Psychotria colorata

An elusive plant with purported analgesic effects.

Propagation

Germination

Vegetative

In-Vitro

Cultivation

Harvest

Yield

Soilless

Soil

Fertilization

Temperature

Lighting

Pests

Ecology

Morphology

https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh/specimen-details/?irn=1228136 https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh/specimen-details/?irn=1227914 https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh/specimen-details/?irn=1228155 https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh/specimen-details/?irn=1228105 https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh/specimen-details/?irn=1228142 https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh/specimen-details/?irn=1228143 https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh/specimen-details/?irn=484630

Roots

Stem

Leaves

Inflorescence

Seeds

Phytochemistry

Infraspecific Variation

Biosynthesis

Distribution

Timecourse

Improvement

Identification

Inheritance

Methods

| type | note | reference | | —- | —- | ——— | | extraction | History & Society | (missing reference) | | flash chromatography | History & Society | (missing reference) | | TLC | History & Society | (missing reference) |

Soxhlet extractions of dried colorata leaves using ethyl acetate, diethyl ether, and hexane were negative for alkaloids. Ethanol and water extractions were positive for alkaloids.(missing reference)

Elisabetsky et al. detailed their procedure for extraction and purifying alkaloids from colorata. It follows a soxhlet extraction with alcohol followed by A/B extraction.

1. wet dried leaves with 6N ammonium hydroxide
2. soxhlet extract with ethanol
3. evaporate ethanol from extract (yield 110 mg/g)
4. add 5% HCl solution; let sit for 12 hr in refrigerator
5. filter solution
6. wash with DCM and discard
7. adjust aqueous phase to pH 7 with NaOH 6N
8. extract with DCM
9. dry DCM with sodium sulfate
10. evaporate DCM to yield 0.37 mg/g (dried leaf basis)

An emulsion formed at pH 7, so the researchers raised the pH to 10 with more NaOH. This yielded and additional 1.8 mg/g of extract. This somewhat complicates the results since they now had two extracts labeled “pH 7” and “pH 10.” This broad spectrum alkaloid extract (4.7g total) was then flash-chromatographed over 75g silica gel with MeOH/H2O/NH4OH (7:3:0.1) at 11 ml/min (air, 7 psi). Twenty milliliter fractions were collected (123 total).(missing reference)

History & Society

Unfortunately, the various extractions used in Elisabetsy et al. were not identified chemically. Some extracts showed remarkable effects. For examply, F20 is roughly one-third as potent as morphine using the tail-flick methodology. Similarly, F36 activity was diminished but not blocked entirely by Naloxone indicating some opioid receptor activity. However, no blinding or placebo control was used casting some doubt on the validity of the results.(missing reference)

Work Log

24 Jul 2025

Sent messages to Reddit users ClassicUnfair312 and Strong_Limit_8969 asking about their old colorata posts.

Another Reddit user was again fooled into believing they had the real thing. User boogieshoebuckaroo originally reported that they had the real deal 9 months ago but 5 months ago commented, “I sell what’s called that”.

Colorata poweder is available from sketchy looking websites like https://wgbotanicals.com.

20 Jul 2025

I need to start archiving reddit posts automatically. So many posts/comments get deleted.

04 Aug 2024

A redditor has a P. colorata for trade. In an effort to positively identify the plant, they told me it was originally obtained from an online vendor (TCS). When confronted by evidence that the flower of their plant did not match those found online, the vendor said that the [pictures] online are not correct. I can find no current listing of P. colorata on their website or in the internet archives. It is currently listed on their “Grow List” page as “Psychotria colorata?” indicating there is some doubt of the identity. The earliest capture of that page by the internet archive (10 DEC 2023) shows the same.

I sent an inquiry to the vendor asking if they will have P. colorata back in stock. Hopefully, they will volunteer some information about the discrepancy.

25 Aug 2023

This specimen seems to be the closest match to Elisabetsky et al.

https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh/specimen-details/?irn=1268675

It is one of only two specimens of colorata at NYBG identified by Bloom mentioned in the study. The other.

Plant material was collected in several places around the city of Belem (Pardi, Brazil). A voucher specimen is deposited at the the New York Botanical Garden (ZC 23, NYBG) and identification was confirmed by Dr. Brian Boom, the New York Botanical Garden.

However, the location isn’t quite right. But perhaps there was a typo on the specimen card since the location is listed as 00°75’S, 52°30’W. Belem seems to be the largest, nearby city, so maybe the researchers didn’t report the exact location at the time. The specimen says “Road cut through primary terra firme forest” which does not match either.

