01.
A Bit of Botany
a little botanical information on kava kava root
description
Kava is a shrub of the Piperaceae family, it is several feet high, its
leaves are cordate, acuminate, with very short axillary spikes of flowers,
the stem is dichotomous and spotted. Kava rhizome is in whitish or
grey-brown roughly wedge-shaped fragments from which the periderm is cut off
about 2 inches thick; the transverse section usually shows a dense central
pith, surrounded by a clean ring of vascular bundles, narrow and radiating,
separated by broadish light-colored medullary rays.
Kava kava root is starchy. It has a
faint pleasant odor with a bitter taste. The root is pungent and aromatic.
common names & nomenclature
Piper is Latin for "pepper" and methysticum is (Latinized) Greek for "intoxicating".
Also known as:
kava, kava kava root, ava, intoxicating pepper, ava pepper, awa, yaqona, sakau