DS9401L; 1994; “Distinctive leaf morphology – more roundish than ovate leaves with more deeply serrated leaf margins than many Salvia divinorum clones.”
Blosser
Bret Blosser retrieved two divinorum specimens from Municipio de San José Tenango region in 1991. Synonymous with “Palatable” derived from the supposedly less bitter taste of this germplasm.[2] They are thought to be lost.
Acetone is the most common solvent used to produce extracts of divinorum of ethanol, isopropanol, and methanol. It is the least likely to cause DNA degradation, thus it should be possible to recover DNA for PCR analysis directly from commercial extracts.[2]
History & Society
Work Log
29 Dec 2023
Report of seed set when divinorum is crossed with S. concolor. Another possibility is S. venulosa.
REISFIELD, AARON S., The Botany of Salvia Divinorum (Labiatae), SIDA, Contributions to Botany, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 349--366, 1993.
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41967014.
Salvia divinorum, ceremoniously employed by the Mazatec Indians of Oaxaca, is endemic to the sierra inhabited by the Mazatec, its distribution anthropogenic. Plants spread vegetatively, flourishing in shaded, humid sites, flowering sporadically from October until June. Flower nectar and corolla dimensions suggest ornithophily, and the only pollination event observed involved a single hummingbird, but other factors suggest that visits by birds to the flowers in their present range are opportunistic, and not a product of plant-pollinator coevolution. The species is diploid with n= 11, pollen fertility is reduced, there is no active pollen tube inhibition within the style, but some event or process after the pollen tube reaches the ovary is aberrant, as no fully developed nutlet has ever been collected from a Mexican plant, and greenhouse cross-pollinations led to only 3\% seed set. Hybridity is suggested, although intermediacy between two known species has not been recognized. Salvia divinorum, que fue usada en las ceremonias por los Indios Mazatecas de Oaxaca, es una planta endémica de la sierra habitada por los Mazatecas y su distribución antropogénica. Se reproduce vegetativamente, prosperando en lugares húmedos y sombríos, y ocasionalmente florece de octubre a junio. Las dimensiones de la corola y la presencia de néctar sugieren ornitofilia y la única polinización observada fue realizada por un colibrí, pero hay otros factores que sugieren que las visitas de los pájaros a las flores son oportunistas y no el producto de una coevolución plantpolinizador. La especie es dipolide, n = 11, la fertilidad del polen reducida, no hay inhibición estilar activa del tubo polínico, pero algunos procesos posteriores a la llegada del tubo polínico al ovario son aberrantes, por lo que nunca se ha recolectado ninguna nuclua perfectamente desarrollada en plantas mexicanas, y las polinizaciones cruzadas realizadas en invernadero producen sólo un 3\% de semillas. Se ha sugerido hibridación, aunque no se ha reconocido que sea intermedia entre dos especies concocidas.
Salvia divinorum Epling \& Játiva (S. divinorum) is endemic to the Sierra Mazateca cloud forests of Oaxaca, Mexico. It has been used as a traditional medicine and in ceremonies by the Mazatec, the indigenous people of Oaxaca, for many centuries. In more recent times Salvia divinorum has become globally recognized, both for its potent psychoactive effects, as well as its potential use as a phyto-medicine. Previous research by the author demonstrated that S. divinorum use is a growing, global phenomenon, particularly for recreational use. Despite this, published, peer reviewed research on this plant species is limited in comparison to other medicinal plants. The purpose of this research was to explore the genetic and phytochemical variation of S. divinorum. One study has examined intraspecifc variation of this species but only in a small number of Oaxacan samples. Since its global dispersal from Mexico, propagation has been primarily by clonal methods, therefore, genetic variation of this species outside Mexico may be limited. Before to commencing investigation of intraspecifc variation, it was necessary to assess the quality of DNA which could be extracted from fortifed Saliva divinorum material. It was confrmed that DNA of suffcient quality could be obtained from fortifed extracts for further intraspecifc analysis. Regions of the chloroplast genome shown to be variable within other plant species were amplifed with universal primers to assess genetic variation in S. divinorum. In particular, regions containing chloroplast simple sequence repeats (cpSSR's) were targeted as these have been widely used for the detection of intraspecifc variation and phylogeography in plants. Chloroplast sequence data, approximately 2.4 kilobases in length, including the intergenetic spacers trnS-trnG, rps16-trnK, trnL-trnF and the trnL intron, were examined for variation among S. divinorum samples from Europe, North America and Australia. Sequenced alignments contained cpSSR repeat regions, however, no genetic variation was detected in more than 40 globally-distributed plant samples and fortifed commercial products used in the study. The majority of phytochemical research, to date, has focused on salvinorin A, the main psychoactive diterpene in S. divinorum, and little is known of other chemical compounds or chemical variation in S. divinorum. Numerous compounds have been identifed across the Salvia genus and many of these may also be present but not identifed in S. divinorum. HPLC and LC/MS data generated from the collected samples was used to perform two principal component analyses (PCA) to elucidate patterning in the chemical make up of S. divinorum. This analysis revealed two similar sets of groupings in both PCAs. HPLC and LC/MS analysis confrmed the presence of rosmarinic acid in S. divinorum. This compound is commonly identifed in the Salvia genus and it is surprising that it has not been confrmed in S. divinorum previously, as the UV peak is very prominent on the chromatogram. A high variation in the concentration of rosmarinic acid was also observed across the 37 samples tested. Not all salvinorin A fortifed products had higher salvinorin A concentrations than unfortifed samples. The variation in the phytochemical make up and the lack of genetic variation in S. divinorum are interesting results and the combined genetic phytochemical approach offers novel insights. The lack of genetic variation found, adds evidence to the proposition that all plants outside Mexico have a common source. While there are several other factors which may affect phytochemical variation it may be that chemical variation in S. divinorum is determined phenotypically. Growing conditions may be the primary consideration to achieve optimal levels of active constituents as this species is further developed as a phyto-medicine.