⊹ To weave around
To accompany Entada Rheedii — African Dream Bean
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⊹ Community voices
What the community murmurs.
4.9/5128 reviews, including 128 left on our Etsy shop
I had real lucid dreams..Love Entada Dream Beans..I Recommend You Try DreamHerbs Temple.It Ships from France Pretty Fast On Schedule⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
God
these things give GREAT dreams! I loved it! it's kind of hit or miss tho. sometimes i get what I want, other times nothing at all. I ordered the whole seeds tho so I can carry one as a talisman!
Reviewed by Inactive
Amazing quality. Phenomenal dreams. Dream divination beyond my wildest dreams. Thank you so much.
Elona
Dream Herb Observatory
What dreamers told us: 11 reports of the night
11 reports of the night left on this page, 2021 to 2024; 6 describe an effect on dreams.
“Nice in a tea before sleep, I like the relaxing effect, no noticeable impact on dreams though” — Michael
✦ Entada Rheedii — African Dream Bean · in one breath ✦
A powerful ally of dreaming — a long companionship that tames itself.
Signature INFUSEIntensity · scored out of 10
| dream intensifier | 10/10 | |
|---|---|---|
| long companionship | 10/10 | |
| talisman-seed | 9/10 | |
| dream initiation | 9/10 | |
| patience of the journey | 9/10 |
Register African Dream Bean, dream seed, good-luck charm, charge before opening, initiations for the soul · peoples of southern Africa · Zulu · Xhosa · dreamer-healers · thalassochory · 2m pod
⊹ The path of the plant
⊹ FREQUENT QUESTIONS ⊹
We answer.
What is African dream herb (Entada rheedii)?
Entada rheedii, called the African dream bean, is the large brown bean of a giant liana of the Fabaceae family. Her shell is so watertight that she can drift for years at sea before germinating on another shore: this is how she reached the tropical coasts of the world. In isiZulu she is called umbhone. INFUSE offers her as a whole seed and as a resin paste.
What is a sea bean?
A seed that drifts on the ocean currents for months or years, then washes up on a faraway shore. Entada rheedii is one of them: in English she is called the snuff-box sea bean, sometimes a sea heart. Her shell is so watertight that she crosses the seas.
Entada africana or Entada rheedii: what is the difference?
Two species of the same genus. Entada africana is a small tree of the West African savannas; Entada rheedii is the giant vine whose large seeds travel by sea. That one, the African dream bean, is the one we offer.
Is the African dream herb seed a lucky charm?
That is how many people keep her: whole, in a pocket, by the bed or under the pillow, filled with their prayers and intentions. Some never open her. The written sources we have read tie her to dreaming: a pipe made from the seed, and dream recall among South African diviners (Sobiecki 2008).
What are the virtues of the African dream herb seed?
The ones given to it by those who keep it: a lucky charm, filled with prayers and intentions. The written sources we have read tie it to dreaming: diviners in South Africa link it to remembering dreams (Sobiecki 2008). We claim no health virtue for it.
How do you use African dream herb?
Keep her as a talisman: on you, to meditate and pray, under the pillow or on the bedside table. One day, when you feel it, break the shell with a mallet; the inner flesh, finely ground, is sprinkled in a small quantity on a blend of herbs to smoke. The resin paste is taken in amounts ranging from the size of a grain of rice to that of a chickpea, under the tongue or dissolved in a hot drink.
All questions
Whole seed or resin paste: which form of African dream herb to choose?
The whole seed, to carry, to charge with intention and to open when the moment comes. The resin paste, for ease: a concentrated hydroalcoholic resin, taken in amounts ranging from the size of a grain of rice to that of a chickpea, under the tongue or dissolved in a hot drink.
Can African dream herb be eaten raw?
No: raw, the seed is toxic, rich in irritating saponins. Where it is eaten, in Madagascar for example, it is first soaked, shelled and cooked. For dreaming, we pass on the seed kept as a talisman, its flesh smoked in a small quantity, and the resin paste.
Does African dream herb give lucid dreams?
Sometimes: one of our 11 dreamers who tell of a night speaks of real lucid dreams, others of more vivid dreams, and several of better sleep with no change in their dreams. The old sources speak of vivid dreams and dream recall; dreaming has yet to be studied.
