THE DELPHIC BEE - BEES AND TOXIC HONEYS AS POINTERS TO PSYCHOACTIVE AND OTHER MEDICINAL-PLANTS

Herein a br-ief review, with 49 references, of the history and phytoch emistry of toxic honeys, in which bees have sequestered plant secondar y compounds naturally occurring in plant nectars (floral and extraflor al). It is hypothesized that such toxic honeys could have served as po inters ro psychoactive and other medicinal plants for human beings exp loring novel ecosystems, causing such plants to stand out even against a background of extreme biodiversity. After reviewing various ethnome dicinal uses of toxic honeys, the author suggests that pre-Columbian Y ucatecan Mayans intentionally; produced a pychoactive honey from the s hamanic inebriant Turbina corymbosa as a visionary; substrate for manu facture of their ritual metheglin, balche.