Kanna

This article deals with the plant species, for the Japanese plane see Kanna (plane) ; for the Swedish town see Kånna ; see also Canna (disambiguation) .

Kanna
Kanna ( Sceletium tortuosum )
Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons Order : Clove-like (Caryophyllales) Family : Midday flowers (Aizoaceae) Subfamily : Mesembryanthemoideae Genre : Sceletium Type : Kanna
Scientific name
Sceletium tortuosum
( L. ) NEBr.

Kanna ( Sceletium tortuosum ) is a plant of the genus Sceletium in the family of aizoaceae (Aizoaceae). It is the most common type of the genus.

description

Sceletium tortuosum grows outstretched to prostrate and only rarely climbs as a perennial succulent plant. The leaves are arranged like roof tiles and are 3 to 4 centimeters long and 1 to 1.5 centimeters wide and flat triangular with inwardly curved tips. Your three (rarely up to five) leaf veins are straight, the side veins are hardly noticeable. The bladder cells of the epidermis are great, but fairly flat.

In South Africa, the flowering period extends from July to September. The four to five white to pale yellow, salmon or pale pink petals have a diameter of 20 to 30 millimeters and are pointed. The blunt scars are less than 2 millimeters long. The 10 to 15 millimeter long capsule fruits are four to five chambers and their flaps are winged. The seeds are brown.

Distribution and systematics

The distribution area of Sceletium tortuosum extends in South Africa from Namaqualand to Montagu and Aberdeen .

This species was in 1753 by Linnaeus under the name ( Basionym ) Mesembryanthemum tortucsum in his work Species Plantarum first published . Nicholas Edward Brown placed them in the genus Sceletium in 1926 . There are numerous synonyms .

Ingredients and effects

Mesembrine , mesembrenine and tortuosamine are the main alkaloids of the kanna plant. After about an hour, the effect changes into a sedating, dream-like state. The senses are sensitized, but pain is alleviated. Often reports of the release of fears, stress, improved concentration and a higher level of consciousness are also reported. The fresh leaves contain the highly irritating and toxic oxalic acid , but the content is reduced by fermentation and drying.

use

The Khoikhoi ( Hottentots ) used the above-ground parts of the plant, fermented and dried, for sniffing, chewing or in smoke mixtures. After the Dutch occupied South Africa, they called the Kanna Kougoed, in German "Kaugut" or "something easy to chew". To this day there is an area in Karoo called Kanna.

Kanna is still used today as a traditional remedy for stomach ache , to calm children, and to relieve anxiety and depression . In small amounts it is said to have a calming effect, in higher doses Kanna has a euphoric effect.

literature

• Heidrun EK Hartmann : Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Aizoaceae FZ . P. 289 f. ISBN 3-540-41723-0
• MT Smith, NR Crouch, N. Gericke, M. Hirst: Psychoactive constituents of the genus Sceletium NEBr. and other Mesembryanthemaceae: a review . In: Journal of Ethnopharmacology . tape 50 , no. 3 , 1996, p. 119-130 , doi : 10.1016 / 0378-8741 (95) 01342-3 , PMID 8691846 ( erowid.org ).

Web links

Commons : Kanna( Sceletium tortuosum ) - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Sceletium tortuosum Herba ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 191 kB; English)  
2. ↑ Nicholas Edward Brown: Mesembryanthemum s.lat. In: EP Phillips: The genera of South African plants . P. 245, 1926
3. ↑ ^{a b} MT Smith, NR Crouch, N. Gericke, M. Hirst: Psychoactive constituents' of the genus Sceletium NEBr. and other Mesembryanthemaceae: a review . In: Journal of Ethnopharmacology . tape 50 , no. 3 , 1996, p. 119-130 , doi : 10.1016 / 0378-8741 (95) 01342-3 , PMID 8691846 ( erowid.org ).
4. ↑ Sceletium Tortuosum . In: Botanical Characteristics . ( skyfieldtropical.com ). skyfieldtropical.com ( Memento of the original dated November 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ^ N. Gericke, AM Viljoen: Sceletium - a review update . In: Journal of Ethnopharmacology . 119, issue 3, 2008, p. 653-63 , doi : 10.1016 / j.jep.2008.07.043 , PMID 18761074 .