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Image: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

9 Mind-Altering  Actions
Plants
Written by Melissa Petruzzello
Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

In their quest for survival, plants have

evolved to produce an amazing variety of
chemical compounds known as
secondary metabolites. These chemicals
often serve to deter herbivores, protect
against pathogens and neighbors, or
mitigate the effects of radiation, among
numerous other uses. Interestingly,
many of these chemicals react with
human bodies in specific ways, ranging
from organ failure and death to reactions
that inspire lifesaving pharmaceuticals.
The following is a list of plants that,
amazingly, affect the brains and mental
states of the humans who ingest them.

9 Opium poppy (Papaver

somniferum)

opium poppy Opium poppy (Papaver

somniferum).
Image: © liubomir/Shutterstock.com

The beautiful opium poppy is native to

Turkey and is a common garden plant in
the United States. When the unripe seed
capsules are cut, they exude a milky latex
that is the source of raw opium and can
be processed into morphine, codeine, and
heroin. Known as opiates, these drugs
exert their main effects on the brain and
spinal cord. While their principal action
is to relieve or suppress pain, the drugs
also alleviate anxiety, induce relaxation
and sedation, and may impart a state of
euphoria or another enhanced mood.
Heroin is especially known for generating
an intense ecstatic reaction that spreads
throughout the body as a warm glowing
sensation. Opiates also have important
physiological effects: they slow the
heartbeat and respiration, suppress the
cough reflex, and relax the smooth
muscles of the gastrointestinal tract.
Chronic users develop a tolerance and
require progressively larger doses to
achieve the same effect. Heroin and
morphine overdoses often result in
death.

8 Peyote (Lophophora
williamsii)

peyote Peyote (Lophophora

williamsii).
Image: Dennis E. Anderson

Peyote is a small cactus found only in the

Chihuahuan Desert of southern Texas
and northern Mexico. The tops of the
cactus can be dried to form “mescal
buttons,” which are well known for their
hallucinogenic effects and contain the
alkaloid mescaline, among others. The
hallucinatory effects vary greatly among
individuals and even for a particular
individual from one drug experience to
the next. The variations seem to reflect
such factors as the mood and personality
of the individual and the setting in which
the drug is administered. Hallucinations
are usually visual, less often auditory.
Side effects include nausea and vomiting.
Peyote, like most other hallucinogenic
drugs, is not considered to be addictive
and is reputed by cultists and some
observers to promote morality and
ethical behavior among the Native
Americans who use it ritually.

7 Salvia (Salvia divinorum)

Salvia divinorum
Image: © Doug Stacey/Fotolia

An unassuming member of the mint

family, the herb salvia has made
headlines for its growing popularity,
including its use by American singer
Miley Cyrus. Native to Mexico, the plant
is hallucinogenic and has historically
been used by shamans to achieve altered
states of consciousness. Currently legal in
both the U.K. and the U.S., the leaves can
be eaten or smoked and feature an active
ingredient known as salvinorin A, which
activates specific nerve cell receptors.
The effects are intense but short-lived
and include changes in mood and body
sensations, visions, feelings of
detachment, and altered perceptions of
self. Advocates of the plant emphasize
that the effects are spiritual and claim
that those who try to use it as a “party
drug” will be disappointed by its effects.

6 Cannabis (Cannabis
sativa)

medical cannabis:
CanniMed Cannabis plants cultivated
for the standardized cannabis product
known as CanniMed, developed by
Prairie Plant Systems Inc. for Health
Canada, are grown under carefully
controlled conditions.
Image: Courtesy of Prairie Plant Systems

Grown all over the world, cannabis

(marijuana) is probably the most-
widespread plant with psychoactive
properties. Known for its characteristic
leaves, the plant is used in religious
practices in India and Africa (and
probably elsewhere) and is sometimes
used illicitly in the United States and
Europe, though its legal status is
changing in many places. The active
ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC),
is present in all parts of both the male
and female plants but is most
concentrated in the flowering tops of the
female. These buds are usually dried and
crushed and put into pipes or formed
into cigarettes (joints) for smoking but
can also be added to foods and beverages.
Psychological effects tend to
predominate, with the user commonly
experiencing a mild euphoria and
alterations in vision and judgment that
result in distortions of time and space.
Acute intoxication may occasionally
induce visual hallucinations, anxiety,
depression, paranoid reactions, and
psychoses lasting four to six hours.
Marijuana’s physical effects include
reddening of the eyes, dryness of the
mouth and throat, moderate increase in
rapidity of the heartbeat, tightness of the
chest (if the drug is smoked), drowsiness,
unsteadiness, and muscular
incoordination. Hashish, a more-
powerful form of the drug, is made by
collecting and drying the plant’s resin
and is about eight times as strong as the
marijuana typically smoked in the United
States.

