Ayahuasca

This psychotropic drink is prepared from segments of the vine Banisteriopsis caapi. Sections of vine are boiled with leaves from any of a large number of other plants (such as Psychotria viridis or Diplopterys cabrerana) yielding a brew containing the powerful hallucinogenic alkaloids harmaline?, harmine?, d-tetrahydroharmine?, and N,N-dimethyltryptamine?.

Other names:

• "caapi" in Brazil
• "yage" or "yaje" in Colombia
• "ayahuasca" in Ecuador and Peru ("vine of the dead" or "vine of souls": in Quechua aya means "spirit," "ancestor," or "dead person," while huasca means "vine" or "rope")