Chapter 18 African Psychoactive Plants

Psychoactive plants have been used by humans for recreational, spiritual, and therapeutic purposes for millennia. Africa possesses an ancient tradition of medicinal plant use and has a rich tradition of using its indigenous plants for these purposes. Given African’s high floristic diversity, and the strong connection between plants and the many African cultures and societies, relatively few African psychoactive plants have been investigated in detail when compared to the Americas. This review examines the traditional uses of plants from sub-Saharan Africa that exhibit an effect on the central nervous system. The use, chemistry and pharmacology of well researched and documented plants such as Catha edulis, Cola species, D atura species, Pausinystalia yoh imbe (=Corynanth yohimbe) and Tabernanthe i boga are reviewed. Newer discoveries are highlighted as well as particular difficulties that are encountered when investigating African psychoactive plants