FungiSUM72FinalLR

The history, the lore, the science

ISSN 1941- 4943 Volume 4 - No. 3: Summer 2011 www.fungimag.com

of Psilocybe E L B

$8.00 ISSN 1941-4943

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9 771941 494005

U O D L A UE I C SS E I SP

C alendar 2011 Mushroaming Tibetan Tours

July 31–Aug 13, 2011 Summer Fungal & Floral Foray

See ad in this issue or [email protected]. 2011 Eagle Hill and Humboldt Institute Seminars & Workshops Steuben, Maine For information see www.eaglehill.us/programs/nhs/ nhs-calendar.shtml. 79th Mycological Society of America Annual Meeting University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK August 1–6, 2011 For information see http://msafungi.org/. 51st Annual NAMA Foray Clarion, PA August 4–7, 2011 Hosted by the Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club. For information see www.namyco.org. 35th Annual NEMF Foray: The Samuel Ristich Foray Paul Smith’s College, Paul Smith’s, NY August 11–14, 2011 For information, see www.nemf.org.

7th International Congress on Systematics & Ecology of Myxomycetes (ICSEM7) Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil September 10–17, 2011 The congress will feature minicourses, posters, and PowerPoint presentations on topics related to the systematics and ecology of Myxomycetes and Protostelids. A website will be available in the near future. Please direct inquiries to: [email protected]. 7th Annual Sicamous Fungi Festival Sicamous, BC, Canada September 18–25, 2011 For information, see www.fungifestival.com. 10th Annual Texas Mushroom Festival Madisonville, TX October 21–22, 2011 Gala dinner Friday; Festival on Saturday. This is a big one, folks, more than 15,000 attended in 2010! For information, see www. texasmushroomfestival.com or future issues of FUNGI. 25th Annual Breitenbush Mushroom Gathering Detroit, OR October 20–23, 2011 For information, contact [email protected] or www. mushroominc.org or see ad in this issue of FUNGI.

31st Annual Telluride Mushroom Festival Telluride, CO August 18–21, 2011 For information, see www.tellurideinstitute.org or this issue of FUNGI. 2011 Foray Newfoundland and Labrador Terra Nova National Park, Newfoundland, Canada September 9–11, 2011 For information, see www.nlmushrooms.ca.

Contents 2 4 6

Editor’s Letter, Britt Bunyard Letters to the Editor The Genus Psilocybe in North America, Michael W. Beug

The Legal Status of 18 Psilocybin or Psilocin

Containing Fungi, Jack Silver

Psilocybin – Its Use and 20 Meaning, Gary Lincoff from Underground, 24 Notes David Rose



– History, 31 Psilocybin Michael W. Beug



Mushrooms and 41 Magic Allowed Use Abroad,



William Harrison

Psilocybe 101, Britt Bunyard, 43 Photos by P. Stamets, M. Beug,

A. Rockefeller & J.Hutchins

Family Trees: A Mycolegium 45 of Fungal Literature,

Else C. Vellinga

2010 Fungi Festival at 48 Foray: Sicamous, BC, Kora Page Sauter



What Mushrooms Have Taught 49 Me About the Meaning of Life,

Nicholas P. Money

Swedish Mushrooms, 51 Maria Jönsson Mysterious Asian Beauty, 61 J. Ginns & Lawrence Millman The Wild Epicure, 64 Albert J. Casciero On the cover: Original photo by R. White with creative enhancement by T. Orin Moshier.

66 Bookshelf Fungi 68 Advertiser Listing

FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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Editor’s Letter The Gods Within Mushrooms “Mushrooms demonstrate, quite convincingly, that gods are figments of the hominid imagination... After ingestion, psilocybin is converted into psilocin. Psilocin is remarkably similar in chemical structure to serotonin and when it reaches the brain it docks with serotonin receptors, upsets the normal functioning of the neocortex, and conjures angels from thin air.” -N. Money

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elcome to the FBI Watch List. That’s right, by reading this issue of FUNGI you may be under suspicion of committing a criminal act involving a “dangerous drug.” Psilocybin-containing mushrooms (and there are several species, not all of which are Psilocybe as you will see in this issue) are strictly forbidden by law in most countries. In the USA they have Schedule I status, treated as the most dangerous of drugs to society. Schedule I drugs are classified as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use, and a lack of accepted safety for use—even under medical supervision. Other Schedule I drugs include heroin and marijuana. Interestingly cocaine and methamphetamine are Schedule II drugs. Nicotine and ethyl alcohol are both highly poisonous and addictive to humans (and probably all other mammals) and obviously powerful drugs. Both are cheap

and readily available, almost universally. Nevertheless, the toll in human life and destroyed families attributed to those latter two drugs eclipses all the wars and famines and plagues that have been inflicted on humanity since the US began making laws. Alas, psilocybin mushrooms remain completely banned… So, what is it about these little brown mushrooms that make them so taboo? It may seem incredible to most, but these little brown mushrooms are actually quite common throughout the year in North America. In our woods, meadows, flower beds, and lawns these mushrooms are growing and spreading their spores, as you read this. Right this minute! Dissemination of images and misinformation about Psilocybes is just as widespread on the Web. So, where does one turn to debunk the myths and get real science-based mycological information? Herein, we devote an entire issue to the science, lore, history, and beauty of this group of mushrooms. This is our largest issue ever! Hey, we have a lot of misinformation to undue and no other mycological journal out there is brave enough to even touch the subject. As a group, the psilocybincontaining mushrooms are quite diverse and successful evolutionarily as you will see in the pages that follow. I’m thrilled that world experts on the subject like Michael Beug, Gary Lincoff, Paul Stamets, and others have contributed to this issue. While we’re shattering taboos, the Wild Epicure offers up a popular dish from Italy featuring a common summertime mushroom. In this case, it’s an Amanita.

