Considering S. divinorum’s roots in Mazatec shamanism, the Church arguably has grounds for a cautious approach to the plant. Syncretic descriptions of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for instance, may immediately evoke the concept of sin; in Christianity’s creation story, the tree was a place of temptation, harbouring the Devil in its branches.

Jet-black seeds embody a tenebrous contrast to I. violacea’s celestial blooms. Measuring 7 mm in length, they are vernacularly known as badoh negro: a sacred hallucinogen among Oaxaca’s Zapotecs.

Despite the medicinal benefits, Brugmansia species remain cautiously revered; each plant’s anaesthetic capacity reflects an arguably macabre record of sorcery and premature burial.