Piper methysticum
Names: Piper methysticum (= methyskomai, Greek, 'to stupefy oneself)
Local: Kava Kava. Ava.
Family: Piperaceae.
Source: Vermeulen. Murphy.
Botany: tall shrub-like plant, which can reach a height of 4 metres, is indigenous to the Pacific Islands. The plant grows in dry, lime-rich soil and in mountain regions. Although P. methysticum does flower, it is incapable of self-reproduction; its propagation is vegetative and solely due to human effort.
Folklore
The Polynesians prepare a fermented liquor from the upper portion of the rhizome and base of the stems; it is narcotic and stimulant and is drunk before religious rites. From time immemorial Kava has played a central role in the social, political and religious life of the islands. It is also greatly revered as a medicine, and is used in gonorrhoea, bladder complaints, sleeplessness, TB, asthma, gout, rheumatism and corpulence.
Kava is drunk on occasions of festive ceremony. In most tribes, women are excluded from these gatherings. Before the arrival of the missionaries, the harvest was usually divided into three: the best plants were set aside for the baleful gods, plants of lesser quality for the gods of sleep, and whatever remained was for the family. The drink must be prepared in a certain way in order to acquire the optimum effect. The roots are peeled, cut into pieces and chewed thoroughly. The chewed pulp is then placed in a wooden bowl and mixed with water.
"The drinking of kava is central to Polynesian social and ceremonial life. Kava is served on all social occasions, such as political gatherings, marriages, funerals, and secular feasts and parties. As a symbol of peace and friendship, it is used to establish and cement friendly relations. In western Polynesia and Fiji, kava is served in a public ceremony abounding in elaborate rules of etiquette. The participants are seated in circles around the presiding chief in gradations of rank reflecting their genealogical seniority. The kava is prepared by young women or men who chew the subterranean stems and roots into a pulp which is deposited in bowls, stirred, and then strained through a fibre sieve. This mastication releases and emulsifies the resin in the cellular tissue, resulting in a stronger brew. The assembly is served the resinous liquid in strict order of rank. Through the power or mana of kava the presiding chief and other participants are brought into contact with the sacred, and temporarily incarnate the ancestral deities, blurring the sacral and profane worlds. The speeches delivered in kava ceremonies are eloquent and very detailed, containing terms of respect known only to the nobility. … Today it is also served in urban kava bars and has become a drug of abuse among Australian Aborigines, who take kava resin with petrol and alcohol to synergistically increase the drug's effects in the brain." [Lipp]
Moderate use prevents tiredness and lethargy, and the user feels carefree and euphoric. The blissful feeling is accompanied by increased speech and heightened perception. Larger doses lead to a feeling of heaviness in the extremities, an unsure gait, reduced perception and an overwhelming intoxicated sleep, often with erotic dreams, which lasts from around 2 to 8 hours. Chronic use can end in mental weakness, emaciation, disturbances in vision and peeling or atrophy of the skin. Addictive symptoms that may eventually occur are the same as with alcohol and opium.
The physical effects are comparable to those of Cubeba, also a species of Piper.
Homeopathy
Mind
Liveliness. Exaltation of mind. Nervous highest tension.
Working with pleasure, without fatigue.
Want of tone and life in all functions towards night.
Faculties sharpened, very sensitive.
Uneasiness and weakness during day with timidity and apprehension. Weakness in morning, better rising and moving around.
Restless desire to change position.
Lazy, drowsy.
Neurasthenia
incoherent dreams,
Want of vigour, timid, apprehensive. Intoxication with fantastic ideas and desire to skip about, although he cannot for a moment hold himself on his legs.
Pains > diverting the attention, > turning mind to another topic.
Worse reading and thinking.
General
Weather: < open air.
Food: < before meals, (sour belching).
Physical: >< motion. > closing eyes, > changing position, < going down stairs.
Body
Emaciation and decrepitude. Trembling.
Vertigo, > closing eyes. Intoxication
Headache. Brain-fag. Catalepsy.
Toothaches
Colic with flatulence.
Anus, prolapsed.
Cystitis. Urethritis. Uric acid, excess.Dysuria. Gonorrhea. Albuminuria.
Worse urinating, burning in urethra, walking.
Orchits. Prostate disorders.
Paraplegia. Neuralgias. Brachialgia. Loss of muscular power.
Rheumatism. Arthritis deformans.
Skin: eczema, ichthyosis, leprosy.