Kaempferia
Kaempferia galanga is an obscure hallucinogenic flower from New Guinea. There are over one hundred hallucinagenic plants in the world today and most likely hundreds more hidden in remote areas waiting to be discovered by botanists and psychic investigators. All over the range of this strange and lovely flower its sweet smelling rhizome is highly valued as a spice to flavor rice. It is also used in folk medicine as an expectorant and carminative. A tea of the leaves made from the leaves is used for sore throat, swellings, rheumatism and eye infections. In Malaysia, the plant is added to the arrow poison prepared from Antiaris toxicana. This short stemmed herb has flat spreading, green, round leaves measuring three to six inches. The white flowers (with a purple spot on the lip), which are fugacious appear singly in the center of the plant and attain about one inch in diameter. Beyond the high content of essential oil in the rhizome, little is known of the chemistry of the plant. Its hallucinagenic activity might be due to something in its essential oils. More pharmacological studies of this valuable herb are needed.
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