Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart Read Free Book Online Page B

blood thinner coumarin, which is not permitted as a food additive in the United States, so zubrowka has been banned since 1978. New technology allows the vodka to be distilled without any coumarin so that it can be imported, and the grass still lends a faint vanilla or coconut flavor. In Poland the unadulterated version is often mixed with apple juice for a sweet, cold drink.

MAY WINE
    A popular German drink made from steeping leaves of the ground cover sweet woodruff
(Galium odoratum
syn.
Asperula odorata)
in white wine, giving it a sweet, grassy flavor. Ingesting the plant at high doses could bring on dizziness, paralysis, and even coma and death; recipes for home-made May wine recommend picking young leaves in spring before the plant blooms, and using them sparingly. In the United States the plant is not considered a safe food additive except as a flavoring in alcoholic beverages.

AGWA DE BOLIVIA
    A new liquor with a green, herbal flavor made with an extract of coca leaf
(Erythroxylum coca).
The drink contains no cocaine, however—the alkaloid is removed during the manufacturing process, much as it is believed to be for the soft drink Coca-Cola. The liquor contains other herbal stimulants, including ginseng
(Panax
spp.) and the extract of the guarana fruit
(Paullinia cupana).

CANNABIS VODKA
    A hempseed-infused vodka made in the Czech Republic. A handful of
Cannabis sativa
seeds float in the bottom of the bottle, but the manufacturers assure drinkers that it contains nothing but alcohol to get you high—and it doesn’t taste like bong water.

SAMBUCA
    An anise-flavored Italian liqueur made from elderberries
(Sambucus
spp.), which contain cyanide in their raw form. However, imbibers have nothing to fear but a hangover from the drink itself.

COLA TONIC
    A nonalcoholic mixer made from the African kola nut
(Cola
spp.), another original ingredient in Coca-Cola’s formula. The nut contains caffeine and is chewed in West African countries as a mild stimulant. It also contains compounds that can cause miscarriage, and one study showed that extracts of the nut could bring on malaria-like symptoms, including weakness and dizziness. Kola nut is considered a safe food additive by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but cola tonic is rarely sold in the United States.

TONIC WATER
    The bitter flavor comes from quinine, the extract from the bark of the cinchona tree in South America
(Cinchona
spp.). Quinine is the medication that saved the world from malaria, and its addition to tonic water gave rise to that classic summer drink, the gin and tonic. (This proved to be an easy way for British colonists in India to take a mild dose of their medicine.) The drug is still found in tonic water today, although at lower doses. In fact, the quinine content in tonic water is what gives the beverage its fluorescent glow under ultraviolet light. Quinine is also found in certain brands of vermouth and bitters. Although it is perfectly safe at low doses, an overdose can cause quinism, also known as cinchonism. Symptoms include dizziness, stomach problems, tinnitus, vision problems, and cardiac symptoms. Overdoses of quinine are so risky that the FDA has issued warnings about using the malaria drug for “off label” uses like the treatment of leg cramps. Pilots in the armed forces are advised not to consume tonic water for seventy-two hours before flying, and to avoid drinking more than thirty-six ounces of tonic water per day.

ILLEGAL

Iboga
    TABIRNANTHE IBOGA
    Iboga is a flowering shrub that reaches about six feet tall in the tropical undergrowth of forests on the central part of Africa’s west coast. It produces clusters of small pink, yellow, or white flowers, followed by elongated orange fruit that resemble habanero peppers. The plant contains a powerful alkaloid called ibogaine, which is especially concentrated in the roots and is used to make a controversial medicine that some believe can cure heroin addiction.
    FAMILY: