The Living Rainforest > Explore > Mystery potions from the angel's trumpet

Mystery potions from the angel's trumpet

Angel's trumpets (Brugmansia species) are found naturalised across the world, and their trumpet flowers exude a beautiful and narcotic scent, particularly at night.

Angel's trumpet (Brugmansia sp.) flowers

They have a long history of use by shamans (medicine men) in South America, and are highly respected plants, used with caution. In the Amazon, they are valued for their power to induce visionary dreams and to reveal causes of disease and misfortune. Various species of angel's trumpet are used either alone or as an additive to 'ayahuasca', an important visionary brew in the region.

All species contain scopolamine and atropine, powerful alkoloids which in sufficient quantities can kill. Scopolamine is responsible for their magical visionary or hallucinatory effects.