Hi, I wonder if it is possible to get this Psychotria sp. identified to specie level? I found them growing in shady spots on the rainforest floor in Paraty, Brazil, in January
Interesting plant. The page below, narrowed it down to these choices from the hundreds found in Brazil. Assuming it's accurate. The picture online that seemed to resemble your photographs was P. viridis which isn't in the list. The psycho part of the name is due to chemicals found in the leaves. One page noted that some of these plants contain Emetine, what that is I don't know. Probably an emetic. It was detectable in urine 60 days after use. Pretty potent stuff. There is a group in Brazil that use a tea/wine that contains some variety of Psychotria in a 'religious' (???) ritual. Santo Daime. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_plants_of_Atlantic_Forest_vegetation_of_Brazil
The Field Museum's tropical plant photo gallery may be of help to you: http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/plantguides/color_images.asp P. racemosa looks more like your photos that P. viridis (to my eye at least).
Thank you wrygrass 2 for that list, it already narrowed it down a lot! And yes, Iorax, Psychotria racemosa does really look a perfect match to my plant! I'll just have to check out the others from the list! Thanks a lot to both of you! :) Myriam
I forgot to note where, but one page said that P. nemerosa and P. constricta were synonyms for P. leiocarpa.
Thanks wrygrass, I have checked out the others in the list but some even don't give images and probably the list is not complete either, I really find Psychotria racemosa a very close match, but their might be others, with no pictures on the web that could be a valid candidate too, I think I would need more detailed pictures too.. So I decided it will have to remain Psychotria sp. But thanks to both anyway for your helpful replies!:) Myriam
