Abstract
For millennia, Africa’s cultural diversity and biodiversity have been a wellspring of healing and spiritual traditions. This presentation will explore the cultural, psychoactive, and therapeutic dimensions of three understudied African botanicals: Siphonochilus aethiopicus (isiPepethu, African Wild Ginger), Zingiberaceae; Dioscorea dregeana (isiDakwa, Wild Yam), Dioscoreaceae; and Lannea schweinfurthii var. stuhlmannii (vulivhadza, Tree of Forgetting), Anacardiaceae.
The ethnobotany, chemistry, and pharmacology of the three plants will be presented, including original fieldwork and phytochemical and pharmacological research. A unique aspect of the presentation will be the inclusion of anecdotal reports from self-experimentation, exploring the plants’ effects from the perspective of the “investigator as subject.” This approach aims to integrate insights on the experiential psychoactivity of the plants, indigenous knowledge, and preliminary chemistry and pharmacology, and to propose mental health applications. Indigenous communities and individual traditional knowledge holders who contributed to this ethnobotanical research are recognized and acknowledged.
Biography
Dr. Nigel Gericke is a medical doctor, ethnobotanist and ethnopharmacologist, with a career dedicated to the scientific investigation and responsible development of African medicinal plants. He pioneered the research and development of Sceletium tortuosum (Kanna), from original ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological investigations through to multiple RCT clinical studies on standardized and characterized extracts of the plant. He serves on the Advisory Board of the American Botanical Council and is a member of the Advisory Circle of the McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy, where he continues to champion the preservation of local knowledge and the exploration of psychoactive plant medicines. He is a published author, and his scientific work focuses on bridging the gap between traditional knowledge, pharmacology and clinical research. He is co-author of the seminal books Medicinal Plants of South Africa, and Peoples’ Plants – Useful Plants of Southern Africa.
