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Catha edulis
Khat (Catha edulis) is a slow-growing evergreen shrub or tree native to eastern and southern Africa, grown mainly for its leaves, which are chewed as a stimulant. It needs a warm, seasonally dry climate, full sun, and regular watering, especially in the weeks before harvest.
Khat or qat (Catha edulis), also known as Bushman's tea in South Africa, is a species of flowering plant in the family Celastraceae, and the sole species in the genus Catha. It is a shrub or tree native to eastern and southern Africa, ranging from Ethiopia and South Sudan to Angola and the Cape Provinces of South Africa. It grows in montane riverine and evergreen forests from 1,100 to 2,400 metres (3600 to 7900 feet) elevation.
It has a history of cultivation originating in the Harar region of Ethiopia, and it was subsequently introduced at different times to countries nearby in East Africa and South Arabia, notably Somalia and Yemen. Cultivated by farmers, its leaves are sold on the market to be chewed as a recreational stimulant. The world's largest consumers are East Africans, particularly Somalis, and nearby Yemen, with the largest producers/exporters being Ethiopia and Kenya.
The stimulant effect of the plant was originally attributed to "katin", cathine, a phenethylamine-type substance isolated from the plant. However, the attribution was disputed by reports showing the plant extracts from fresh leaves contained another substance more behaviourally active than cathine. In 1975, the related alkaloid cathinone was isolated, and its absolute configuration, (S)-2-Amino-1-phenylpropan-1-one, was established in 1978. Cathinone is not very stable and breaks down to produce cathine and norephedrine. These chemicals belong to the PPA (phenylpropanolamine) family, a subset of the phenethylamines related to amphetamines and the catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine. In fact, cathinone and cathine have a very similar molecular structure to amphetamine. Khat is sometimes confused with methcathinone (also known as cat), a Schedule I substance that possesses a similar chemical structure to the khat plant's cathinone active component.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Khat by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
