Ipomoea corymbosa is a species of morning glory, native throughout Latin America from Mexico as far south as Peru and widely naturalised elsewhere.
This plant is often used for purposes other than recreation, as natives of Mexico consider the flour produced from its seeds (distinguished as ololiuhqui ("round things")) a tool for divination and communion with spirits.
Because of the widespread use among native tribes, Colonial rules initially feared ololiuhqui and banned it introducing harsh punishments for users.
[6] In 1941, Richard Evans Schultes first identified ololiuhqui as Turbina corymbosa and the chemical composition was first described in 1960 in a paper by Albert Hofmann.
[8] The psychedelic properties of Turbina corymbosa and a comparison of the potency of different varieties were studied in the Central Intelligence Agency's MKULTRA Subproject 22 in 1956.