Argyreia nervosa
Origin: India
Improvement status: Wild
Seeds per packet: ~15
BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED
Life cycle: Perennial
Also called elephant creeper, adhoguda, and woolly morning glory, vidhara is native to India, but has become widely grown following its introduction to Hawaii and elsewhere (hence the common English name "Hawaiian Baby Woodrose"). It's a tropical perennial vine in the morning glory family, with big beautiful purple flowers. The plant's seeds contain lysergic acid amide (LSA), a mild hallucinogen about ten times less potent than its chemical cousin LSD.
German anthropologist and author Christian Rätsch wrote that in Ayurvedic medicinal tradition, vidhara's root "is regarded as a tonic for the nerves and brain and is ingested as a rejuvenation tonic and aphrodisiac to increase intelligence." Indian scholars Asha Jyoti Bharati and Yogendra Kumar Bansal wrote that vidhara is traditionally "used in the treatment of gonorrhea, strangury, chronic ulcers, diabetes, anemia and cerebral disorders. The plant is also used as appetiser, brain tonic, cardiotonic, aphrodisiac. It possesses anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal activities."
Vidhara is considered a powerfully psychoactive plant — likely due not only to the LSA, but also to other hallucinogenic compounds that are still little understood by science — so we do not recommend consuming any part of this plant. But it is a beautiful, culturally important, and super interesting plant, so we are happy to be offering these seeds to you all.
Our India-grown seeds were imported by the good folks at Sheffield's Seeds in Locke, NY.
GROWING TIPS: Seeds need to special treat to sprout. Plants are climbers and prefer warm, sunny locations. Hardy to Zone 9. Can be grown in a pot and brought indoors for the winter.
