Shaman Australis Botanicals

Important legal information for Australian customers: The importation of Mucuna pruriens seeds into Australia is prohibited under the Australian Quarantine Act. The seeds offered by Shaman Australis Botanicals are grown in Australia.

Botanical information
An annual climber, it grows to a length of 10m. The leaves are trifoliolate; the leaflets are broadly ovate, elliptic or rhomboid ovate and unequal at the base; the flowers are purple and in axillary, pendulous racemes; the pods are curved, longitudinally ribbed, turgid and densely clothed with persistent pale brown or grey, irritant bristles; the seeds are black, 4-6 in a pod and ovoid.
Indigenous to India and Asia.
Propagation is by seed sown into very well draining, sandy seeding mix. Water sparingly until established!! Note: We have found that old seed will inevitably rot in soil or sand mixes, starting with the seed coat, but taking over the seed before germination is complete. A fungicide suitable for seed treatment may inhibit this, but a more natural and highly successful method is to place the seeds in a tray with moist (but not wet!!) sphagnum moss at the bottom and over the top. The radicle will emerge within a couple of days and the shoot will follow within a few more days. Once the first couple of leaves have emerged, the seedling can be transplanted to the seeding mix for establishment.Fresh seed germinates within a few days and is not susceptible to rot.

Traditional uses
The seeds are ground and ingested in India and Mexico for powerful aphrodisiac effects. This purpose was also well documented in the Ayurvedic and Unani sciences. In ayurveda the seeds are also employed for parkinsons disease. The leaves can be smoked for mild tryptamine effects with a mild stoning after effect. The beans have often been proposed as an ayahuasca analog, however the validity of this is doubtful as we have not been able to find any DMT in the seed. It may well be that there are tryptamines in the husk/shell.
The hairs lining the pods contain serotonin and are very dangerous as they can cause servere irritations. In Africa these hairs were used to murder people by sprinkling them onto the food of the unsuspecting victim, who would then die from internal bleeding as the sharp hairs slice into the stomach and intestinal lining. These hairs make harvest and handling difficult until the seed is dehusked and polished.
In many countries with poor soil Mucuna is used to cultivate the soil and add nitrogen to it. Intercropping with Mucuna has been shown in scientific trials to increase yields by up to 100%, depending on the crop.

Pharmacology
Mucuna pruriens seeds have been found to contain between 4% and 9% of L-DOPA (dopamine precursor), as well as the bioactive alkaloids mucunine, mucunadine, mucuadinine, pruriendine and nicotine. The seeds with seed coat showed the presence of a number of bioactive subtances including tryptamine, alkylamines, steroids, flavonoids, coumarins, cardenolides, etc. Other sources state the presence of DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, Bufotenine and beta-carbolines.
The alkaloid extract of the seed has been shown to increase spermcount, testicle size and androgenic activity in rats. Furthermore it was shown in animal tests, that low doses caused an increase in motor-activity and decreased sleep time, while high doses caused a decrease in motor-activity and an increase in sleep time. Thus the drug possesses CNS stimulant effect at low doses and CNS depressant effect at high doses.
In 15 psychiatric patients, 15 g of of crude seed powder was found to significantly inhibit the prolactin response to chlorpromazine injection, as effectively as 0.5 g of L-dopa. No side effects were observed in these patients.
Sixty patients with Parkinson's disease were treated with M. pruriens in an open study for 12 weeks. Statistically significant reductions in Hoehn and Unified Parkinson's disease rating scale scores were seen form baseline to the end of 12 week treatment. Adverse effects were mild and were mainly gastro-intestinal in nature.
L-DOPA is a neurotransmitter precursor, an effective drug for relief in Parkinson's disease. The seed of Mucuna pruriens is used as a prophylactic against oligospermia, for increasing sperm count in men or ovulation in women. It prevents male and female sterility and acts as a nervine tonic.

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Mucuna pruriens seed	Mucuna pruriens immature seedpod


Mucuna pruriens vine	Mucuna pruriens flower raceme