caapi

English

Etymology

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Noun

caapi (uncountable)

1. A hallucinogen, obtained from the South American vine, Banisteriopsis caapi, used medicinally by the indigenous peoples of the Amazon.
   • 1967, Harvard University - Botanical Museum, Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University - Volume 22, page 126:

     The bundle of the caapi would presumably have quite lost its virtue from the same cause, and I do not know that it was ever analyzed chemically;

   • 1977, Walter H. Lewis, Memory P. F. Elvin-Lewis, Medical Botany - Plants Affecting Human Health, page 701:

     No more interesting or complex narcotic drink can be found than ayahuasca, caapi, or yajé, prepared basically from the bark of the liana Banisteriopsis caapi.

   • 1985, Richard Alan Miller, The Magical and Ritual Use of Aphrodisiacs, page 91:

     A number of studies have confused ayahuasca, caapi, and yagé as substances other than Banisteriopsis caapi.

   • 2000, Robert Masters, Jean Houston, The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience - The Classic Guide to the Effects of LSD on the Human Psyche:

     Describing some of the effects of caapi, which he took with the natives of an Amazon village, McGovern wrote: “Curiously enough, certain of the Indians fell into a particularly deep state of trance, in which they possessed what appeared to be telepathic powers.

Anagrams

• AIPAC