Why carry the seed before opening it?
It is the gesture we pass on: carry the seed for a few weeks, to fill it with your energy, prayers and intentions, before opening it. It sets up a relationship with her, and it is why we sell her whole.
Can you grow the Entada seed?
We offer it to be carried and kept, not as a seed for sowing: germination is not guaranteed. Its shell, made to drift for years at sea, is very hard.
Is Entada rheedii an ubulawu?
The sources do not class her among the ubulawu, the roots that diviners churn into foam. They list her among the dream plants of South African diviners: the seed for remembering dreams, the pipe made from the seed (Sobiecki 2008).
Is the Entada seed legal?
Freely sold in France. Check the law in your country.
Where does INFUSE's African dream bean come from?
Our seeds are wild-harvested in Thailand, where the same liana grows in coastal forests and mangroves. It is the same species as in southern Africa: the currents carried her from shore to shore.
Where to buy Entada rheedii seeds?
Here: the whole seed, wild-harvested in Thailand, to carry and then open, and the resin paste, a concentrated hydroalcoholic resin. We sell it as a dream seed, not for planting.
What precautions with Entada rheedii?
Avoid during pregnancy and breastfeeding (insufficient data) and in children. The seed is not to be eaten (saponins). Take care with a legume allergy. Ask your doctor if you take medication, especially sedatives, opioids or antidepressants. Avoid driving after use. Go gently if you combine her with other dream plants.
What do people who have tried the seed say?
Of 122 reviews published on INFUSE, 11 tell of a night: 6 better sleep, 5 more vivid dreams, 2 meaningful dreams, 1 a lucid dream, 1 better recall, 4 nothing in their dreams. Samonyai: 'I can remember multiple dreams very vividly'. Another: 'it's kind of hit or miss tho'.
⊹ Chapter · Questions ⊹
Ask, answer, share.
One question, one answer — sometimes several voices. The community answers first; INFUSE steps in when it should.
- Anonymous voiceAug 17
How long before I feel the first effects?
No answer yet. You can be the first voice.
In depthbotany · phytochemistry · historyRead
For those who want to go below the page: botany, chemistry, then four voices, each one named. ◆ what the tradition left in writing, ◇ what research has measured, ● what our dreamers tell us, ☾ what the House says.
The Entada seed: the vine, the pod, the seed
Entada rheedii, spelt Entada rheedei Spreng. in the botanical databases (POWO, GBIF), is a giant woody liana of the Fabaceae, the legume family. Her stems run for dozens of metres through the canopy, and her pods are among the largest in the whole family: up to about two metres long, jointed, breaking into sections when ripe. Each section frees a round, flattened bean, four to six centimetres wide, dark brown and smooth, with a remarkably hard shell. Christian Rätsch and Claudia Müller-Ebeling, in the Encyclopedia of Aphrodisiacs, class the Entada seeds among the "elephant beans".
Entada rheedii is a different species from Entada africana: several uses loosely credited to "the African Entada", roots drunk as a tonic or the bean carried as a worry bead in Ghana, belong to E. africana, according to Rätsch (p. 107). We keep to what is documented for rheedii.
A seed that travels by sea
The biological signature of Entada rheedii is ocean dispersal, what botanists call thalassochory. The shell is so watertight and so tough that a bean can drift in salt water for months, even years, before it washes up on a distant shore and germinates. Following the currents, the same plant reached the tropical coasts of Africa and Madagascar, of South and Southeast Asia, and of Australasia, long before human voyages. In English she is still called the snuff-box sea bean: hollowed out, the hard seed once served as a snuffbox.
Phytochemistry
The seed is rich in triterpene saponins (rheedeiosides A and B), which is why it has long been used as a soap. It also holds thioamides (entadamides A and C) and phenolic compounds. Raw, the seed is toxic. Where it is eaten, it is prepared at length: in Madagascar, the seeds are soaked, shelled and then cooked (PROTA); in India, peoples such as the Garo, the Khasi, the Naga or the Kanikkar eat Entada kernels soaked and then roasted or boiled, according to a review devoted to E. rheedii that draws in part on work carried out on the related species E. phaseoloides (Hossain et al. 2021). This is food knowledge; for dreaming, we pass on the seed kept close and its smoke. In the laboratory, a seed extract caused no deaths in rats at single doses up to 4 g/kg.
