Permaculture, Homesteading, and Community Building // A Plant Spotlight on Kava

Hi everyone! Today I want to share some information about a magical plant, kava. I recently was introduced to kava, and my relationship with the plant has been blooming to abundance. I'll dive more into my personal journey with the plant in a future post, and explain how I drink it. In this post, I want to cover the basics of the plant and share some information that I learned from two amazing books - Pharmakopoeia by Dale Pendall (thanks @jaredwood for letting me borrow it!) and The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook by James A. Duke, Ph.D. The photos in this post are of my friends and I gathering around kava.

- Plant basics

a) It is in the pepper family, Piperaceae
b) The rootstock of the plant is used

- Effects

a) serenity
b) relieves fatigue
c) sleep inducing at larger doses
d) muscle relaxant
e) anaphrodisiac
f) local anesthetic
g) anti-anxiety - studies show that kava extract reduces stress and anxiety as effectively as diazepam (Valium) and other benzodiazepines
h) combats insomnia
i) relaxes the uterus (good for helping with menstrual cramps)

- Plant history

a) Kava (piper methysticum) was first cultivated from a wild plant in Melanesia, piper wichmannii
b) Kava is a sterile cultivar, meaning that propagation can only occur from root cuttings rather than from seeds

- Tradition

a) Kava originates from the Pacific Islands, with its original cultivation probably occurring on Vanuatu
b) On occasion, it was historically drunk in burial grounds to communicate with one's ancestors
c) There are many different ceremonies surrounding kava

- The soul of the plant - What does kava ask of humans? What does the plant invoke in us?

a) Peace
b) Quiet speech
c) Conflict resolution
e) Clear communication

- Chemistry

a) The active constituents of kava are kavalactones. The six major kavalactones are demethoxy-yangolin, dihydrokavain, yangonin, kavain, dihydromethysticin, and methysticin
b) These kavalactones are the cause of the effects humans experience (serenity, relaxant, ect) when ingesting the plant
c) The various chemotypes of kava can be classified based on the relative amount of each of the six major kavalactones
d) Different chemotypes contain different relative amounts of each of the six major kavalactones, which also determines what kind of physiological effect that specific chemotype would have on humans
e) People would cultivate kava based on their desired physiological effect
f) There are 720 different chemotypes of kava
g) The dried kava root contains 3-20% kavalactones, with 15% being the average

- Possible dosage

a) One can ingest kava at different times of the day depending on the desired effect. If someone wants to use it to unwind and fall asleep, ingesting kava an hour before bedtime would be helpful. If someone wants to destress and combat anxiety, small dosages throughout the day would be helpful as well.
b) Suggested - 1 teaspoon powdered root in tea (max 3x/day), or 250 milligrams kava extract containing 75 milligrams of kavalactones (max 3x/day), or 1/2-1 teaspoon liquid root extract

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your physician before using this product.

Bula!

(I'll talk in my next post about what that means in relation to kava :-) )