Ibogaine is an indole alkaloid first isolated from, and identified as one of the main active ingredients of, Tabernanthe iboga, a shrub native to equatorial west Africa. In Gabon and surrounding areas this plant is of some social importance, through it’s use as a stimulant and aphrodisiac, and in larger amounts as a divinatory medicine, with some similarities to the use of both ‘ayahuasca’ and ‘peyote’ on the American continent.
This plant, along with related Tabernanthe manii, is used by the ‘Bwiti’ (male) and ‘Mbiri’ (female) religious cults, to evoke ‘ecstatic’ states and commune with their ancestors and spirits. As with peyote and the Native American church these religious organisations continue to practice, and have provided a source of resistance to the influences of both christian and moslem missionaries. Initiation ceremonies take place where large amounts of the roots of this plant are consumed, so that the ‘initiate’ may see ‘Bwiti’, the spirit who dwells inside the Iboga plant. Generally the plant is used in the context of a religious inebriant or ‘entheogen’, ritualistically, with dancing and drumming.
The plant is used also as a general stimulant, especially when a lot of effort or endurance is required, such as on hunting expeditions, the root being chewed. Apparently enabling the hunters to maintain the hunt for up to two days, if necessary. It is also claimed to be an aphrodisiac, and is used for this purpose.
Ibogaine and closely related alkaloids are found in other species of Tabernanthe and species of the closely related Tabernaemontana and Voacanga. Some of these other species are important to many indigenous people for various reasons, and also the modern pharmaceutical industry, who use them as a source of alkaloids.
Botany and related general phytochemistry
These plants are members of the Apocynaceae family, a family of about 1500 genera with a mostly pantropical distribution. The family includes some well known and widely cultivated species, eg periwinkles, oleander, frangipani etc, as well as some species that provide medicinal agents such as glycosides and alkaloids. Many members of this family contain either steroidal glycosides or alkaloids, complex indole alkaloids generally, with quite a few of the glycosides and alkaloids having potentially toxic effects.
In Australia, two or possibly three species of Tabernaemontana are recorded (the third may be a 'type' or variant of one of the other two), Tabernaemontana orientalis, T. pandacaqui and T. pubescens. A single species of Voacanga, V. grandiflora is also reported from Nth Qld.