KAVA - The Plant That Brings Peace
By John Fowler

KAVA: Genus - Piper; Species - Methysticum. A coarse and sparingly branching perennial shrub with heart-shaped leaves sprouting from multi-jointed fibrous stems. Although unremarkable in appearance, the kava plant nevertheless is venerated throughout the Pacific for its unique qualities.

Thousands of years ago the ancestors of today's islanders discovered that it is possible to extract from the plant's copious root system a somewhat astringent concoction with both curative and mind-altering properties. Today, as in the past, kava in Oceania is regarded as a gift from the gods given to man so that he might gain insight into the unknown -- while attending to the realities of the present.

Socially, kava is taken to induce relaxation, calm and pacify the soul, stimulate the imagination and inspire thought. Ceremonially, kava drinking is an important part of formal discussions and decision-making, and ritualistically, it is used to communicate with the world of the dead and the supernatural. In addition, Pacific Islanders have long recognized kava's healing and painkilling qualities, and use it to treat cuts, contusions and skin infections, and to ease sore muscles, rheumatism, asthma and fever. Kava is also believed to be an effective appetite suppressant.

Kava was in former times used extensively throughout Polynesia: in Pohnpei and Palau in Micronesia; and in the Melanesian islands of Vanuatu, Fiji, parts of New Guinea and possibly the Solomon Islands. In each area, custom and use developed distinctive traits. Kava drinking in the Melanesian islands, particularly in recent years, has evolved to a relaxed and unceremonious affair. This can be attributed to Melanesia's traditionally less structured, formalized society, a lack of centralized permanent authority and a healthy dose of stubborn individualism.

Since many Melanesian islands have won independence, kava consumption in urban areas has increased dramatically, due in no small way to increased westernization and the resulting erosion of traditional restrictions. This distancing of kava from its original cultural context resulted in the replacement of age-old protocol by looser, less restrictive westernized attitudes. In more traditional, culturally intact areas, kava remains interwoven with the spiritual and magical life of the community, where its use is governed by tribal authority.

In contrast to the prevailing Melanesian attitude, kava drinking in Polynesia is characterized by a formalized, detailed etiquette that not only serves to promote harmony and lucid discussion, but also supports indigenous rank and prestige. Kava's use and the ritual that surrounds it is an essential part of traditional Polynesian village decision-making, rites of passage, and other matters of communal importance. Traditional values, as epitomized by the kava ceremony, have served to strengthen the community while allowing outside influences to be progressively absorbed. In Polynesia, kava drinking is today almost exclusively restricted to the islands of Tonga, Samoa, Wallis and Futuna. In recent years kava has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence in Hawaii.

Kava was formerly used in the Marquesas, Society, Cook and Hawaiian islands, but it was seen as a symbol of pagan ways and consequently suppressed by missionary influence and government decree early in the 19th century. As might have been anticipated, alcohol consumption increased, creating havoc throughout society and in general proving immune to traditional methods of stricture and control. In 1886, author L. Lewis in his book Uber Piper Methysticum, noted the contrast between kava and alcohol:

"At the beginning speech is fluent and lively and the hearing becomes more sensible to subtle impressions. Kava has a soothing effect. Those who drink it are never choleric, angry, aggressive and noisy, as in the case of alcohol."

Kava is a member of the pepper family Piperaceae. Scientists believe that kava was created by natural hybridization or mutant selection from the wild and much larger Piper Wichmannii. The natural environment of the kava plant is in the rich, wet conditions of subtropical forests, where the largest of the species attain a height of 18 or more feet and a root mass of several hundred pounds. Kava, however, is an adaptable and hardy plant which grows in diverse environments, albeit with the help of man.

Kava lacks a complete sexual reproduction system, so propagation is almost always at the hands of man. A notable exception is the famous arboreal Kau la'au plant of the Puna District on the Big Island of Hawaii, which supposedly flourished in large trees as a result of birds weaving portions of the kava stem into their nests.

Kava's adaptability to different environments, as well as its almost total dependence upon human intervention for propagation, may account for the numerous genotypes found throughout the Pacific (for example, over 60 types of kava have been identified in Vanuatu).

Cultivation as it is practiced today remains virtually unchanged since the ancestors of today's islanders first voyaged across the Pacific. The stems of healthy plants are harvested and cut into short lengths of one or more nodules. Procreation requires little more than the cuttings be either laid horizontally (for future transplanting) or placed upright in moist, rich soil. With a natural abundance of rain and sun, buds and sprouts rapidly appear.

Both foliage and root mass develop quite rapidly in a healthy plant. New canes and branches are constantly erupting from the base while the all-important root system expands rapidly and in a mature plant can attain a mass of several hundred pounds. The maximum age that a kava plant will reach is thought to be 25 to 30 years, during which time it requires neither fertilizer or special care but thrives simply to its robust character and the natural fecundity of its environment.

