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[gnosis]

I remember last time I looked up plants that help with sexual dysfunction, haha.
So now my new project is plants that help with our brains.  This is all I have
for now and if I have listed something incorrectly please by all means
let me know I am a moron .  I'm hoping some of you here have some experience
with some of these and could maybe even let us know if they work or not.


Panax ginseng
Periwinkle
Rhodiola rosea
Matcha green tea
Bacopa monniera
Gingko biloba
Ephedra sinica-Ma Huang
Vinca minor
Hericium erinaceus-Lion's mane mushroom

These four I got from here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3459457/

Centella asiatica
Glycirrhiza glabra
Tinospora cordifolia
Convolvulus pluricaulis

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[oplopanax]

Green tea & gingko you could grow pretty easy as they are both trees/shrubs, once they get established they take very little maintenance. I am really interested in Lion's Mane for rebuilding the brain, I think it is pretty easy to grow by plugging a log, also you can get grow kits for that mushroom.

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[Auxin]

Ephedra works as a simple stimulant to wake up a drowsy brain, probably not good in the long term. Aim for good quality unground herb less than 8 months since harvest to reduce side effects.
Matcha is probably also a simple stimulant? One loaded with antioxidant and less overstimulating than ephedra or coffee. I dont have experience with that specific (unique) form of green tea but I've been browsing Peng's cooking blog and her frequent use of matcha as a food dye looks fun
Gingko I tried. The gingko extract pills seem to work. The foliage prepared as decoction, in proper dosage, produces a flavor that would never catch on as a variety of milkshake- thats for sure! Reminiscent of Peganum harmala, really.
Much of the ginseng on the market has most of its actives removed, beware of ginseng products that look like candies or beverages. The real deal usually states ginsenoside content. Sweet leaf Gynostemma tea may be a more reliable equivalent medicine (and much cheaper). The bitter leaf Gynostemma, if you happen to get it instead, is less ginseng like but corresponds to the traditional pharmacology on record for Gynostemma pentaphyllum (jiaogulan).
Glycyrrhiza... be careful with that in quantity. Its medicine, not food. Every year a few people die because they get candy made with genuine licorice and they eat it like its... candy. G. glabra is the dominant european form, G. uralensis is what the chinese use. G. lepidota grows wild in north america. The three are freely interchangeable in a medicinal context.
Centella asiatica - I hope it works, I've never tried it specifically for memory but its good for other things too and I'm trying to germinate seeds right now. Theres clinical evidence of larger doses (like when its used as a vegetable in sri lahnka) making neurons grow and branch like Lions Mane is reputed to do.

Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) isnt on your list and probably should be. If you grow your own you can isolate the root bark. The actives seem to be mostly confined to the bark and the bark in isolation is twice as potent and chewable (the core is wood). It smells like a horse and I've never licked a horse but as an earthy hippie I like the flavor of the root bark

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[MadPlanter]

Read an article one time stating lemon balm helped to increase cognitive functioning. Not sure how valid the article was but its a mighty fine tea either way!

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[BubbleCat]

Your brain (or health in general) is far toocomplex to determine a plants general harm- or helpfullnes, take the tea as example, yes its said to really boost people sensitive to it a lot and help them concentrate, but then again theres a lot of evidence the caffeine may harm your brain, especially your memory significantly, some animal studies showed horrific results.
Dr. Farr found Mentha Spicata for example can has great effect on the brain especially when the concern is aging, the natural antioxidants will inhibit oxidative stress on the cells and thus dementia for example will be slowed down.
Gotu Kola is rumored to help memorizing.
Salvia and Ginseng are found to help here.

But as mentioned in such complex mechanisms like the human body nothing is black amd white, nothing is solely healthy or harmfull, oxygen is the best example I once had a high dose of ginko prescribed when my brain had taken internal damage but I put it aside as soon it recovered a bit simce there were many accounts on the ginko being hard on the liver.