Fungi Production Editor Jan Hammond CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR Aaron “Inkling” Cruz Garcia

Contributing EditorS

Michael Beug Albert J. Casciero Aaron French Ken Litchfield Lawrence Millman

Tobiah Moshier John Plischke, III David Rose Elinoar Shavit Mark Spear

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'::':':''::::::::'::::::::':::::'::':::':::'::':::

:':::'::':::':':::::''::v': :':::'::'::: ':::'::18:21:2011 ::'::::'':':':::::''::::: ':'''':v:':::':'::::'':.::: The Blusher (Amanita rubescens) is an easily identified, edible wild mushroom that, if you’ve not tasted you should give a try. As with many wild mushrooms you must be very sure of your ID (Lepiotas, Agaricus, Chanterelles, Oyster mushrooms, and Boletes ALL have poisonous lookalikes). In his recipe, Albert Casciero uses a mint, Nepitella, called the herba da funghi (herb for fungi) by Italians. My supply of it at home, dried, comes from Contributing Editor Mike Wood, who has it growing behind his home in the hills overlooking Oakland, California. This spring, while cooking morels at my home in Wisconsin, visitors from the Puget Sound Mycological Society, Milton and Reba Tam asked if I’d any herba da funghi—Nepitella—to go with the mushrooms. It was the first time I’d heard the term!

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a presentation of the telluride institute

P.O. Box 8, 1925 Hwy. 175 • Richfield, Wisconsin 53076-0008 USA E-mail: [email protected] • Web site: www.fungimag.com (262) 227-1243

Publisher & Editor-in-chief Britt A. Bunyard

MARKETING ASSOCIATE Virginia Till

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Steve Trudell James Tunney Debbie Viess Else Vellinga Michael Wood

Editorial Review

Cathy Cripps Montana State University

Scott Redhead Agriculture Canada, Ottawa

Harold Keller The Botanical Research Institute of Texas

Paul Stamets Fungi Perfecti

Nicholas Money Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

University of California, Berkeley

Andrus Voitk Lawrence M. Leonard, M.D. Foray Newfoundland and Labrador Humboldt Research Institute Corner Brook, Newfoundland Eagle Hill, Maine Else Vellinga

Michael Nicholson Oxnard College, California FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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etters to The Editor

Blue staining Psilocybes looking great on a blue background. Photo sent anonymously.

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enjoyed reading Denis Benjamin’s satirical article on Amanita muscaria in the Winter 2011 issue of FUNGI (vol. 4, no. 1). I especially appreciated his enumeration of five different ways that one can die after eating Amanita muscaria. Unfortunately, he missed one important potential cause of death. Consuming the mushroom outdoors in cold weather can and has led to death from hypothermia while in a deep comalike sleep. Since the deep coma-like sleep is a common occurrence after eating Amanita muscaria, the dangers of eating this mushroom in cold weather should not be underestimated. Thus there are six modes of lethality involving Amanita muscaria, not just five and precisely half of the modes of lethality do not involve the helping hand of the police. Furthermore, all of the modes of lethality except for gluttony apply to the mind-altering mushrooms containing psilocybin and psilocin. It appears that there is no lethal upper limit to the amount of psilocybin and psilocin you can consume and thus gluttony is not a problem with Psilocybes. However, while under the influence of psilocybin mushrooms, you may encounter police who may shoot you, Taser® you or

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suffocate you using a restraint hold. You may instead suffocate yourself by choking on your vomit. Finally, you may die of hypothermia if you consume psilocybin mushrooms out of doors in cold weather. The hypothermia threat comes not from a deep coma-like sleep, but from a complete loss of control of your limbs. Thus you can have the privilege of being initially conscious as you freeze to death, unable to get your limbs functioning to get you to safety. Finally, while it has not been reported with Amanita muscaria, there has been more than one death from anaphylactic shock after consuming Psilocybe mushrooms. Thus both groups provide six ways to die. There is a serious problem with Amanita muscaria as a potential inebriant. Based on my review of hundreds of ingestion cases, I find that in nearly half of the reports I have received, there is no mention of any extraordinary visions. The person who has ingested the mushroom often goes straight to the vomiting and diarrhea and then into the deep coma-like sleep. There is no temporary chemical vacation, at least that he or she can remember. They do vividly remember the size of the hospital bill, assuming that they are unfortunate enough to have been hospitalized. I say unfortunate because they would generally survive the experience just fine on their own, assuming that they do not go berserk and run afoul of the police or die of hypothermia or inhalation of their vomitus. Finally, I have to take issue with Denis Benjamin’s proposal for serving people properly cooked Amanita muscaria. While I have not tried the recently famous method of detoxifying cooked Amanita muscaria myself, I have talked to numerous people who have. They have all reported that the properly cooked mushrooms were rather soggy and bland. One can hardly make any real revenue running a restaurant cooking soggy, bland food. The analogy to fugu (blowfish) restaurants simply doesn’t work for me. What we need to do is to train chefs to properly prepare and serve raw Amanita muscaria, because that has both good flavor and good texture. Also, like fugu, there is a way to remove

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most, but not all, of the toxin. After all, the excitement of eating fugu is that the chefs leave some of the toxin in the blowfish, not enough to paralyze you, but just enough to give the diner a good tingling sensation. I know how to do a similar thing with Amanita muscaria. But, as Denis so wisely advised in his article, I plan to keep my method secret so that I can profit from giving training courses to the many chefs who I am certain will rush forward to learn my secret technique. Michael W. Beug Professor Emeritus, The Evergreen State College P.O. Box 116 Husum, WA 98623 beugm@evergreen,ed

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hould the harvesting and selling of wild mushrooms be regulated?” The real reason I’m writing is to ask if I can copy and distribute to a few people, Denis Benjamin’s article, “Should the harvesting and selling of wild mushrooms be regulated?” This takes an interesting point of view (not too far from my own). I’d like to distribute it to a few of the members on a state subcommittee investigating this very question in Washington. Fred Rhoades Puget Sound Mycological Society We got many requests for copies of this article by Denis Benjamin. If anyone else is interested, please visit the FUNGI website where you will find a downloadable / printable version of Denis’s paper. Please feel free to distribute.-Ed.

