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Mitragyna speciosa
Kratom is a tropical evergreen tree from Southeast Asia, grown mainly for its glossy leaves, which contain opioid-acting alkaloids. It is a species in the coffee family (Rubiaceae) and is not a common garden or houseplant, so the care notes below reflect general knowledge of growing it in its native wet tropical climate.
Mitragyna speciosa is a tropical evergreen tree of the Rubiaceae family native to Southeast Asia. It is indigenous to Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Papua New Guinea, where its dark green, glossy leaves, known as kratom, have been used in herbal medicine since at least the 19th century. They have also historically been consumed via chewing, smoking, and as a tea. Kratom contains multiple alkaloids (primarily, mitragynine and to a lesser extent, 7-hydroxymitragynine) that bind to opioid receptors, mostly as a partial agonist of the μ-opioid receptor. Kratom can also be subjectively stimulating to some, though this is likely not achieved through typical stimulant mechanisms (such as reuptake inhibition or release of monoamines), nor is this a universal effect.
The efficacy and safety of kratom consumption are unclear.
Mitragyna speciosa may cause many adverse effects, and in November 2017 the FDA issued a public health advisory for the drug. The side effects of kratom appear to be dose-dependent and are more common with doses that exceed 8 g. While the incidence of adverse effects in people who use kratom is unknown, a 2019 review of 935 kratom exposures reported to U.S. poison control centers over a seven-year period listed the following signs and symptoms: agitation (18.6%), tachycardia (16.9%), drowsiness (13.6%), vomiting (11.2%), confusion (8.1%), seizures (6.1%), withdrawal symptoms (6.1%), hallucinations (4.8%), respiratory depression (2.8%), coma (2.3%), and cardiac or respiratory arrest (0.6%). The study also reported two deaths and four cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome. A different 2019 review listed as common side effects: decreased appetite, weight loss, erectile dysfunction, insomnia, sweating, hyperpigmentation, hair loss, tremor, and constipation.
Kratom products in the U.S. are commonly used in doses of 2–6 g of dried leaf, and doses exceeding 8 g are relatively uncommon.
Kratom has been studied in vitro and in animals, but no clinical trials have been conducted in the United States. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) stated in 2013 that there is no legitimate medical use for kratom, and in 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that there is no evidence that kratom is safe or effective for treating any condition, and that there are no approved clinical uses for kratom.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Mitragyna speciosa 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.
