The ethnobotany of psychoactive plant use: a phylogenetic perspective
PeerJ January 19, 2017 Nashmiah Aid Alrashedy, Jeanmaire Molina 39 citations
Psychoactive plants evolved chemicals as allelochemicals that also affect human neuronal receptors, altering perception, emotion, and cognition. A phylogenetic analysis of culturally diverse psychoactive plant taxa reveals multiple evolutionary origins of psychoactive families. Families such as Myristicaceae, Papaveraceae, Cactaceae, Convolvulaceae, Solanaceae, Lamiaceae, and Apocynaceae contain a disproportionate number of psychoactive genera, with different indigenous groups using geographically separate members for the same psychoactive effect—an example of cultural convergence. Hallucinogenic and sedative traits are phylogenetically conserved within families, and unrelated families with similar psychoactive effects modulate similar neurotransmitter systems (mechanistic convergence). Stimulant mechanisms are more evolutionarily labile. Chemically similar psychoactive compounds in unrelated lineages suggest convergent evolution or differential gene regulation. These findings motivate pharmacological investigation into psychoactive plants as modern therapeutics for neurological disorders.