7 replies to this topic

[protoject]

Any experiences with making a tea out of either of these?

I bought raw whole herb (roots and everything) from a supplier here for 5 bucks, and it was 113 grams. Super cheap. However, i found another seller who sells mostly leaf with only remnants of roots and stems. I've heard the leaves are a lot more effective than the rest of the plant. The seller selling the leaves charges a lot more- something near 20 dollars rather than 5.

But I figure if it's worth it to get the leaves then I should buy. What do you think???

[protoject]

My observations: the leaves are a shit ton more bitter than the whole plant. However it is a lot less hard on the body. For example., with the whole plant I experienced something along the lines of confusion and muscle aches (please note I take a pretty high dose to get antidepressant effects) . . it was stimulating... also seemed to have a higher pro-social/antidepressant effect that gives me a lovey dovey mood.  Sometimes it was stimulating in a bad way and sometimes it was sedating , making me tired as hell but if you sleep you wake up all wired.

 

The leaves have a more mild and smoother effect overall but also *seem* less effective. For example I don't seem to get that lovely dovey / aphrodisiac effect as strongly. I will comment if anythign changes. (i only took it 2 or 3 times, whereas I've taken the whole plant for weeks)

 

Whole plant source: herbie's herbs in toronto (I live in Toronto so I bought it in store, but I believe they have an online shop too)

Leave source: http://www.shamansgarden.com/

 

I cannot comment on purity standards of the 2 companies, but based on appearance it practically looked the same, except the leaves were darker

[Dolph]

What kind of preparation and dosage do you use?

[normalizing]

isnt this better extracted with methanol ? from what i gather, at least more than half percent of all plant material is best extracted with ethanol or methanol versus water. why not try that other method...

[protoject]

hey guys, quick update: I also noticed that the leaves are much less diuretic than the whole plant. Actually, I'm not sure I noticed any diuresis to be honest. With the whole plant I notice a definite diuresis.

 

What kind of preparation and dosage do you use?

 

Usually about 15 grams tea infusion. Soaked for half an hour or so in boiling water (if you have about 1 or 2 liters of this it should stay hot enough to infuse properly)...  Sometimes I've taken less or more than that though.. and infusing it properly definitely does help the strength. At first, with the leaves I was wary about doing that because it's a lot more bitter and harder to digest than the whole plant. But I'm used to it now...

 

isnt this better extracted with methanol ? from what i gather, at least more than half percent of all plant material is best extracted with ethanol or methanol versus water. why not try that other method...

 

Guess I should grab a bottle of liquor and do it up... do you have any info about plant matter to alcohol ratio needed for an extract of this stuff? Obviously if I do make an extract , I'm not going to need to drink any amount of alcohol that would make me drunk... the ethanolic extract that I bought in the store is 40% ethanol and its recommended dose is 3 mL...  if I could make an ethanolic extract of passion flower leaves that would be awesome! I don't like drinking the tea, it's not the worst I've dealt with but it's pretty haggard

[protoject]

sorry, meant to say harder to ingest not digest

[mrnootropic]

 

I cannot comment on purity standards of the 2 companies, but based on appearance it practically looked the same, except the leaves were darker

 

 

If i was you,

I would buy a Standardized Extract. from a Reputable and GMP Certified company.

 

Such as Now Foods : http://www.nowfoods....eg-Capsules.htm

Schwabe Pharma ( This is Pharmaceutical Grade) : http://www.schwabeph...s/relaxherb.php

Herb Pharm and Gaia herbs should also have Good Quality Passion flower in a Tincture Form And capsules.

 

I wouldn't bother with buying leaves , as their is no Quality Control whatsoever.

You dont know the chemical constituents in the Leaves, they could differ from each batch.

But the standardized version will be closer to what it says it is.

 

Or you could try and find a company selling Leaves or a Standardized powder, that they have tested and can show what Constituents each batch has in it, so you know you are getting good quality herb, instead of a Passion Flower that could have little amount of effective chemicals etc..

 

As for the Whole Plant vs leaves, i think both are used and have been used traditionally.

I dont know which is more effective, but the Leaves seem to be more widely used.

The best thing to do is try all forms and then decide, but make sure you get a quality product.

 

 

 

Edited by Mr.Nootropic, 03 June 2014 - 04:51 PM.

[protoject]

 

 

I cannot comment on purity standards of the 2 companies, but based on appearance it practically looked the same, except the leaves were darker

 

 

If i was you,

I would buy a Standardized Extract. from a Reputable and GMP Certified company.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I have another thread that discusses "Passion flower: extract vs raw plant", feel free to leave a comment in there.

 

Actually I was wondering if you could comment on GMP and whether that is in fact a sufficient standard for determining the amount of chemical constituents in the plant, extracting it, and then reconstituting it into other plant matter at a specific determined dosage. If you have the knowledge.

 

I know GMP means something but I'm not really aware of if GMP is on the same level of pharmaceutical regulation or not.

 

Still, I don't think I'm being ripped off in terms of my passion flower leaf. I mean passion flower is passion flower, maybe different grows contain different amount of actives, I can definitely feel this leaf though and don't doubt it has the chemicals that all passion flowers have.

 

The idea of standardization is still nice since there'd be more accurate and known dosing and you might have some idea of exactly which chemical it's standardized for. (though not always all the chemicals are standardized, and there is some argument about exactly which ones may or may not be relevant I'm sure.)

 

But ya please check out that other thread since I want this one to be about purely about raw(dried) plant....