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pring FUNGI, minor error and comment To the Editor: It puts a smile on my face when I extract a new issue of FUNGI from my mailbox. It was great to see the picture that Glen Schwartz took in “Unusual Sightings” for the spring issue (vol. 4, no. 2). One minor correction: We are the Prairie States Mushroom Club not Mycological Society. There was a mention of taking photos through a stereo microscope in the piece about the German publication Der Tintling. I think the idea was hatched by birders a decade ago taking pictures through a spotting scope—a

great way to capture and document rare or unusual bird sightings. But why limit it to a stereo microscope? I’ve taken shots through my compound microscope with good success. An inexpensive point and shoot is a great tool to document everything from macro to micro. I took these images (pictured) with an “old” Canon 520A with 4 megapixel. A slime mold through Dean Abel’s stereo scope and the other of a section taken from an Eyelash Cup through my compound scope at 400X. I went the extra step and turned a wooden sleeve on my lathe with some concentric bores; one to match the eyepiece diameter and the other to match the camera lens barrel diameter. There is also a step to space the camera as I have “high eyepoint” eyepieces. Helps with the alignment of the optics. I first focus the microscope and then let the camera auto focus. So simple! Roger Heidt Prairie States Mushroom Club

have been collecting and drying a local Psilocybe species for several years. (I now have plenty of them dried in my cupboard, although I have heard that they lose their potency with time.) Well, I finally got around to trying those Psilocybes; cooked up a few mushrooms after dinner last night. No effect after 45 minutes so I cooked up another few mushrooms. That worked! It was a very, very nice evening. Haven’t laughed so much in a very, very long time. The view from my terrace was rather amazing! All kinds of colors and my room first got large then it got small… But what was really amazing was that I felt no knee pain and lower back pain for the first time in several years! To go on a mushroom walk or just about any walking I need major pain killers (opiates). Lots of them and then I still feel pain when I walk. It was such a liberating experience last night. I was actually dancing around. I haven’t read very much of the literature regarding psilocybin and pain. Is this a common experience? Name withheld, New York City

stage, but the evidence, such as it is, is mounting. Since this was an unsolicited testimonial from a naïve user – one who knew nothing of the on-going literature on the use of Psilocybe to control or reduce, even if only temporarily, pain that is otherwise untouched by standard medications – I think it deserves a place where it can be seen. I’ve heard conflicting reports about the value of psilocybin use for controlling the onset of cluster headaches or reducing their pain, but this is another example of using psilocybin – and deserves more attention. It might result in nothing new down the line, but we have to follow it down that line to know for sure. If I were in the kind of pain described in the letter, I’d be using psilocybin every time I go mushroom hunting. (I know some people probably think I’m ON psilocybin when I’m out mushroom hunting. I don’t go out of my way to disabuse them of that idea.) Cheers, Gary Photos courtesy G. Lincoff

Gary Lincoff responds: The mushroom in question, above (pictured, right), is Psilocybe “subaeruginascens,” which may actually be a recently described species, Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata. It’s not uncommon around here. The writer has been gathering and drying it for a few years. This letter is important because the writer is not a drug user. He drinks alcohol. Period. The pain relief he experienced is important here, of course. I think we’re on the edge of discovering a decidedly useful, socially approved, function of Psilocybe mushrooms. It’s still at an anecdotal FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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The Genus Psilocybe in North America by Michael W. Beug Professor Emeritus, The Evergreen State College. P. O. Box 116, Husum, WA 98623, [email protected]

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he genus Psilocybe is rather small, composed of mostly little brown non-descript saprobic mushrooms that no one would normally give a second thought to except for the presence in some of a pair of very special indoles. Psilocybe was until fairly recently thought to be closely related to Stropharia and several members, including Psilocybe cubensis, have been moved back and forth between the two genera. However, current interpretation of DNA results shows that the Psilocybe genus is

caused considerable consternation with taxonomists because it means that whatever species are related to the type species for the genus will retain the name Psilocybe and the unrelated species will have to go into a new genus. The accepted type for Psilocybe, at least as I understood the situation, was a small non-descript mossinhabiting species, Psilocybe montana (Pers.) P. Kumm 1871, that does not produce psilocybin or psilocin (Fig. 1). That appeared to mean that all of the hallucinogenic mushrooms commonly

Figure 1. Psilocybe montana comprised of two groups that are only distantly related to each other and both groups are only distantly related to Stropharia. One group of Psilocybe species produces the hallucinogen psilocybin (and usually also the closely related hallucinogen psilocin) and the other group does not. Both groups currently in the genus Psilocybe are actually much more closely related to Hypholoma and Pholiota than they are to Stropharia. The news that Psilocybe was composed of two only distantly related groups

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known as psilocybes (sometimes simply “‘shrooms”) were going to need a new genus. Fortunately a well-respected group of mycologists (Redhead et al., 2007) came to the rescue with a proposal to conserve the name Psilocybe with a conserved type. As of February 2010 (Norvel, 2010), it was official – the genus Psilocybe was conserved with Psilocybe semilanceata (Fr.) P. Kumm 1871 as the conserved type (Fig. 2). Psilocybe semilanceata is one of the hallucinogenic Psilocybe species, and

Figure 2. Psilocybe semilanceata a very potent one at that, averaging around 1% by dry weight psilocybin, but more about that later. What will happen to the nomenclature of Psilocybe montana and its relatives is a story yet to be told, and one about which few will care. Most species of Psilocybe, hallucinogenic or not, are small and thin fleshed. All are saprobic – some on dung, some on woody debris, some on other plant remains, some on soil and others among mosses. The cap is smooth, often a bit viscid (slimy), sometimes with a few small appressed squamules (small scales) or veil remnants, colored whitish, ochraceous, grayish, buff, brown or red-brown, often hygrophanous (the color lightens to pale tan as the cap loses moisture, often starting in the center). Most of the hallucinogenic species bruise from slightly blue to intensely blue-black. The spore prints are usually dark violet brown but in some non-hallucinogenic species can be reddish brown or ochraceous. Microscopically the spores are smooth, rather thick-walled, with a germ pore. Cheilocystidia occur in a range of shapes but pleurocystidia are usually lacking and chrysocystidia are absent. There are about 30 species in the United States and Canada and an additional 50+ species in Mexico – with some of the Mexican species appearing in Florida and other tropical to subtropical parts of the United States (Guzmán, 2008).

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n the 1970s and 1980s when Paul Stamets, Jeremy Bigwood and I were doing our research on the chemistry of these mushrooms and naming a new species and new variety, the large Psilocybe species (similar in size to Agaricus campestris or to the store-bought button mushrooms) were considered by some authors to belong in the genus Stropharia. Of these larger, meaty species there is one species of particular interest due to the presence of psilocybin and psilocin. That species is Psilocybe cubensis Earle (Singer) (Fig. 3). It is a beautiful mushroom reaching

 

The cap is biscuit brown fading to pale tan as it dries out and has tiny whitish scales. There is a partial veil leaving a distinct ring on the off-white stipe. All parts bruise blue. In the United States it is found in the wild throughout the Southeast and in Texas and Hawaii. It is common in Mexico. Its habitat is on well-manured ground and on dung – and that can be the dung of cattle, oxen, yaks, water buffalo, horses or elephants. This is a truly widespread tropical species fruiting spring, summer and fall. Psilocybe subcubensis is a highly similar tropical species and though reported

Figure 3. Psilocybe cubensis up to 8 cm across. The cap can start out with an umbo and becomes first bell-shaped and then convex as it ages.

Breitenbush Mushroom Gathering October 20-23, 2011 Eastern European Mushroom Traditions Alexander Viazmensky, mushroom artist from St. Petersburg will teach watercolor painting Chef Michasia Pawluskiewicz will lead the mushroom culinary workshop

Featured Speakers: Dr. Denis Benjamin, Daniel Winkler, Debbie Viess Cost: $175 plus lodging Registration: Breitenbush 503.854.3320 Info: [email protected]

206.819.4842

www.mushroominc.org FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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from California, it was probably the result of an outdoor growing operation (Stamets, 1996). I have even found Psilocybe cubensis outdoors in the summer near Olympia, Washington, but again it was undoubtedly the brief result of someone having planted a spawn bed there. For illicit cultivators, Psilocybe cubensis is generally the mushroom of choice since it is easy to grow and produces a significant amount of biomass with each flush (Stamets and Chilton, 1983). Jeremy Bigwood and I devoted considerable effort to trying to understand when the indoles psilocybin and psilocin were produced, if the chemicals of interest were concentrated in any one part of the mushroom, and whether or not there was much variation from one stain of this species to another (Bigwood and Beug, 1982). Jeremy had a phenomenal knack for obtaining street samples of Psilocybe cubensis and as coauthor (under a pseudonym) of an early cultivation guide (Oss and Oeric, 1976) had considerable cultivation experience as well. His connections with leading DEA authorities smoothed the way for approval of my drug research application. Our finding with Psilocybe cubensis was that the chemicals psilocybin and psilocin were reasonably evenly distributed throughout the mushrooms. With the exceptionally potent Peruvian strain we were working with, the levels varied by a factor of four from one growing session to another growing session and even from one flush to the next. Of even more concern was the observation that in collections from the street, levels varied by a factor of 10 from one collection to the next. We found levels of psilocybin plus psilocin combined varying from 0.1% by dry weight up to 0.6-0.8%, even a staggering 1.4% in one case from our especially potent cultivated strain. Individuals who choose to ignore the steep penalties for use of psilocybin or psilocin (it is a Class I Drug, with possession treated similar to possession of heroin or cocaine), and choose to use this mushroom do not have any practical way of knowing how strong the effects of Psilocybe cubensis are likely to be. While it is a good presumption that cultivated material will have about 0.5% active material by dry weight and

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material collected in the wild will have about 0.2 to 0.3% active material, many collections will be much less potent and a few collections will be twice as potent as one might have assumed.

with an inrolled corrugated margin reminiscent of Psilocybe baeocystis. The bluing reaction is very strong and the psilocybin plus psilocin content is nearly 0.9 % with 0.05% baeocystin and some tryptophan present as well. Psilocybe caerulescens Murrill is another species that seems to prefer disturbed or cultivated ground often without herbaceous plants present. Psilocybe caerulescens Murrill can also be found on sugar cane residues and tends to grow in clusters. While it was first found in Montgomery, Alabama, it is currently only known from Mexico

Figures 4 (above) & 5a (below). Two watercolors of Psilocybe caerulescens by Roger Heim

exploration trips to Mexico. Psilocybe hoogshagenii Heim sensu lato (= Psilocybe zapotecorum Heim sensu Singer) also grows in muddy clay soils of Mexico, but very far south in subtropical coffee plantations. Specimens from Brazil were found to contain 0.6% combined psilocybin plus psilocin (Stijve and de Meijer, 1993). It can fruit in massive abundance in the coffee plantations of Central and South America. Psilocybe hoogshagenii is the illustration labeled Psilocybe zapotecorum (Figure 6) in the Life magazine article (Wasson, 1957). Confusingly, Psilocybe zapotecorum Heim emend Guzmán is also a hallucinogenic species found in coffee plantations as well as in marshy deciduous forests. However, Psilocybe zapotecorum Heim emend Guzmán does not look much like the mushroom with that name illustrated in the Life magazine article but instead looks much like Psilocybe caerulescens var. mazatecorum (Figure 5a), and indeed is frequently confused with Psilocybe caerulescens (Stamets, 1996). Psilocybe zapotecorum is one of the most prized of the hallucinogenic mushrooms of Mexico as it can be up to 1.3% psilocybin plus psilocin (Stijve and de Meijer, 1993). It is

Figure 6. Psilocybe hoogshagenii is the illustration labeled Psilocybe zapotecorum in another watercolor by Roger Heim

Psilocybe weilii Guzmán, Tapia & Stamets is a medium (2-6 cm broad) semitropical species so far reported only from Georgia where it is found on red clay soil near both loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua). Psilocybe weilii has caps

where it is most commonly found on muddy orangish brown soils. Psilocybe caerulescens is quite potent and is the mushroom that R. Gordon Wasson consumed in Mexico, as reported in a famous Life magazine article (Wasson, 1957). Watercolor illustrations of two varieties of Psilocybe caerulescens (Figures 4 and 5a) appeared in that famous Life magazine article. The watercolors were all done by Roger Heim, a French mycologist who accompanied Wasson on some of his

Figure 5b. Psilocybe caerulescens var. mazatecorum. Photo courtesy of A. Rockefeller. typically cespitose to gregarious, rarely scattered and like many of the Mexican Psilocybe species, it is frequently found in steep ravines on exposed soils. Its appearance is reminiscent of a large Psilocybe caerulescens var. mazatecorum that is particularly convoluted and with

an asymmetrical cap (see Figure 5b and additional photos elsewhere in this issue). Psilocybe muliericula Singer and Smith is another bluing Mexican species found on muddy or swampy soils. Psilocybe muliericula is found in the state of Mexico under Abies and Pinus. The French mycologist Heim had planned to name this species Psilocybe wassonii but Rolf Singer and Alex Smith, using Heim and Wasson’s contacts, published their name 24 days ahead of Heim’s planned publication (Stamets, 1996). I came to be very aware of the resultant rift between Wasson and Smith because Alex Smith collaborated with Paul Stamets. Alex was enamored of the spectacular Scanning Electron Microscope images that Paul was taking at The Evergreen State College. Another of my students, Jonathan Ott, became a close associate of R. Gordon Wasson. Two of the Mexican Psilocybe species are characterized by having a long pseudorhiza – a root-like extension of the stipe going into the ground. One of these species is the rare Psilocybe wassoniorum Guzmán and Pollock, named in honor of R. Gordon Wasson and his wife Valentina. Psilocybe wassoniorum is found solitary or in small groups in subtropical deciduous forests. It is known to be active but is of unknown potency. Psilocybe herrerae Guzmán has an extremely long stipe and a very long pseudorhiza. Psilocybe herrerae is moderately active. It is found in Chiapas and Veracruz, Mexico solitary to gregarious in open forests of pines, sweetgums, and oaks. In Florida and possibly other parts of the Southeast, some of the Mexican Psilocybe species are sometimes encountered but

exactly which species can be found there is still somewhat unclear as most seekers of hallucinogenic species in that region seek out Psilocybe cubensis. One known tropical species that is also found in Florida is Psilocybe mammillata (Murrill) Smith – the classical bluing reaction is a clue to the presence of psilocybin and psilocin, but the species has not been quantitatively analyzed and I know of no experimental use of this species. It is found in soils rich in woody debris and sometimes on clay soils. Psilocybe tampanensis is found in Florida and Mississippi but is quite rare in the wild so its preferred habitat is unknown. It has become popular with cultivators (Stamets and Chilton, 1983). Psilocybe tampanensis has a cap that is only 1 to 2.4 cm broad (less than 1”) and a slim stipe with the classical blue-black spore print and bluing reaction. It can contain up to 1% psilocybin and psilocin by dry weight. Some individuals have also been tempted to try some of the large temperate Psilocybe species because of their more or less pronounced blue-green coloration. One example is Psilocybe aeruginascens (Fig. 7). In the samples of Psilocybe aeruginascens

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Figure 7. Psilocybe aeruginascens Figure 9. Panaeolus papilionaceus

Figure 10. Psilocybe coprophila

Figure 8. Psilocybe aeruginascens and Stropharia (formerly Psilocybe) pseudocyanea and Stropharia (formerly Psilocybe) pseudocyanea (Fig. 8) I was able to analyze I found no psilocybin or psilocin. Stropharia (formerly Psilocybe) caerulea has paler gills than Psilocybe aeruginascens, is a bit smaller and has a rapidly blue-green discoloring cap without veil-formed scales on the surface. This litter mushroom thrives in garden habitats (as does Psilocybe aeruginascens). Stropharia (formerly Psilocybe) caerulea has not been analyzed but might have some activity though experimentation is always risky and hardly worth it. I frequently hear of and observe individuals seeking hallucinogenic mushrooms on dung in temperate regions of North America, though most frequently individuals were picking non-hallucinogenic Panaeolus species like the abundant and widespread Panaeolus papilionaceus (Fig. 9) or one of the several similar inactive dung Psilocybe species like the diminutive

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Psilocybe coprophila (Fig. 10) in a misguided and ill-informed effort to get high. There are a few temperate dungassociated Psilocybe species that have some activity. Psilocybe fimentaria has some similarity to Psilocybe semilanceata (Fig. 2) but is differentiated by having a persistent ring on the stipe and a broader, less bell-shaped cap and prefers dung, often horse dung. It is reportedly mildly hallucinogenic and is found in the Pacific Northwest and Europe and may be fairly wide-spread. I never encountered either Psilocybe fimentaria or the similar Psilocybe subfimentaria in my many years of searching areas where they are reported to grow, though if you do encounter them, they can be fairly plentiful. Psilocybe subfimentaria does not have a sharply papillate cap, a distinctive feature of both Psilocybe fimentaria and Psilocybe semilanceata. Psilocybe liniformans var. americana is a horse dung associate that has been reported from Washington, Oregon, and Michigan (Stamets et al., 1980). I found that it contained psilocybin but not psilocin and that the amount of psilocybin averaged 8.9 mg/g with a range of 6.6 to 12.8 mg/g dry weight, making this one of the potent Psilocybe

species, though European collections have very low activity. A dung associate that I am aware of that Paul Stamets has postulated might possibly be hallucinogenic is the uncommon small Mycena-like species Psilocybe angustispora (Figure 11). Psilocybe angustispora is found on dung of sheep, cows and horses. I have found it in Idaho on elk dung and Paul Stamets has found it on elk dung in the Olympic National Park where he collected the specimens he photographed in Figure 11. While Paul speculated that Psilocybe angustispora might be hallucinogenic, the fact that it is in section Atrobrunnea Guzmán, a section of non-bluing Psilocybe species, makes me doubtful (Stamets, 1996). Psilocybe semilanceata (Fig. 2), like Psilocybe liniformans var. americanus has little or no psilocin but contains significant levels of psilocybin, varying from about 0.7% to 1.3% by dry weight and averaging 1% in our studies (Beug and Bigwood, 1982). Finnish studies found levels ranging from 0.62% to 2.37% with a an average of 1.42% (Jokiranta et al., 1984) and Norwegian researchers observed a wide range from a very low 0.17% to 1.96% (Christiansen et al., 1981). Psilocybe semilanceata is the only species in the genus found in middle and northern Europe in sufficient quantities to permit abuse (Stijve and Kuyper, 1985). In a parallel to the situation with Psilocybe cubensis that seems to have been widely spread throughout tropical regions by humans transporting ungulates with them, Psilocybe semilanceata appears to have been widely spread throughout temperate regions again by humans moving horses, sheep and cattle with them. However, unlike Psilocybe cubensis and Psilocybe liniformans, Psilocybe semilanceata is not found on dung. It is often found in pastures, typically boggy maritime pastures containing sedges and small rushes as well as grasses and appears to be closely associated with the grasses. It also can occur in ungrazed fields, lawns or other grassy areas. It is not a species of the interior, though I do have one undocumented report from Minnesota. Psilocybe semilanceata can be very common west of the Cascade Mountains from northern California to British Columbia. Figure 12 shows seekers in a classical pose. Psilocybe semilanceata is also found in the Northeast, especially

Figure 11. Psilocybe angustispora. Photo courtesy of P. Stamets.

Figure 12. Psilocybe semilanceata seekers the maritime provinces of Canada. It is probably the easiest Pacific Northwest Psilocybe for amateurs to identify, though it can be quite variable. Typically the most distinctive feature is a nipple-like sharp umbo on a campanulate (bellshaped) cap. Psilocybe strictipes Singer and Smith is a similar active species that lacks the distinctive umbo but is also associated with grasses. There are no data on the hallucinogenic content of Psilocybe strictipes, though people who have consumed it, report it to be moderately active. Like Psilocybe semilanceata, Psilocybe strictipes shows little tendency to turn blue on bruising. I believe that the bluing reaction is related to psilocin content of the mushrooms

Figure 13. Psilocybe mexicana but even though Jeremy Bigwood and I worked on the problem for several years, we were never able to determine exactly what chemicals are involved in the bluing. In his book, Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World, Paul Stamets notes that Psilocybe strictipes grows abundantly in western Oregon in close association with highland bentgrass (Agrostis tenuis) where thousands of acres are farmed for grass seed production. He notes “the FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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potential distribution of this species through the commercial distribution of lawn seed is mind-boggling. P. strictipes is likely to be much more common than presently realized” (Stamets, 1996). Mexican liberty caps, Psilocybe mexicana Heim (Figure 13) are also found in meadows, often in horse pastures rich in manure, but, as is the case with Psilocybe semilanceata, are not found directly on manure. They also appear at the interface between open fields and deciduous woods. Look for them in subtropical Mexico, typically at 3,000’ to 4,500’ (1,000-1,800 meters). Psilocybe mexicana is a moderately potent species. There are a number of species of Psilocybe associated with woodlands where they grow on wood debris or wood chips or well-decayed conifer substratum. While you always need to be careful with identification of mushrooms, these species require special care because the same habitat in the woods (as well as near-by grasslands and lands recently

Figure 14. Galerina marginata

Figure 16. Galerina marginata (left), Psilocybe pelliculosa (right)

Figure 19. Psilocybe baeocystis

Figure 15. Conocybe filaris

Figure 18. Psilocybe aztecorum

Figure 17. Psilocybe pelliculosa cleared) can contain deadly species of Galerina and deadly species of Conocybe that are exceptionally similar in size and stature to the Psilocybe species found in the same habitats. Galerina marginata (Fr.) Kuehner (Fig. 14, called Galerina autumnalis (Peck) A. H Smith and Singer in most field guides) has caused the death of at least one seeker of a magic mushroom high as well as several deaths of people seeking edible species like Armillaria mellea (Vahl) P. Kumm. The darkening at the base of the stipe of Galerina marginata can be mistaken for a bluing reaction. Conocybe filaris (Fr.) Kuehner (Fig. 15, also known as Pholiotina filaris (Fr.) Singer) is also deadly. They, and some other members of their respective genera, contain the same amatoxins as deadly Amanita species. I have frequently seen vast

12 FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

areas of both beauty bark and wood chip beds containing abundant numbers of Psilocybe species growing literally touching both deadly Galerina and deadly Conocybe species (Fig. 16). Three of the Pacific Northwest wood-debris Psilocybe species that are hardest to identify are P. silvatica (Peck) Singer and Smith, P. pelliculosa (Smith) Singer and Smith (Fig. 17) and P. washingtonensis Smith. Psilocybe silvatica, P. pelliculosa and P. washingtonensis can be distinguished from each other only with a microscope and all three are weakly to only moderately hallucinogenic. Don’t be tempted to try them. The maximum level of psilocybin I found was 0.41% in one of several collections of P. pelliculosa. The psilocin level was not detectable and thus there is virtually no bluing in these species. Psilocybe aztecorum Heim emend Guzmán (Fig. 18) is a Mexican species associated with wood debris. It is found high in the mountains of Central Mexico and fresh specimens often look a lot like Psilocybe pelliculosa. Psilocybe aztecorum

grows numerous to gregarious in open pine forests rich in grasses. It is a very potent species and is one of two species thought to be teonanacatl, flesh of the Gods, to the Aztec people. The other species thought to be teonanacatl is Psilocybe caerulescens. Psilocybe yungensis Singer and Smith is found from southern Mexico and south to Bolivia in clusters or gregarious on rotting wood, often on coffee plantations at 3,000’ to 6,000’ elevation (1,000 to 2,000 meters). Known as the divinatory mushroom, it is moderately hallucinogenic. It is a small species, at most 1 inch in diameter, usually with a sharp nipple-like umbo on the cap. The color is unusual for a Psilocybe. Psilocybe yungensis is orangish brown, looking very much like a Conocybe. Psilocybe baeocystis (Fig. 19) is about 1% combined psilocybin and psilocin with 0.1% baeocystin (Repke et al., 1977). Psilocybe baeocystis is found in Oregon and Washington on conifer mulch or lawns with high lignin content and was once common in the area but now appears to have disappeared. While some species, like Psilocybe semilanceata, maintain their potency quite well when dried and stored, Psilocybe baeocystis and many of the other strongly bluing Psilocybe species lose much of their potency on bruising or drying. Psilocybe quebecensis Ola’h and Heim is reportedly moderately active and grows in sandy soils in outwashes of streams, occurring on the decayed wood of alder, birch and conifers in Quebec. Searching the images of Psilocybe

species on the Mushroom Observer website (www.mushroomobserver.com), I found a photo of Psilocybe quebecensis taken in Michigan, but that was the only entry for this species so I suspect that it is not common. Psilocybe caerulipes (Peck) Saccardo is another reportedly moderately active species found along river systems but appears restricted to hardwood debris. It is found summer to late fall throughout the Midwest and eastern United States, though is not found frequently. The bluing reaction of Psilocybe caerulipes is variable and may take several hours to be seen. While I do not have photos of this species, many images can be found on www. mushroomobserver.com. There is one eastern stream bank species that has become very popular with seekers of magic mushrooms and that is Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata. It grows easily in wood chips and bark mulch and on other debris and has been spread to many parts of North America and has even been introduced to Europe. It appears native to Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. It belongs in section Stuntzii because it has subrhomboid thickwalled spores, a marked bluing reaction and an annulus. It has a distinctive farinaceous odor (an unpleasant odor of old corn meal). In outdoor cultivation it can fruit in massive numbers, contributing to its now widespread occurrence in the Northeast and more recent appearance in Washington and Oregon. I have no photos but there are numerous postings on www.mushroomobserver. com. From the appearance, I would assume that it is moderately potent, though I know of no formal analysis. In the area around San Francisco, California, another wood-chip Psilocybe is all the rage. It is not formally named but goes by Psilocybe “cyanofriscosa.” On Mushroom Observer

I have seen images of massive colonization on chip piles, even fir cones. Macroscopically Psilocybe “cyanofriscosa” resembles Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa but microscopically it so closely resembles Psilocybe cyanescens that some people think that it is a Psilocybe cyanescens variant that differs in having a cap that is not wavy on the margin and can be up to 4” (10 cm) across. While I know of no formal chemical analysis, reports place it similar in effect to Psilocybe cyanescens. In short, this can be a very potent species. Psilocybe cyanescens Wakefield (Fig. 20) also fruits in huge troops in wood

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Figure 20. Psilocybe cyanescens debris and is characterized by a wavy cap that is 2-4 cm broad, a fibrillose veil, and a fast bluing reaction. When I was actively doing research with this species I had sufficient spore load on my clothing that soon the sawdust mulch in my Rhododendron beds was producing massive quantities of Psilocybe cyanescens (and also P. stuntzii), providing ample material for research so that I did not have to collect in one other place that I knew had abundant Psilocybe cyanescens (that spot was at the Olympia

Figure 21. Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa City Hall, in all too close proximity to the Police Department). In our studies of Psilocybe cyanescens, we found combined psilocybin plus psilocin content approaching 2% by dry weight in some samples, though more typical values cluster around 1% combined psilocybin plus psilocin (Gartz, 1994; Stijve and Kuyper, 1985). It may be significant that a small amount of baeocystin (0.02-0.03%) is also reported

(Gartz, 1994; Stijve and Kuyper, 1985). In any case there is something in several of these wood debris species that can lead to serious unwanted side effects. The reports that I have so far are vague and I would like to be more specific, but bad trips and serious medical problems can arise with these wood debris mushrooms. In 1962 a young child died after three days in the hospital and a 106º F fever. The child had eaten what was clearly Psilocybe cyanescens though the mushroom was identified as Psilocybe baeocystis in the article (McCawley et al., 1962). Hopefully reading this will get some of the affected individuals to come forth and tell me their story so that I can accurately inform others of the possible risks of Psilocybe cyanescens (and probably also P. baeocystis, P. cyanofibrillosa, P. “cyanofriscosa,” P. ovoideocystidiata and especially P. azurescens). Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa Stamets and Guzmán (Fig. 21) occurs on

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PUBLISHER’S NOTES: Although many wild mushrooms are quite palatable, some are deadly poisonous. It is advisable to avoid eating any wild organisms, including fungi, unless absolutely certain of identification. And although some mushroom species are edible for many people, those same species may cause allergic reactions or illness in others. When in doubt, throw it out. FUNGI wants to ensure that all to have any wild mushroom checked by an expert before eating them. It should be understood that the Publisher and all Editors are not responsible for any consequences of ingesting wild mushrooms. Furthermore, the Publisher and all Editors are not engaged, herein, in the rendering of any medical advice or services. All readers should verify all information and data before administering any drug, therapy, or treatment discussed herein. Neither the Editors nor the Publisher accepts any responsibility for the accuracy of the information or consequences from the use or misuse of the information contained herein. Unauthorized reproduction of published content of FUNGI is strictly forbidden, and permission for reproduction must be obtained by application in writing to the Publisher. COPYRIGHT ©2011 by FUNGI. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

Figure 22. Psilocybe stuntzii woody debris from the coastal regions of northern California into British Columbia, associated with bush lupines or flood plains of rivers. It has also turned up in a grassy area near an interior B.C. hot spring and is the only Psilocybe species that I have ever found in the woods east of the Cascades. I have observed it fruiting in astounding quantity in bark-mulched Rhododendron gardens. Our analysis revealed only low levels of psilocybin and psilocin. Psilocybe stuntzii Guzmán and Ott (Fig. 22) is a weakly active woody debris associated species. Psilocybe stuntzii is distinguished by its whitish partial veil that bruises bluish and thus one of its common names “Washington Blue Veil.” It is found in maritime regions from Oregon to British Columbia. It is strikingly similar to the deadly Galerina

marginata but has a purplish grayish brown spore print while Galerina marginata has a rusty brown spore print. Psilocybe stuntzii got its original fame because it fruited in massive abundance on the University of Washington campus outside of the botany building (home to the mycologist, Dr. Daniel Stuntz, in whose honor it was named, though it was an honor Dr. Stuntz often said that he could have done without. In fact, the kind and gentle Dr. Stuntz never forgave Jonathan Ott for naming this mushroom after him). Most of the area near the botany building that once produced abundant Psilocybe stuntzii is now brick courtyard. It seems that now the best places to find P. stuntzii are on school athletic fields and also in prison yards, much to the pleasure of some and consternation of others. I remember getting a call from the warden at the Shelton, Washington, correctional facility asking me why the prisoners spent so much time in the fall walking around the grass exercise yard bent over and peering intently at the ground. That surely was the influence

of P. stuntzii. In contrast, when the Washington State governor called to ask why so many people where peering around the Rhododendron beds outside his office and elsewhere on the capitol campus, I had to conclude that those beds, mulched with wood chips, would be full of P. baeocystis, P. cyanescens and probably also P. cyanofibrillosa. Today, P. ovoideocystidiata will have probably taken the place of P. baeocystis. Psilocybe baeocystis appears to becoming quite rare. I suspect that it may have arrived in Olympia courtesy of Jeremy Bigwood, but that is merely speculation, I have no proof. But now that Jeremy is long gone from the Northwest, P. baeocystis appears to be disappearing as well. Psilocybe azurescens Stamets and Gartz is thought by some to be just a huge, exceptionally potent, non-wavy Psilocybe cyanescens. When not intentionally cultivated, it is cespitose to gregarious in sandy soils rich in lignicolous debris. It is found on both sides of the Columbia River mostly downstream from Astoria, Oregon. According to Paul Stamets who coauthored this species, Psilocybe azurescens is often associated with dune grasses, especially Ammophila maritime (Guzman et al., 1997). Outdoor cultivators have been very successful spreading this species to California, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Vermont, Germany and elsewhere. Interestingly, as far as I can determine, most of the species close to Psilocybe cyanescens have never been found growing naturally in the wild. They have always been observed in human-

