Clavo Huasca: the clove vine of the Amazon
Clavo Huasca is the Spanish name for Tynnanthus panurensis, a woody climbing vine from the Amazon rainforest and other parts of tropical South America. The liana reaches lengths of up to about 80 metres, carries very small white flowers and produces elongated, flat fruits that look rather like bean pods. Bark and root give off a clear clove-like scent, the leaves somewhat less so. That is where the name comes from: clavo is Spanish for clove, and in Brazil the plant is called cipó cravo. In English you will also see it listed as clove vine or white clove.
The wood itself is worth a look. Cut across, it shows a pattern often compared to a Maltese cross: a darker reddish background with a golden heartwood at the centre. Botanically the plant sits in the Bignoniaceae, the same family as the well-known ayahuasca vine Banisteriopsis caapi. This product is that wood, finely ground, with the scent you notice the moment you open the bag.
Traditional background
Across the Amazon basin, Clavo Huasca is known to the Shipibo-Conibo, the Kayapó and the Assurini, among others. Ethnobotanical references record that pieces of root and stem were macerated in aguardiente, the local sugar cane rum, and that tinctures were also prepared at a ratio of roughly 4:1, taken a few millilitres at a time. The same sources mention the vine as a secondary ingredient in certain ayahuasca recipes, added to settle the stomach after drinking the brew. In Peruvian herbal writing Clavo Huasca is best known as an aphrodisiac. That is a reputation carried by the literature, not an effect we attribute to this product.
What you are buying
Avalon Magic Plants sells Clavo Huasca strictly as a botanical specimen of ethnographic interest. It is not intended for human consumption and is supplied without any expressed or implied application. Keep the powder dry, dark and out of reach of children, which is also how the scent lasts longest.
Avalon Magic Plants carries more ethnobotanical species around this theme, such as Banisteriopsis caapi, Chacruna and Chaliponga. Your order is packed discreetly.