5 Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis
caapi)

Banisteriopsis caapi
Image: © Dr. Morley Read/Shutterstock

Ayahuasca is a South American vine used

as the primary ingredient for a
psychoactive drink of the same name.
Culturally important to a number of
Amazonian peoples, the brew has grown
in popularity among tourists seeking a
spiritual awakening, particularly in Peru.
Ayahuasca is said to generate intense
spiritual revelations, with users often
reporting a sensation of “rebirth” and a
deeper understanding of themselves and
the universe. However, some users
experience significant psychological
distress under the influence of the drug,
and a number of deaths have been
reported. Ingestion is commonly followed
by vomiting or diarrhea, which shamans
deem to be the purging of negative
energies.

4 Betel nut (Areca catechu)

betel nut The betel nut, seed of the

areca palm (Areca catechu).
Image: Wayne Lukas–Group IV—The National
Audubon Society Collection/Photo Researchers

Although not well known in the West,

betel chewing is a habit of an estimated
one-tenth of the world’s population, and
betel is considered to be the fourth most-
common psychoactive drug in the world
(following nicotine, alcohol, and
caffeine). Betel nuts grow on the areca
palm and are cultivated in India, Sri
Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, and the
Philippines. For chewing, a betel quid is
formed by wrapping a small piece of the
areca palm seed (the betel nut) in a leaf
of the unrelated betel pepper plant, along
with a pellet of slaked lime (calcium
hydroxide). Betel chewing releases a
number of addictive alkaloids that cause
sensations of mild euphoria, and regular
users often have red-stained teeth and
lips. Although it is important in many
cultural traditions of southern Asia, betel
chewing is linked to a number of serious
health problems, including oral and
esophageal cancer, and is of growing
concern for health officials.

3 Tobacco (Nicotiana
tabacum)

tobacco Tobacco (Nicotiana

tabacum).
Image: © LianeM/Shutterstock.com

Native to the Americas, the tobacco plant

bears distinctive large leaves that are a
particularly concentrated source of
nicotine. Nicotine is the chief active
ingredient in the tobacco used in
cigarettes, cigars, and snuff and is an
addictive drug. The drug has a unique
biphasic psychoactive effect: when
inhaled in short puffs it acts as a
stimulant, but when smoked in deep
drags it can have a tranquilizing effect.
This is why smoking can feel invigorating
at some times and can seem to block
stressful stimuli at others. When ingested
in larger doses, nicotine is a highly toxic
poison that causes vomiting and nausea,
headaches, stomach pains, and, in severe
cases, convulsions, paralysis, and death.
Tobacco use causes a number of health
problems, including cancer and
emphysema, and is responsible for more
than five million deaths per year.

2 Jimsonweed (Datura
stramonium)

jimsonweed Jimsonweed (Datura

stramonium).
Image: © aga7ta/stock.adobe.com

Jimsonweed grows throughout much of

North and South America. It is a weedy
annual plant with striking white tubular
flowers and spiky seed pods. The leaves
and seeds contain potent alkaloids
(hyoscamine and hyoscine) that cause
hallucinations. Used ceremonially by a
number of indigenous peoples,
jimsonweed acts as a deliriant and can
produce intense spiritual visions.
However, it is highly dangerous, and
careless use can easily result in fatalities.
Users often report terrifying
hallucinations and paranoid delusions
under its influence and may experience
prolonged side effects such as blurred
vision after its use. Many do not try it a
second time.

1 Coca (Erythroxylum coca)

Coca (Erythroxylum coca).

Image: W.H. Hodge

Coca is a tropical shrub native to certain

regions of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Its
leaves contain the alkaloid cocaine and
have been chewed for centuries by the
Indians of Peru and Bolivia for pleasure
or in order to withstand strenuous
working conditions, hunger, and thirst.
However, the leaves can also be
processed into a potent white crystalline
powder that is injected, smoked, or
otherwise consumed. When ingested in
small amounts, cocaine produces feelings
of well-being and euphoria along with
decreased appetite, relief from fatigue,
and increased mental alertness. Cocaine
is habit-forming, and, when taken in
larger amounts and upon prolonged and
repeated use, cocaine produces
depression, anxiety, irritability, sleep
problems, chronic fatigue, mental
confusion, and convulsions. A toxic
psychosis can develop involving paranoid
delusions and disturbing tactile
hallucinations in which users feel insects
crawling under their skin. Cocaine abuse,
which had been a marginal drug problem
throughout much of the 20th century,
grew alarmingly in the late 20th century
in several countries, and cocaine became
responsible for a markedly increased
proportion of drug-induced deaths.

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