Separated by the vastness of the Pacific, Melanesians, Micronesians and Polynesians independently developed distinctive methods for the use and preparation of kava for drinking. Both the Melanesian and Polynesian groups have their preferred methods for preparation of kava for drinking. The Melanesians favor premastication; the Polynesians and Micronesians use a grinding/pounding technique. Apparently, however, premastication was the traditional method used throughout most of the Pacific until the colonial powers insisted on the more sanitary grating technique. The Melanesians, at least those of Vanuatu, stubbornly refused to change, arguing that their method resulted in a more potent product.

Regardless of this initial step, preparation of kava otherwise follows a similar pattern. Either by chewing, pounding, or grating, the root is reduced to a fibrous mass. Water is then placed in a wooden bowl and the kava wrapped in a strainer made of hibiscus or coconut fiber. The kava is then dipped in the water and twisted back and forth before being gathered up and forcefully wrung out. The dipping and wringing out process is repeated a number of times until the essence of the root has been extracted.

The potency of the brew at this stage depends on the amount of water that has been added, the species and age of the kava, the location and climatic conditions under which the kava was grown, and whether green or dried root was used. Kava connoisseurs have different views on the potency of green (fresh) root versus aged root. However, be it green, aged or smoked (very old-time traditional) all agree that kava prepared from an old plant of high quality is a superior and potent elixir with a pleasing combination of euphoric and anaesthetizing features. Overindulgence, however, will produce numbing and partial paralysis of the extremities, leading to a heavy but restful sleep.

Early in the nineteenth century the intriguing qualities of kava attracted the attention of European researchers, who sought to identify its active principles and the physiological process by which they worked. These early investigations resulted in the isolation of a series of compounds without actually defining the principal chemical vector of kava's effects. This discovery did not come until some years later, when in 1938 Van Veen isolated marindinin (dihydrokvain), which acts on the central nervous system.

Since Van Veen's discovery, more sophisticated methods of analysis have yielded considerable documentation on the composition and psysiological activity of kava. The composition of the kava root is 49 percent starch, 26 percent cellulose, 15 percent water, and smaller amounts of ash, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, and most importantly, two percent resin.

It is in this resin that the active principles responsible for kava's unique properties are found. A total of 15 lactonic molecular compounds have been isolated from the resin, nine of which have been fully identified, and from the nine, seven have proven to be of major importance. These seven compounds were carefully studied by researchers from the Fribourg University Institute of Pharmacology in Germany, under the leadership of H.J. Mayer. Meyer and his research team were able to establish the main properties and physiological activity of these seven active compounds. The results of this research generally supported the claims of the Pacific Islanders that kava did possess certain medicinal properties. Later researchers were able to confirm that kava had remarkable fungicidal properties; that it was an effective and powerful local anaesthetic; that it was a potent anticonvulsive and muscle relaxant; and had a strong potentiating effect on the action of barbiturates.

Efforts have been made to separate or synthesize various kavalactones, but with rather disappointing results in that man-made extracts did not induce the same physiological effects as the natural substance. Kava, as with most medicinal plants, contains a number of interactive elements and its effectiveness is a result of this combined complex rather than the action of an isolated component.

Future pharmacological studies of kava genotypes indigenous to Vanuatu promise to clarify the physiological activity of the various lactones and to establish a system that will attach values to the compositions and major lactone content of these genotypes. In that lactone content is essentially a measure of the character of the plant, it should be possible, as research evolves, to differentiate between genotypes with specific medicinal and/or physiological effects and varying degrees of potency.

Despite a long history of attempts to prohibit kava consumption, it remains today intimately interwoven with the social, religious and political life of the Pacific Islanders. As L. Lewis, author of Uber Piper Methysticum, remarked:

"Have the inhabitants of those distant island surrounded by the mighty ocean, who lead so bare an existence on their small fragments of the earth, been instinctively led to the discovery of a substance capable of raising even them above the daily monotony of a crude existence and supplying sensations of a wholly different state of well-being?"

Although contact has wrought change, the fundamental values of island life remain the same: ancestors are revered, tradition and ritual are maintained, and kava remains an important element in the social and ceremonial life of the community. Increasingly, news of its remarkable tranquilizing and healing qualities is spreading to the outside world. When the ancients introduced and propagated kava throughout the reaches of the Pacific, little could they have imagined how their sacred plant might one day assist western man in coping naturally with his increasingly tense and stress-filled environment.

* * * * * *

Note: Although this article was written in 1985, it is still a timely and good overview of kava culture. In the intervening years research has of course moved forward and many of the mysteries of the kava plant have since been revealed, as evidenced by the number of books now available on kava and other ethnobotanic plants.

Guarantee: Retail clients, if you are not, for any reason, satisfied with our products, we will be happy to either refund or replace.

To Translate all or part of these pages: http://www.itools.com/