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The IsiXhosa class 10 prefix is "ii-", though I can see how a handwritten "ii" could be mistaken for a "u".
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[[Image:silcap.jpg|thumb|''Silene undulata'' in a small pot]]
[[Image:silcap.jpg|thumb|''Silene undulata'' in a small pot]]
'''''Silene undulata''''' ({{lang-xh|undlela zimhlophe}} — “white ways/paths”, also known as ''Silene Capensis'', and African Dream Root) is a plant native to the [[Eastern Cape]] of [[South Africa]].<ref name="Sobiecki">{{cite journal | author = J. F. Sobiecki | url = http://www.sahumanities.org.za/uploads/41553940-4b19-4e56-b576-4353a5485138/sobiecki.pdf | title = A review of plants used in divination in southern Africa and their psychoactive effects | journal = Southern African Humanities | volume = 20 | pages = 333–351 | date = 2008}}</ref><ref name="fz"/>
'''''Silene undulata''''' ({{lang-xh|iindlela zimhlophe}} — “white ways/paths”, also known as ''Silene Capensis'', and African Dream Root) is a plant native to the [[Eastern Cape]] of [[South Africa]].<ref name="Sobiecki">{{cite journal | author = J. F. Sobiecki | url = http://www.sahumanities.org.za/uploads/41553940-4b19-4e56-b576-4353a5485138/sobiecki.pdf | title = A review of plants used in divination in southern Africa and their psychoactive effects | journal = Southern African Humanities | volume = 20 | pages = 333–351 | date = 2008}}</ref><ref name="fz"/>


== Cultivation ==
== Cultivation ==

Revision as of 15:31, 25 October 2015

Silene undulata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Core eudicots
Order:
Caryophyllales
Family:
Caryophyllaceae
Genus:
Silene
Species:
S. undulata
Binomial name
Silene undulata
Synonyms
  • Silene capensis Otth
  • Melandrium undulatum (Ait.) Rohrb.
Silene undulata in a small pot

Silene undulata (Xhosa: iindlela zimhlophe — “white ways/paths”, also known as Silene Capensis, and African Dream Root) is a plant native to the Eastern Cape of South Africa.[1][2]

Cultivation

In cultivation, S. undulata is an easily grown, but moisture hungry herb. It is tolerant of extreme heat, >40 °C (104 °F), and moderate cold, −5 °C (23 °F). A moisture retentive seedbed is essential. The fragrant flowers open at night and close in the day. It is a biennial to short lived perennial and the root can be harvested after the second year.

Uses

S. undulata is regarded by the Xhosa people as a sacred plant. Its root is traditionally used to induce vivid (and according to the Xhosa, prophetic) lucid dreams during the initiation process of shamans, classifying it a naturally occurring oneirogen similar to the more well-known dream herb Calea zacatechichi.[1]

Was featured in the TV series Supernatural Season Three Episode Ten Dream a Little Dream of Me.

Further reading

  • Jean-Francois Sobiecki: Psychoactive Spiritual Medicines and Healing Dynamics in the Initiation Process of Southern Bantu Diviners. In: Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 44, 2012, S. 216–223, doi:10.1080/02791072.2012.703101.
  • Watt, J.M. & Breyer-Brandwijk, M.J. 1962. The medicinal and poisonous plants of southern and eastern Africa. Second edition. Edinburgh: E. & S. Livingstone.

References

<references> [2]

  1. ^ a b J. F. Sobiecki (2008). "A review of plants used in divination in southern Africa and their psychoactive effects" (PDF). Southern African Humanities. 20: 333–351.
  2. ^ a b H. Wild: Caryophyllaceae in Flora Zambesiaca, Vol. 1, Pt 2, 1961: Silene undulata - Online

Media related to Silene undulata at Wikimedia Commons Template:WikispeciesCompact

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