Sent email to NYBG asking about this specimen.

Some date

Share the Seeds member MadPlanter obtained their plant material from mycotopia member Teesus.

Unfortunately, Teesus has not been active since 2018. The channel associated with the linked video on their profile has been terminated. Teesus is the name of a (probably unrelated) company selling tea bags.

Mycotopia user liberty_cap reportedly had P. colorata plants in Jul 2012.

03 Apr 2023

I received a reply to the email I sent to the botanic dreams listing. The email was signed “Ralf” so it is most likely from Ralf Vogtel. One of the images is identical to the one in the Amazon listing, confirming that they are from the same supplier.

The images sent to me match the branching flower structure of P. ernestii specimens from New York Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian. P. flavida also, P. carthagenesis, and P. truncata also share the branching structure. So there is probably a subgenus of branched-flower-type species within Psychotria.

Replied to email asking about the discrepancy.

The relevant posts on reddit about colorata by miamibotany1 have been entirely deleted. All posts about colorata from that user have similarly been scrubbed. They say they are “reposting with a mature photo.” No repost has been made as of this writing.

Contacted user asking to buy plant material. They replied, “We’re not selling yet until a full identity is completed of the seedling.” This indicated the previous statements (deleted) about a positive identification were exaggerated.

02 Apr 2023

Apparently there is a plantation in Ghana that is selling colorata. Others have claimed it is a non-active “sub variant” (whatever that means).

Those plants may have started out from Share the Seeds member chronic. In a post from 2019, they say that they provided a person named Ralf Vogtel with rooted leaf material in 2012 who then established, “probably the largest planting outside of South America in Ghana with this Psychotria.” The post was mainly asking about identification of the material since the flowers did not match P. colorata.

The person from whom I received my leaves about the SAB Forum I found him and he told me that he received them from a member with name Jeroen from a former forum with name Sacred Plant. Unfortunately he could not tell me more. -chronic

So it seems that this Jeroen was the original source of what is now the Ghanaian farm plant.

Many of the commenters on that post say they obtained plant material from a German. Vogtel’s Linkedin suggests that he owns a cooperative trade between Ghanaian farms and a German import/export company. There are also links to Bulk African Trade and Botanic Dreams.

Ralf Vogtel has a Youtube channel. The last video was posted 7 years ago.

There are a number of advertisements for colorata rooted leaves coming from Ghana (botanic dreams, amazon, flipghana). Similarly, tinctures and dry leaf powder imported from Ghana are available for purchase.

None of those listing images are used on any other website, according to a reverse image search on Google. That indicates that they are originals taken by the nursery, not stock photos used by distributors.

The image of the flowers for the Amazon listing match the example image provided in the post for chronic’s best guess ID (P. ernestii). The flower definitely does not match P. colorata (Smithsonian specimen, Botanische Staatssammlung München specimen, New York Herbarium specimen).

Reddit user miamibotany1 claims to have received colorata seeds directly from a verified source in Venezuela and Brazil.

In contrast, Reddit user SimonAldridge reports that the capsules from Bulk African Trade are “distinctly kratom-like” and

As far as my personal take, it does not provide the same energy-boost that some strains of kratom do; instead it is very relaxing and borderline sedating. This, of course, can easily be remedied with caffeine if one is so inclined. I have not felt any dissociative effects even in high doses, but ymmv. Also, I don’t have any chronic pain so while I believe it would be a phenomenal pain killer, I don’t have any personal experience. -SimonAldridge

Sent an email asking for pictures of the flowers for this listing. Sent message to Share the Seeds member MadPlanter asking about colorata id.

The New York Herbarium specimen is the same plant used in the 1995 study on the analygesic activity of colorata.[1] Unfortunately, the NYBG does not have a living specimen.

Bibliography

1. E. Elisabetsky, T. A. Amador, R. R. Albuquerque, D. S. Nunes, and A. do C. Carvalho, “Analgesic Activity of Psychotria Colorata (Willd. Ex R. & S.) Muell. Arg. Alkaloids,” Journal of Ethnopharmacology, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 77–83, Oct. 1995. doi: 10.1016/0378-8741(95)01287-n. Abstract
   An ethnopharmacological survey showed that home remedies prepared with flowers, fruits and roots of Psychotria colorata (Wild. ex R. & S.) Muell. Arg. (RUBIACEAE) are used by Amazonian caboclos as pain killers. These data led to the evaluation of analgesic activity of extracts of P. colorata, using the formalin, writhing and tail-flick methods. This paper reports the Naloxone reversible opioid-like analgesic activity of alkaloids present in leafs and flowers of P. colorata.