I dont want to spoil the idea tho nice thread

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[Ian Morris]

Auxin:  Re the taste of ginko,  oh boy I had an idiot roommate flavor spaghetti with dried leaves during exam time.... oh the taste, ended up pitching the whole pot.


Big fan of nootropics in general.

As for plant based ones I can really say that the effects are mild to nothing.  Caffeine and thus caffeine containing plants seems to be the most useful plant based one, for me even the effects of ginko diminished over the course of several months.

However, if you are willing to take the pure chemicals I can highly recommend any of the racetam family.  They have no negative side effect and for me at least, after about two weeks of high acetylcholine diet and heroic doses your brain will suddenly work at double speed.

I cycle up for big trials and bar exams for best effects but many lawyers I know use some type of racetam stack daily.  I know because I have turned most of them on to the magic of nootropic drugs.


-Ian

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[XDX]

I have a small brunfelsia grandiflora bush. this is considered a teacher plant by many tribes in South America. I do not know many details of its use, nor do I know many "formal studies" done on the plant, but one active chemicals is scopoletin. Here are some links about scopoletin:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3040891/
 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3212650/

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[Sunshine]

I've heard good things about the racetam family of nootropics that Ian mentioned. I've tried ginseng with no noticeable effects. Perhaps it's because I only took it one or two days in a row.

Plant and chemical supplements aside, if you're not eating a good diet then you're denying your brain a chance to naturally reach it's full potential. Personally I've noticed a substantial change in cognitive functioning from just changing what I eat. I've also noticed I'm less irritable, anxious, and depressed when I eat better. Recently I've shifted what I eat more towards the 'Mediterranean diet'. I haven't really gone full-on with it as it's tough to do with most diets. But I have strongly shifted my eating habits towards it. It's just simple things really. Such as eating whole wheat instead of white, not eating heavily processed foods, cutting out sugar, eating more fruits and vegetables, and less red meat.

A few days ago I ate nothing but cake all day and while the taste may have been awesome, the anxious feeling-like-shit feeling I had at the end of the day wasn't. haha

[MadPlanter]

I work in a health food store. I'm in no way more than a self taught individual minus a bit of college. However places like where I work attract an awfully wide range of interesting people. Obviously people who care seriously about health often care massively about other things. As well as three actual herbologists and another studying Symptometry that work in our store. I too have a buddy who's a actupunturist/Chinese herbologist.

After being subjected to these wide ranges of views such as these I can say there are in fact many ways in which one can toy with the brain. If you seek out quality product which may even go beyond stores like mine you can have serious effects from lots of plants. A few things I can say with 100% certainty that work in some way or another are:
Kava Kava
Maca
Deer antler with mixed herbal blends
Yohimbe
Turmeric
Chamomile
Ginseng
All manner of most common herbs even
Entheogenics

Maybe I'm pulling away from the main topic because not all these are necessarily known as brain enhancers. However the physiological effects of these plants/natural enhancers greatly induce changes in psychological functioning due to mood etc. Just the fact you noticed a slight but solid up beat energy from a shot of raw turmeric juice your mind just tells you, "I'm just zinging right now and just feel so vibrant right now." But that was brought on possibly by a drop in blood pressure and increased blood flow from the effects of just turmeric and its massive anti inflammatory properties. Its all about the positive experience overall.

I wish I could explain to you the intricacies of some of the diverse views I've been exposed to but it'd take a great bit of typing. Chinese herbology, western herbology, homeopathics, symptometry, monoatomics, extreme diets in general, and combinations of all of the above have such a vast array of differences and similarities it'd take pages to explain what I would like to explain. Its just one huge giant octopus like creature in control of all of existence figuratively and literally all at once flinging stuff here and there as it rightfully should be playing the Universe or God or something just because it can and does and loves us so much it wouldn't do anything else...right...

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[Mr. seeds]

madplanter; you should write your own more intricate post that way we could go more into detail

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