Wild Kava (Piper Wichmannii)
Occasionally we’ll hear referenced a type of kava referred to as “Wild Kava” known as Piper Wichmannii. This plant is the progenitor or ancestor of the kava we know and love today, Piper Methysticum. It is thought that this plant was cultivated into kava in the Northern Islands of Vanuatu, around Maweo, less than 3000 years ago [1]. While chemotype and kavalactone percentage vary, another distinct difference between cultivated and wild kava is that wild kava can reproduce sexually where cultivated kava cannot. P. Wichmannii grows abundantly in the natural environment, whereas drinking kavas are grown in gardens. Wild kava consistently has higher levels of flavokavains in its roots and stumps [2]. Flavokavains as well as DHM and DHK are constituents of kava that have been thought to cause nausea [3] and are usually contained in higher amounts in aerial portions of the kava plant such as stem peelings. If we add two and two together here we see that this type of “wild kava” will have a strongly nauseating effect with long duration. Wild kavas will be found with a chemotype of 5-2 or 2-5 as beginning numbers. This indicates a large amount of dihydrokavain and more importantly, dihydromethysticin, both of which are thought to increase nausea [4]. Wild kavas are prohibited for export due to the lack of desired kava effect, increased nausea, and an unwanted increase in sedative duration. If, by some strange course of events you think you’ve ended up with wild kava there is an easy way to check. Put 10 grams of kava in a glass container with 30ml of acetone or nail polish remover. If that turns black, you have wild kava [5].
[1] Robinson, Daniel, Margaret Raven, Elizabeth Makin, Donna Kalfatak, Francis Hickey, and Trinison Tari. 2021. “Legal Geographies of Kava, Kastom and Indigenous Knowledge: Next Steps under the Nagoya Protocol.” Geoforum; Journal of Physical, Human, and Regional Geosciences 118 (January): 169–79.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.11.001.
[2] Lebot, Vincent, Juliane Kaoh, and Laurent Legendre. 2020. “High-Throughput Analysis of Flavokawains in Kava (Piper Methysticum Forst. F.) Roots, Chips and Powders and Correlations with Their Acetonic Extracts Absorbance.” Food Analytical Methods 13 (8): 1583–93.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-020-01781-9.
[3] Lasme, Privat, Fabrice Davrieux, Didier Montet, and Vincent Lebot. 2008. “Quantification of Kavalactones and Determination of Kava (Piper Methysticum) Chemotypes Using near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy for Quality Control in Vanuatu.” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 56 (13): 4976–81.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jf800439g.
[4] Klaus Dragull Jim Henderson Mel C. Jackson Ed Johnston Jerry Konanui G. David Lin Kepā Maly Scot Nelson Jeri Ooka Tom Osborn Helen Rogers Chung-Shih Tang. 2006. Hawaiian ‘Awa Views of an Ethnobotanical Treasure. Edited by Ed Johnston and Helen Rogers. Association for Hawaiian ‘Awa. Page 16
[5] Lebot, Vincent, and Laurent Legendre. 2016. “Comparison of Kava (Piper Methysticum Forst.) Varieties by UV Absorbance of Acetonic Extracts and High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography.” Journal of Food Composition and Analysis: An Official Publication of the United Nations University, International Network of Food Data Systems 48 (May): 25–33.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2016.01.009.
Occasionally we’ll hear referenced a type of kava referred to as “Wild Kava” known as Piper Wichmannii. This plant is the progenitor or ancestor of the kava we know and love today, Piper Methysticum. It is thought that this plant was cultivated into kava in the Northern Islands of Vanuatu, around Maweo, less than 3000 years ago [1]. While chemotype and kavalactone percentage vary, another distinct difference between cultivated and wild kava is that wild kava can reproduce sexually where cultivated kava cannot. P. Wichmannii grows abundantly in the natural environment, whereas drinking kavas are grown in gardens. Wild kava consistently has higher levels of flavokavains in its roots and stumps [2]. Flavokavains as well as DHM and DHK are constituents of kava that have been thought to cause nausea [3] and are usually contained in higher amounts in aerial portions of the kava plant such as stem peelings. If we add two and two together here we see that this type of “wild kava” will have a strongly nauseating effect with long duration. Wild kavas will be found with a chemotype of 5-2 or 2-5 as beginning numbers. This indicates a large amount of dihydrokavain and more importantly, dihydromethysticin, both of which are thought to increase nausea [4]. Wild kavas are prohibited for export due to the lack of desired kava effect, increased nausea, and an unwanted increase in sedative duration. If, by some strange course of events you think you’ve ended up with wild kava there is an easy way to check. Put 10 grams of kava in a glass container with 30ml of acetone or nail polish remover. If that turns black, you have wild kava [5].
[1] Robinson, Daniel, Margaret Raven, Elizabeth Makin, Donna Kalfatak, Francis Hickey, and Trinison Tari. 2021. “Legal Geographies of Kava, Kastom and Indigenous Knowledge: Next Steps under the Nagoya Protocol.” Geoforum; Journal of Physical, Human, and Regional Geosciences 118 (January): 169–79.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.11.001.
[2] Lebot, Vincent, Juliane Kaoh, and Laurent Legendre. 2020. “High-Throughput Analysis of Flavokawains in Kava (Piper Methysticum Forst. F.) Roots, Chips and Powders and Correlations with Their Acetonic Extracts Absorbance.” Food Analytical Methods 13 (8): 1583–93.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-020-01781-9.
[3] Lasme, Privat, Fabrice Davrieux, Didier Montet, and Vincent Lebot. 2008. “Quantification of Kavalactones and Determination of Kava (Piper Methysticum) Chemotypes Using near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy for Quality Control in Vanuatu.” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 56 (13): 4976–81.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jf800439g.
[4] Klaus Dragull Jim Henderson Mel C. Jackson Ed Johnston Jerry Konanui G. David Lin Kepā Maly Scot Nelson Jeri Ooka Tom Osborn Helen Rogers Chung-Shih Tang. 2006. Hawaiian ‘Awa Views of an Ethnobotanical Treasure. Edited by Ed Johnston and Helen Rogers. Association for Hawaiian ‘Awa. Page 16
[5] Lebot, Vincent, and Laurent Legendre. 2016. “Comparison of Kava (Piper Methysticum Forst.) Varieties by UV Absorbance of Acetonic Extracts and High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography.” Journal of Food Composition and Analysis: An Official Publication of the United Nations University, International Network of Food Data Systems 48 (May): 25–33.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2016.01.009.