A major alkaloid compound found in harmal plants (Peganum harmala) and some other plants; has psychoactive and therapeutic properties.
From harmal + -ine suffix denoting a chemical alkaloid. First isolated from harmal seeds in the late 19th century during the rise of alkaloid chemistry.
Harmaline is the 'active ingredient' in ayahuasca-adjacent plants—it's an MAOI enzyme inhibitor that enables other compounds to reach the brain, making it central to indigenous Amazonian medicine but also independently discovered in Mediterranean harmal, showing nature solved the same biochemical problem twice.
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