture?

How many of the males of the Incan speakers have native male chromosomes?

Sorry for my outburst, but I shudder at the cultural genocide! The word “Inca” is a trigger for my worse thoughts of their tragic and most cruel losses!

That and new illnesses for which natives has no immunity probably killed some 20 million souls!

Now when I see the Quechua flowers blooming at the Church, I will remember who brought the Incas such catastrophe!

Asher
 
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