Bobinsana

About the product

Please note! Temporarily out of stock at our supplier – it may take some time before it is back in stock.

100% dried and finely ground Bobinsana bark. Origin: Peru.

Bobinsana (Calliandra angustifolia) is a flowering shrub that grows along the riverbanks of the Amazon, mainly in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. It thrives where the water rises and falls with the seasons, and is most easily recognised by its flowers – pink, thread-fine clusters of stamens that look like small bursting suns.

Among several peoples of the Amazon, Bobinsana is counted among the plantas maestras, the teacher plants, and is traditionally described as a heart-opener – a plant associated with emotional movement rather than visions. The stories say it learned its persistence from the river itself: its roots stand in flowing water all year round without giving way, and that very quality is what the plant is said to pass on to those who seek it out.

Among the Shipibo-Conibo of Ucayali, the bark and roots have a long history in traditional plant medicine, where they are spoken of as strengthening. Knowledge of where the shrubs grow, when they are harvested and how they are tended has been passed on orally through generations. In ethnobotanical literature the species is classified as oneirogenic – a dream-influencing plant – a category that recurs in descriptions of the Amazonian plant tradition.

Chemical analyses of Calliandra angustifolia have identified saponins, alkaloids and phenols in the bark, some of which show COX-1-inhibiting activity. This has made the plant a recurring subject of pharmacological research.