''Ovidia'' Meisn. is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of plants in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Thymelaeaceae native to Bolivia and southern South America. (''Ovidia'' Raf. is a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

for ''

Commelina ''Commelina'' is a genus of approximately 208 species commonly called dayflowers due to the short lives of their flowers. They are less often known as widow's tears. It is by far the largest genus of its family, Commelinaceae. The Swedish taxonom ...

''.) ,

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

accepts two species: *''

Ovidia andina ''Ovidia'' Meisn. is a genus of plants in the family (biology), family Thymelaeaceae native to Bolivia and southern South America. (''Ovidia'' Raf. is a Synonym (taxonomy), synonym for ''Commelina''.) , Plants of the World Online accepts two ...

'' (Poepp. & Endl.)

Meisn. Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner (1 November 1800 – 2 May 1874) was a Swiss botanist. Biography Born in Bern, Switzerland on 1 November 1800, he was christened Meisner but later changed the spelling of his name to Meissner. For most of his 40 ...

(synonym ''O. pillopillo'' ) – southern Argentina and southern Chile *''

Ovidia sericea ''Ovidia'' Meisn. is a genus of plants in the family Thymelaeaceae native to Bolivia and southern South America. (''Ovidia'' Raf. is a synonym for ''Commelina''.) , Plants of the World Online accepts two species: *''Ovidia andina'' (Poepp. & ...

'' Antezana & Z.S.Rogers – Bolivia

Alleged use as entheogen

''O. pillopillo'' has been claimed to be 'one of the four major

hallucinogen Hallucinogens, also known as psychedelics, entheogens, or historically as psychotomimetics, are a large and diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mo ...

s’ used by the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

of Chile. The other three plant species involved are drawn from a list including ''

Latua pubiflora ''Latua pubiflora'' (common name in Spanish: ''árbol de los brujos'', ''tree of the sorcerers'') is the single species of the monotypic genus ''Latua'', endemic to the coastal mountains of southern Chile. A shrub or small tree to 10 m in he ...

'', ''

Desfontainia spinosa ''Desfontainia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Columelliaceae, though it was placed formerly in Loganiaceae, Potaliaceae (later subsumed in Gentianaceae), or a family of its own, Desfontainiaceae. The genus was named for the Fr ...

'', ''

Drimys winteri ''Drimys winteri'', also known as Winter's bark, foye and canelo, is a slender species of tree in the family Winteraceae, growing up to tall. It is native to the Magellanic and Valdivian temperate forests of Chile and Argentina, where it is a ...

'', ''

Lobelia tupa ''Lobelia tupa'' is a species of ''Lobelia'' native to central Chile from Valparaíso Region, Valparaíso south to Los Lagos Region, Los Lagos regions.Flora Chilena''Lobelia tupa''/ref> Lobelia tupa is an evergreen perennial plant which grows up ...

'' and ''

Datura stramonium ''Datura stramonium'', known by the common names thornapple, jimsonweed (jimson weed), or devil's trumpet, is a poisonous flowering plant in the ''Datureae, Daturae'' Tribe (botany), tribe of the nightshade family Solanaceae. Its likely origi ...

''. The specific name ''pillopillo'' is one of the common names for the plant in the

Mapudungun Mapuche ( , ; from 'land' and 'people', meaning 'the people of the land') or Mapudungun (from 'land' and 'speak, speech', meaning 'the speech of the land'; also spelled Mapuzugun and Mapudungu) is either a language isolate or member of the s ...

language - another of which is ''Lloime'' - while a Spanish common name ''Palo hediondo'' ("Stinking tree") apparently refers to the unpleasant smell of the foliage. Chilefora records the plant as being "poisonous" (without further detail) - a far from uncommon property in the Thymelaeaceae, a predominantly Southern Hemisphere plant family containing many species used to manufacture paper and cordage and likewise many toxic species with violently purgative properties, though few yet known to be psychoactive.Chileflora: Ovidia pillopillo http://www.chileflora.com/Florachilena/FloraEnglish/HighResPages/EH0395.htm Retrieved at 10.38 on 5/9/20. Neither

Claude Gay Claude Gay, often named Claudio Gay in Spanish texts, (18 March 1800 – 29 November 1873), was a French botanist, naturalist and illustrator. This explorer carried out some of the first investigations about Chilean flora, fauna, geology and ge ...

's original description of the plant (as ''Daphne pillopillo''), nor Murillo's oft-quoted account in his classic work on the medicinal plants of Chile make any mention of any effects of ''Ovidia pillopillo'' on the CNS, both of which suggest that Rätsch may be in error claiming the plant to be hallucinogenic (although this by no means rules out a rôle for the plant of some other kind in Mapuche ritual).

References

Thymelaeoideae Thymelaeaceae genera Flora of Southern America Taxa described in 1857 Taxa named by Carl Meissner {{Thymelaeaceae-stub