Drug info - Worthwhile Encyclopedia of Psychedelic Plants??

[mr.stark]

I'm extremely interested in delving into the land of psychedelic plants, and would like an encyclopedia-type of book (in depth analysis of the herbs, colored pictures, etc) that explains the origins, effects, rituals, medicinal uses of these ethnobotanicals.

Found plenty of Herb/Plant Encyclopedias at the bookstore but go figure, they purposely leave out the mind-altering substances.

Again, pictures (in color) of the herbs are a big want on this purchase. No black + white compilation

[ThirdEyeFloond]

'Plants of the Gods - Their Sacred, Healing and Hallucinogenic Powers' by Shultes, Hofmann & Rätch might be what you are looking for then. It contains lots of beautiful color images of everyones favorite plants aswell as descriptions of their cultural and historical use. It's not the largest and most complete book out there though (My revised and expanded edition is 208 pages including the index.)

The holy bible on psychoactive plants would IMO be 'The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications' by Christian Rätsch, with nearly a thousand pages it's a wealth of information. I've only had my hands on the original german edition and to my recollection it only contained black & white illustrations though, but I could be wrong. It's definately worth checking out anyways.

[dr_haldol]

I've got the "Enzyklopädie der psychoaktiven Pflanzen" by Christian Rätsch (Encyclopaedia of psychoactive plants), and it's definitely coloured. And it's the greatest book I've seen so far on that topic...

[ThirdEyeFloond]

Originally Posted by dr_haldol

I've got the "Enzyklopädie der psychoaktiven Pflanzen" by Christian Rätsch (Encyclopaedia of psychoactive plants), and it's definitely coloured. And it's the greatest book I've seen so far on that topic...

Alrighty, SWIM was wrong then He just scimmed it at a friend of his, and remembers some illustrations not being in color, but he was fairly wasted on poppy tea and ketamine at the time. The german language also was a buzz kill, but he will definately get a hold of the english translation at some point.

[mr.stark]

Originally Posted by ThirdEyeFloond

The holy bible on psychoactive plants would IMO be 'The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications' by Christian Rätsch

I've heard of it, but the cheapest copy I could find was over 70$.

[Bajeda]

You get what you pay for...

[mr.stark]

^ Maybe so, just more than I'm looking to spend.

Also, some of the key plants that I'd like included are Marijuana, Salvia, Wormwood, Kratom, Mescalin succulents, etc.

[ThirdEyeFloond]

Originally Posted by mr.stark

^ Maybe so, just more than I'm looking to spend.

Also, some of the key plants that I'd like included are Marijuana, Salvia, Wormwood, Kratom, Mescalin succulents, etc.

You won't find wormwood or kratom in 'Plants of the Gods' so better go with Räetch's encyclopedia and come on.. 70$ and you will get a reference work that will last you a lifetime, the number of occassions one will be so happy to be able to consult this book to clarify things will be numerous so it's downright f*cking cheap. SWIM has just ordered the english edition of this...

[podge]

Swim had a quick browse through " Psychedelics Encyclopedia" by Peter Stafford a year or two, only had a quick look but it seemed decent.