Banisteriopsis caapi is a South American liana of the family Malpighiaceae, also known as caapi, soul vine or yagé. The vine is a primary ingredient in ayahuasca, the psychedelic decoction that has been used ceremonially by Indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest for centuries, where it holds status as a “plant teacher”.
The species can grow up to 30 metres long and produces pale flowers that bloom infrequently. Though used by Indigenous communities for centuries, it was first documented by Europeans in the sixteenth century and formally identified by botanist Richard Spruce in 1851. The genus Banisteriopsis was named in honour of John Banister, a seventeenth-century English clergyman and naturalist. The vine contains beta-carboline alkaloids and polyphenols. Its legal status varies widely: it remains largely unregulated in the United States, with specific religious exemptions for ceremonial ayahuasca use, while it is ambiguously legal in Canada and parts of Australia, and effectively illegal in France.
