About Psychotria nervosa Sw.
Psychotria nervosa Sw., commonly called Seminole balsamo or wild coffee, is a medium-sized, shade-tolerant shrub native to Florida, the West Indies, and Central and South America. This species reaches a maximum height of roughly 4 to 10 feet. It produces small, red, ellipsoid fruit that is shaped like true coffee beans and attracts birds. Despite its common name wild coffee, this species is not known to contain caffeine. Florida ethnobotanist Dan Austin recorded secondhand anecdotes that using this plant's seeds as a coffee substitute caused only bad taste and severe headaches. Another account notes that there is no known traditional use of this species as a coffee substitute in Jamaica, and that the morphological similarity of its seeds to coffee seeds is the most likely reason for the common name wild coffee. Claims that this species contains DMT also remain unsubstantiated.
