Harmal

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This article is about a plant. For a town in Lebanon, see Hermel.

Harmal

Harmal (Peganum harmala) flower

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Nitrariaceae
Genus:	Peganum
Species:	P. harmala

Binomial name

Peganum harmala
L.

Harmal seed capsules

Harmal (Peganum harmala) is a plant of the family Nitrariaceae, native from the eastern Mediterranean region east to India. It is also sometimes known as Syrian Rue, a confusing name as it is not related to rue (Ruta, family Rutaceae).

[edit] Traditional uses

It has been used as an entheogen in the Middle East, and in modern Western culture, it is often used as an analogue of Banisteriopsis caapi to create Ayahuasca, a South American entheogen. Syrian Rue is however recognized as a separate plant with a distinctly different chemical makeup than caapi, and having a unique character of its own.

In Turkey, dried capsules from this plant are strung and hung in homes and vehicles to protect against the evil eye.

In Iran, those dried capsules - mixed with other ingredients - are burnt so as to produce a light, distinctly scented smoke. It is used as an air as well as mind purifier, to be linked to its believed entheogenic properties. This practice, which roots back in pre-Islamic - Zoroastrian - times, is still used by the Iranians.

The active alkaloids of Harmal seeds are the MAOI (MonoAmine Oxidase Inhibitor) compounds harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine (collectively known as harmala alkaloids).