About: Latua

Latua pubiflora (Griseb.) Baillon, (common name in Spanish: árbol de los brujos, tree of the sorcerers) is the single species of the monotypic genus Latua Phil., endemic to the coastal mountains of southern Chile. A shrub or small tree to 10 m in height, bearing attractive, magenta-to-red, hummingbird-pollinated flowers, it is extremely poisonous – hallucinogenic (deliriant) in smaller doses – due to tropane alkaloid content and is used by Chilean machi (shamans) of the Mapuche–Huilliche people in traditional medicine, as a poison and to enter trance states. Its elegant flowers and yellow tomato-like fruit are attractive enough to merit its cultivation as an ornamental (with due care regarding toxicity).