Growing Entheogens

Growing Leonotis Leonorus

Posted by skrudge | Filed under Dagga, growing from seed

Leonotis Leonorus, also known as Wild Dagga or Lion’s Tail, is a perennial shrub native to Southern Africa. The plant has a history as a medicinal plant used for headache, cough, fever and many other treatments. It is best known for it’s use as a substitute for Cannabis, hence the name, Wild Dagga – Wild Cannabis.

The plant can get a size of (in ideal conditions) 2 to 5 meters tall. Since it’s native to South Africa it’s important to place the plant in full sun for optimal growth, and if you expect flowers it’s essential. Both the leaves and flowers can be used to smoke or to make tea out of it. Leonurine, one of the psychoactive alkaloids in Leonotis Leonorus, is easily extracted through a water infusion. Personally I do not have any experience with the use of this plant so far, but when I have it will be shared.

I started two separate pots as an experiment, one inside and one in the garden in the same week. Temperatures outside were pretty cold when I started the seeds in the beginning of May, and sometimes plummeted to a chilly 4 degrees Celsius. Not the most ideal circumstances for this plant you would say, but two seeds sprouted nonetheless. I watered plenty in the seedling stage ,and decreased watering when the plant is established. The seedlings inside seemed to thrive very well compared to the seedlings outside, simply because of the temperature differences. It was too cold outside so the small plants went back to a resting-state when the plants inside started to grow. Every pot held about 20 seeds each, 2 seeds sprouted outside, 3 inside. No massive germination rates here. The seeds I started inside where inside a small mat-heated greenhouse with a pretty high humidity. I lost one plant inside on the way, but I do not have an explanation why this happened. Just chance I guess.

When the sun came back in in the end of May the outside plants started showing some growth again. The ones inside were still growing steadily. I pruned the bigger plant of the two inside, and it stretched out two more arms.

Now in July, the differences between the two are still very noticable.

Don’t mind the white substance on the leaves, it’s spilled paraffine from the candle that was above it…

Tagged : Dagga, from seed, Leonotis Leonoris, seedlings

Comments (0) | July 11th, 2010