Virola elongata

Description

Virola elongata (syn. Virola theiodora ) is a species of tree in the Myristicaceae family. The tree is native to Panama, Guyana, Brazil (Acre, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia and Roraima), Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It is also found in Suriname. Virola elongata is thin and 7.5–23 m (25–75 ft) tall, sometimes 30 m (98 ft) tall. The trunk is about 43 cm (17 in) in diameter, cylindrical and has smooth brown and gray bark. The fruit is ellipsoidal to subglobular, 11–20 mm (0.43–0.79 in) long, 10–15 m (33–49 ft) in diameter and comes in groups of 40. The tree is found in evergreen forests and in scrub up to 800 m (2,600 ft) in altitude. The Yanomami people use the powdered resin as an entheogen known as nyakwána which is inhaled or "snuffed" into the nasal cavity, it contains a high concentration of 5-MeO-DMT and DMT. Virola elongata extracts have weak antibacterial activity against Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus.