Acacia Confusa, (locally called Tai-wan hsiang shu) or Formosa Acacia

Used in Taiwanese Herbal Medicines for blood disorders as it contains phenolic compounds which act as powerful anti-oxidants.  Our Acacia confusa is harvested from the lower trunk bark which is known to contain as much alkaloids as the root bark but does not kill the tree. 

The inner bark of the tree has been suggested to have use in early Taiwanese Aboriginal cultures' shamanic rituals as some local root men have hesitantly admitted  to know of it having special powers to take one to another world. But since 99% of the tribes in Taiwan have been converted to Christianity and at first long ago, were punished by missionaries for practicing any of their ancient traditions that fell out of line with the bible, it can be hard to piece together most of the facts today.  The few who practice the old ways in Taiwan do so in privacy.

Recently some small circles of Taiwanese have been using Acacia confusa and non-endemic Peganum Harmala seeds together for inducing spiritual experiences.

The Acacia Confusa inner tree bark was collected along the Tropic of Cancer in East Taiwan from a forest where there are dominant patches of the Acacia confusa trees. They are ethically harvested by taking small pieces from several old-growth trees instead of stripping down just one or two. Also a tree glue was applied to bandage them afterwards.

Please check out this very informative video a friend posted on You Tube about Acacia confusa. 

Erowid Acacia Info