◆ The documented tradition
"African dream bean" is a trade name. In isiZulu the plant is called umbhone or intindili (Sobiecki 2002; 2008). The written record of her link with dreaming is slender and precious: three mentions, gathered by the ethnobotanist Jean-François Sobiecki in his inventory of the divination plants of southern Africa.
- Tobacco smoked in a pipe made from the seed was said to bring vivid dreams (Van Wyk & Gericke 2000, People's Plants, cited by Sobiecki 2008, p. 343).
- Diviners in South Africa use the seed to remember their dreams: C.J. Manana wrote it as early as 1968 (Umongo Wolwazi. African Medical Herbs, Durban, cited by Sobiecki 2002), and C. Mudumo confirmed it to Sobiecki (personal communication, 2008).
So the source ties the dream first to the seed as a vessel, the pipe, and then to the memory of the dream. The lucid and spectacular dreams people report today come from living practice: ours, and that of the dreamers who write to us.
◇ Entada seed effects: what the studies say
Dreaming has yet to be studied: no molecule responsible for an effect on dreaming has been isolated, and the mechanism, if there is one, is unknown. Published work covers the chemistry of the seed (entadamides, rheedeiosides) and its acute toxicity in rats (Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science, 2018). We prefer to say so plainly.
● African dream bean reviews: what our dreamers say
Of 122 reviews published on INFUSE, 11 tell of a night (re-read one by one for our dreamers' accounts; a review can say several things): 6 report an effect on their dreams (3 more vivid dreams, 2 meaningful dreams, 1 a lucid dream, 1 better recall), 4 gentler sleep, and 4 noticed nothing in their dreams; one more short review says "no effect". Sleep often comes before the dream.
"perfect I can remember multiple dreams very vividly, because of this I was able to receive a lot of messages" — Samonyai
"these things give GREAT dreams! I loved it! it's kind of hit or miss tho. sometimes i get what I want, other times nothing at all." — a dreamer
"No noticeable effect on my dreams, though." — Michael
☾ The House
Our own words, from the first page: "The Dream Seed brings lucidity and intensity in the dream world, often offering spectacular dreams and initiations for the Soul." And the gesture we pass on: "To unlock its power, this magical bean is to be carried with you for a few weeks to fill it up with your energy, prayers, and intentions. You can also sleep with it, keep it next to you or under your pillow." One day, when the moment comes, break the shell, and the flesh, powdered, is smoked in a small quantity, a few evenings in a row. Many keep it whole, as a talisman.
Respect for the lineage
We name the tradition by its peoples and its function, and leave its sacred vocabulary (ritual names, ancestral names, ceremonial objects) to the communities it belongs to.
Side effects, precautions and legal status
The seed is not to be eaten: raw, its saponins make it irritating, even toxic in quantity. For dreaming, keep it whole, or smoke a little of its powdered flesh. Avoid Entada during pregnancy and breastfeeding (insufficient data) and in children. Take care if you are allergic to legumes (Fabaceae). As the plant touches sleep, avoid driving after use, and ask a doctor if you take medication, especially sedatives, opioids or antidepressants. As with every dream plant: short cycles, gently, and with care if you combine her with other dream herbs.
Freely sold in France. Check the law in your country.
The monograph on the African dream bean recounts its sea voyage and describes its place among South African diviners, and our guide to the best herbs for lucid dreaming places it among the other dream allies.
Sources: Sobiecki J.F. 2002, Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa 57:1-24 (p. 10) · Sobiecki J.F. 2008, Southern African Humanities 20:333-351 (p. 343) · Van Wyk B.-E. & Gericke N. 2000, People's Plants · Manana C.J. 1968, Umongo Wolwazi. African Medical Herbs (Durban) · Rätsch C. & Müller-Ebeling C., Encyclopedia of Aphrodisiacs (p. 107) · phytochemistry: Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science (2018) · food uses: PROTA, Entada rheedei · Hossain M.A. et al. 2021, Dendrobiology 85:92-104. Reviews: INFUSE database, September 2026.
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