About this site

This site is published by the team behind Avalon Magic Plants, a Dutch shop for ethnobotanical plants and seeds. Avalon sells Peganum harmala seeds, and the product links on this site go to that shop. When you buy through such a link, we earn from the sale.

We say this first because it affects how you should read the rest. The site exists because much of what is online about Syrian rue is either copied shop text or advice on swallowing the seeds, which we consider dangerous. We wanted one place that covers the plant properly, including the parts that do not help sales: the drug and food interactions, the poisoning cases, and the countries where the plant is banned.

How the information is put together

• Botanical facts come from floras, germination research and government weed agencies. Chemistry and poisonings come from peer-reviewed papers, linked where we use them.
• Legal statements were checked against the law texts themselves on the date shown, and say what we could not confirm.
• Where a number comes from a single study, the page says so. Seed sold in shops is not tested, so laboratory figures are a guide, not a promise.
• We make no medical or health claims of any kind, and we do not give amounts for eating, drinking or smoking the seeds.
• There are no testimonials or reviews on this site.

Every page shows when it was last updated. If you find something out of date or wrong, Avalon's customer service can pass it on to us.

Who is behind the shop

Avalon Magic Plants ships from the Netherlands and sells to adults only. The seeds are offered for growing and collecting; the shop itself describes them as "strictly intended for horticultural use".