Herbal Extracts: Kanna, Salvia, Blue Lotus and Lion's Mane

A 25x extract is not 25 times stronger than the raw plant in any lab-stamped sense. It is a ratio of starting material by weight: roughly 25 parts of dried plant reduced into one part of finished extract, so a small amount carries the plant matter of a much bigger heap of leaf, root or aerial parts.

The Number Is a Ratio, Not a Report Card

How extract strengths work

Multipliers are not standardised across the industry. One producer's 20x and another's start from different plant material, solvents and reduction methods, so the two numbers are not strictly comparable. Where a supplier gives you a Certificate of Analysis with actual alkaloid percentages, that figure tells you far more.

Ratio extracts like 8:1

The 8:1 on mushroom capsules is the same idea written with a colon instead of an x: eight parts of dried material behind one part of finished extract. The notations are interchangeable, so 8:1 and 8x describe the same reduction by weight.

Types of extract in our range

Format matters as much as the figure. You will find loose powders, sticky resins, dropper tinctures and capsules, and one plant can appear in several, as blue lotus does. Resins behave nothing like powders in the hand, and capsules travel better than glass. Filter by format if presentation matters more than the ratio.

Kanna: Full Spectrum or Mesembrine Heavy

Kanna comes from the aerial parts of Sceletium tortuosum, a South African succulent with generations of use behind it among Khoi and San communities. Nano Kanna is the full-spectrum one, minimum 2.5% total alkaloids, with mesembrine at 60% of that profile and mesembrenone at 30%. Nano Kanna Extreme goes the other route: minimum 5% total alkaloids and a strongly mesembrine-dominant profile at 95%, CoA-certified, organic, vegan and made under cGMP. Kanna Extreme, Kanna Extract UC2 and Kanna 10x fill in the rest. The ladder stops there, so if you have searched for a kanna 50x, that strength does not exist in our range. The 50x here is African Dream Herb, Entada rheedii.

Salvia's Six Rungs, and Why Format Matters

Salvia divinorum leaf extracts run 10x, 15x, 20x, 30x, 40x and 80x, and salvinorin A is the compound most often discussed alongside the species. Salvia 20x sits mid-ladder, Salvia 40x near the top, and 80x is the highest multiplier we stock. Around them sit the other botanicals: Blue Lotus 25x powder, Blue Lotus Resin 20x, a Blue Lotus 15x tincture, Banisteriopsis caapi Resin 15x (a resin, not a liquid), Kratom 10x Thai Resin, Kratom Bali 15x, Kratom Thai 15x, Marihuanilla 25x, Leonotis leonurus 20x, Sakae Naa 25x, Calea Zacatechichi 10x, Damiana 10x, Muira Puama 25x, Passionflower 10x and Ginkgo Biloba.

Fungi Sharing the Shelf

Mushroom extracts

Three mushroom species live here as extracts too. Our own Lion's Mane capsules hold 400 mg of 8:1 Hericium erinaceus extract per capsule, while Foodsporen's Lion's Mane capsules use an 8:1 fruiting body extract, 60 caps in a MIRON violet glass jar. Foodsporen also does reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) and chaga (Inonotus obliquus) capsules plus tinctures of all three.

How to use extracts sensibly

Read the label on the product in front of you rather than comparing multipliers between suppliers, because two 20x labels can start from very different material. Where a Certificate of Analysis exists, that is the more useful document. For kanna specifically, do not combine it with other stimulants, sleep aids, antidepressants, MAOIs, SSRIs or other substances acting on the central nervous system, and speak to a qualified medical professional first.

Storing extracts and shelf life

Extracts keep best cool, dark, dry and airtight, ideally in the container they arrived in. Resins are the fussy ones: Blue Lotus Resin 20x is a dark, sticky block that clings to whatever touches it and softens in warmth, so keep it wrapped and away from radiators and sunny windowsills. Tinctures do best upright with the cap tight, and violet glass jars like Foodsporen's MIRON shut out a lot of light. Powders pull in moisture from damp air and clump.