For our first “herbology class” I present you nature’s ketamine i.e. the incredibly powerful dissociative agent monotropa uniflora, also known as the American Indian ghost pipe plant. Used popularly in herbal medicine as a powerful sleep aid, to deal with depression, grief and trauma, and to aid with the withdrawal of alcohol and opiates.
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and brownie points, because the purple sweet potato will make your loaf not just pretty (and extra healthy), but unbelievably tender ‘n soft.
and some thought: nature’s absolutely wonderful, because just as it produces some of the brightest hues (ahem, purple sweet potato!), it also creates at the other end of the spectrum a parasitic plant so devoid of color (i.e. chlorophyl) that you might confuse it for a fungi instead.
Still, it’s a plant. And a very (very!) powerful one at that.
Meet, the so aptly named, ghost pipe.
For traditionally it appears to be described in some Native American folklore as a warrior’s medicine- to be taken only on the most extreme circumstances (yes, on the brink of death itself).
Perhaps the biggest mystery thought? Why, unlike other sedative plants (ahem, opium), it appears to cause no addiction itself. Rather, it’s in fact being used off label to treat alcohol and opiate withdrawals.
not to mention, it being an antidote-like substance for psilocybin in traditional medicine (at low doses, at least).
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