What is it and why is it important?

Alternate names for this plant are “kanna” and “kougoed” (things to chew on). It is a plant used in traditional Khoi-San medicine and is said to alleviate feelings of anxiety and hunger. Some have reported mild cognitive enhancement (likely an effect of lowered anxiety) and others have reported on its psychedelic properties, although no scientific evidence of psychedelic nor addictive properties have been found in numerous studies concerning this plant. It is also available as a dried powder, usually ingested in capsules sold at health-stores or online.

It appears that the plant produces a compound named mesambrine which is responsible for its medicinal effects.

It is legal everywhere mesambrine-producing plants are. Interestingly, if you look up Lousiana State Law 159 you’ll find quite a long list of common, sometimes garden, plants that are banned. In Louisiana the entire species of Mesembryanthemum plants are banned, therefore one can conclude that sceletium is not the only plant producing the active ingredient it is famous for.

What has been my experience with it?

I saw it advertised on some online health store and noticed the reviews were particularly many and high considering that this store’s product did not generally have that many reviews. The product I tried, and am using, is called Serene. It is a 200mg capsule taken once a day, and says it has 2% minimum alkaloids in it.

I could feel a difference on the second day already. I’m some kind of scatterbrain with possibly low-level depression, evidenced by my nostalgic hoarding and procastination. Since I started taking these capsules I’ve got out of bed earlier, procastinated less, stayed focused for longer periods of time and generally achieved more during the day. I am also somewhat more mellow since I don’t have the load of anxiety sapping away my energy. I can therefore focus on planning and prioritisation problems with a clearer mind. I just “do what needs to be done” without putting it off. For example as far my disorganised gardening went, I finally pruned some small trees, cut my losses with some plants and started propogating plants I had wanted to literally for years. I can also attest to feeling less hungry, but this might be because feelings of hunger are dampened or because there is less of a desire to engage in comfort eating. This is similar to how hoodia is reported to affect users. I think it’s also a good thing that while I ‘know’ its enabled better cognition, it is not directly responsible for better cognition.

I would say alleviating my low-level anxiety and lethargy has been the main enablers of improved focus, leading to greater clarity of thought and thus motivation.

I have not tried higher doses, taken these capsules with grapefruit juice, other psychiatric medication nor caffeine and consider myself in generally good health. So your mileage might vary.

How have I operationalized this knowledge?

So a couple of things came out of this. Clearly, whatever effect kanna has had on me I want it to continue and I therefore need to secure the source of that effect. I stocked up extra bottles of Serene, and also bought a medication dispener to enable me to be more organised with regard to taking medications. I am also monitoring the side/effect of this supplement, perhaps less is more, or more means less.

I sought to combine by knowledge about gardening with securing the source. It turns out buying live sceletium plants is extremely hard with most online nurseries reporting either out of stock or none in stock. And the seeds are also very expensive and rarely in stock.

I did many to purchase five seeds for just over R50 from seedsforafrica.co.za. I also found live plants on sale at bobshop.co.za, but they were R200 each. I figured they would be mother plants proving cuttings so bought two but I found they sent me three instead because two plants were intertwined. These plants were quite small, and sent bare-rooted wrapped in literal toilet paper.

Here are my plants shortly after receiving them and immediately transplanting them into a mix of perlite, sand and potting soil. I’m in the southern hemisphere, these are North-facing, in the dappled shade of a spekboom tree.

And this is what a healthy blooming plant looks like. Note the red tips.

Of the two seeds I planted, one sprouted already. They take about three weeks to sprout in a medium of moist coir with ambient temperatures of 25C during the day and coldish evenings. I had a 12 cell seed starter tray, 10 cells went for a chilli plant seeds and I thought what the heck let me use the remaining two cells for the sceletium. I mention this because they all had the same watering, light and temperature experience. The coir I am using is rough/chunky, not the smooth uniform cut type. It is purchased at specialist ‘grow-shops’, typically those that sell hydroponic equipment.

I did recently find that herbgarden.co.za has live sceletium plants for sale (at time of writing they are going for R150) but the delivery charge to my location is prohibitive. Within two-hours driving distance there’s a farm selling them for R35 but they work on a seasonal order book and have a MOQ.

For now, I will let my mother plants grow stronger and continue supporting the lone seed which sprouted hoping its sibling will follow shortly.

I also aquired a propagation box on Temu that comes with a tray, dome and integrated LED lights capable of day/night cycles.

The wildest possibllities this knowledge might enable

Sceletium powder, I have seen, is sold for for between R15 000 and R40 000. It is possible to purchase a desktop capsule-filling kit if one is so inclined. But the problem here would be quality control, packaging and marketing as the general public are only marginally aware of this plant.

The median case is the procurement of an endless supply of mesembrin for home consumption. Somewhat more involved is propagation and sale of cuttings or the whole plants.