Rhodiola rosea is something I've had an interest in for a good for years and have had before in capsule form, although looking back I think my dose was too high as I felt more irritable on it, but positives were I just got stuff done with increased motivation and energy.
Anyway after using Phenibut for a long time and getting to the point that it no longer really does anything useful for me, I'm looking at long term adaptogens again.
I can get capsules or tinctures easily and this ultimately might be the route I take if I'm to give it a go again, but it just so happens I have a Rhodiola rosea plant in my garden anyway. It looks exactly like pictures of it on the internet and yesterday I harvested some root from it and when I sniffed the broken root it did indeed have a sweet, rose-like smell to it.
I've long found the claim that only Russian Rhodiola contains the active ingredients a bit dubious. It could be true as there are different sub-species of Rhodiola rosea and the Russian plant grows in probably the most challenging winter climate of any plants of the species. But plants from the rest of Rhodiola's range have never actually been tested to my knowledge so the claim is hearsay until proven otherwise. I think it might be true that Russian plants under increased stress maybe produce higher concentrations of salidrosides and rosavins but the purpose of my home study will be to see whether plants grown outside of Russia do actually have the same uses or if they're inert.
Rhodiola Rosea is also talked about as if it only comes from Russia and Scandinavia, but it actually has relict populations in the British Isles and the Alps leftover from the last Ice Age. I live in Britain and this is probably the mildest region where it grows naturally, it occurs mostly in the Scottish Highlands and some of the higher peaks in Snowdonia (Wales), Lake district and Pennines (England) and is often mislabelled under an older name of Sedum rosea in British texts.
Most Rhodiola species also occur in China where it is Rhodiola crennulata which is most often used in Chinese medicine. It appears to have similar properties according to studies I've seen on it, but to be less potent than rosea, so I believe other species of Rhodiola need to be investigated further as well, sadly most current studies if they exist are likely to be in Chinese.
Above - Rhodiola rosea distribution. Note that most of those subspecies in North America are now recognised as distinct species in their own right.
http://www.brc.ac.uk...php?q=node/2847 - distribution in the British Isles
What sparked my interest to do this study was someone else mentioning on one of these forums about making tea from their own plants of it in North America and getting good effects from it. Rhodiola rosea is also being looked at in Alaska as a new crop and it'd be interesting to know if they brought in Russian plants or are just using any old plants and what the outcome is as the environments aren't too dissimilar.
For my study I shall produce -
A "Rhodiola tea" hot water extract
An extract in Vodka
And dried powdered root
I'm unsure about the age of the plant exactly but the root is the size of a large baking potato so I'm guessing a good for years. It was originally a root cutting off an older plant as it actually seems to be a very easy plant to grow will grow from slices of root and has actually grown quite rapidly for me in the year I have owned it.
Of course I am aware that I may get placebo effects but I shall be watching for this. And one test I can do on myself is to see whether I can get drunk after consuming it since as I and others have stated before on here (notably in this thread) that Rhodiola rosea seems to have a strong "anti-alcohol" effect in that you don't get anything mentally off the alcohol. This I shall use as a fail safe to test whether I'm getting placebo effects or not.
I shall be preparing the root in the next few days and will post updates on here. I think if this works then Rhodiola rosea could be a valuable addition to anyone's medicinal herb garden and I shall be raising more plants to always ensure a supply.