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FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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altered habitats. The same appears to be true for Psilocybe baeocystis, Psilocybe stuntzii and Psilocybe weilii. The combined psilocybin plus psilocin content of Psilocybe azurescens was found by J. Gartz (in Stamets, 1996) to be over 2% with a staggering 0.35% baeocystin. The flesh can become indigo black from bruising. It is easily one of the most potent magic mushrooms in Figure 23. “No mushroom picking” sign the world. Frankly, the staggering baeocystin al., 2010) found in a temperate forest content is of concern to me. Years ago, in Arizona, a place not previously Repke, who identified baeocystin in associated with hallucinogenic Psilocybe many of these species, told me that he felt that baeocystin produced stronger species. It was found on black soils in an aspen (Populus tremuloides) forest hallucinations than psilocin/psilocybin. with douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) But it, or something also produced by and limber pine (Pinus flexilis) plus mushrooms producing baeocystin, bracken ferns (Pteridium aquilinum) also seems to produce stronger adverse – and this makes it the only member reactions and more cases of bad trips. The newest named Psilocybe in the of the Psilocybe cyanescens complex in Psilocybe cyanescens-complex is Psilocybe North America so far found in its native hopii Guzmán et J. Greene (Guzmán et woodland habitat, though since it can be readily cultivated, it may soon be turning up in wood mulch in many new areas. Microscopically Psilocybe hopii differs from other members of the P. cyanescens complex by having special cheilocystidia (sterile cell on the gills) with long and sinuous necks. All parts are strongly bluing and the odor is farinaceous. It was found in the San Francisco Peaks region, an area sacred to the Hopi people, though the Hopi are not known to have used hallucinogenic mushrooms. In another paper I will discuss the historical use, recreational use and potential medical use of these species. However, be aware of the legal situation. Possession of psilocybin or psilocin in any form is illegal. The law does not name specific mushrooms but worldwide, according to John Allen, a long time pursuer of these species, there are over 150 psilocybin containing mushrooms in many genera and families of gilled mushrooms (see http://www.mushroomjohn.org) and possession of any one of these species can get you arrested. Uniquely, their spores are often traded on the

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internet. Since the spores have never been shown to contain psilocybin or psilocin, trading the spores is not illegal. However, growing the mushrooms from the spores produces psilocybin and psilocin and thus makes you a drug manufacturer. I have been an expert witness in a case where a mushroom cultivator was arrested (after being turned in by a neighbor for suspicious activity) – fortunately for him the only mushrooms he had fruiting were several varieties of the choice edible Pleurotus ostreatus! I am on retainer now for a person arrested for possessing just spores – and spores of what I don’t yet know. Whether the case ever will go to court or not is as yet unclear, but it is clear that the defense expenses are already substantial for this individual. In another case, years ago, I was an expert witness where a dealer had been selling to school children – except that the mushrooms he was trying to sell were not magic mushrooms! I never found out whether or not the dealer thought he knew what he was doing or was simply committing fraud on unwitting young people. In one notable event near Tillamook, Oregon, I took a large group of prominent West Coast mycologists out into a field to see if we could find any magic mushrooms. They had never seen them. I had obtained permission from the wife at the farmhouse, was licensed to possess and study these mushrooms, and still the farmer threatened to shoot us all and it was a VERY scary encounter – and yet the farmer ignored many carloads of fisherman who had

driven across his field to fish for salmon in the river. We did not find anything but harmless cow-pie fungi in his field – that was before I knew to stick to boggy pastures if I wanted to find Psilocybe semilanceata. In another Oregon incident, my oldest son was once stopped hours after photographing Psilocybe azurescens. He was miles away from the spot, but his license was noted by a local and turned over to the police. Fortunately for him, he had not made a voucher collection and he had a copy of Paul Stamets’s Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World. He used that book to point out that he was my son and was taking the picture for me and thus escaped jailing (though I never did receive a copy of the picture). By the way, if you want to collect Psilocybe mushrooms, you too should get a copy of Paul’s book. The descriptions and photos that I have provided here are certainly not enough to go on if you want to collect these species. If you are new to mushrooms, make certain to get your finds confirmed by a genuine expert. And unless you potentially want to pay me $200/hour as an expert witness in your trial, be careful to just look and not gather these species at the wrong time or place. The “no mushroom picking” sign (Fig. 23) was not placed in the farmer’s field to keep people from picking the Meadow Mushrooms! REFERENCES Beug, M., and J. Bigwood. 1982. Psilocybin and psilocin levels in twenty

species from seven genera of wild mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 5: 271-285. Bigwood, J., and M. W. Beug. 1982. Variation of psilocybin and psilocin levels with repeated flushes (harvests) of mature sporocarps of Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Singer. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 5: 287-291. Christiansen, A. L., K. E. Rasmussen, and K. Høiland. 1981. The content of psilocybin in Norwegian Psilocybe semilanceata. Planta Medica 42(7): 229235. Gartz, J. 1994. Extraction and analysis of indole derivatives from fungal biomass. Journal of Microbiology 34: 17-22. Guzmán, G. 2008. Hallucinogenic mushrooms in Mexico: an overview. Economic Botany 62(3): 404-412. Guzmán, G., J. Greene, and F. RamirezGuillén. 2010. A new for science neurotropic species of Psilocybe (Fr.) P. Kumm. (Agaricomycetideae) from the western United States. International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms 12(2): 201-204. Guzmán, G., F. Tapia, and P. Stamets. 1997. A new bluing Psilocybe from USA. Mycotaxon 65: 191. Jokiranta, J., S. Mustola, E. Ohenoja, and M. M. Airaksinen. 1984. Psilocybin in Finnish Psilocybe semilanceata. Planta Medica 50(3): 277-278. McCawley, E. L., R. E. Brummet, and G. W. Dana. 1962. Convulsions from Psilocybe mushroom poisoning.

Proceedings of the Western Pharmacology Society 5: 27-33. Norvell, L. L. 2010. Conserved Psilocybe with Psilocybe semilanceata as the conserved type. Taxon 59(1): 291293. Oss, O. T., and O. N. Oeric. 1976. Psilocybin: Magic Mushrooms Grower’s Guide. Seattle: Homestead Book Company. Redhead, Scott A., J-M. Moncalvo, R. Vilgalys, P. B. Matheny, L. GuzmánDavalos, and G. Guzmán. 2007. Proposal to conserve the name Psilocybe (Basidiomycota) with a conserved type. Taxon 56(1): 255-257. Repke, D., D. Leslie, and G. Guzmán. 1977. Baeocystin in Psilocybe, Conocybe, and Panaeolus. Lloydia 40: 566-578. Stamets, P. 1996. Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. Stamets, P., M. W. Beug, J. E. Bigwood, and G. Guzmán. 1980. A new species and a new variety of Psilocybe from North America. Mycotaxon 11: 476-484. Stamets, P., and J. S. Chilton. 1983. The Mushroom Cultivator. Olympia: Agarikon Press. Stijve, T. C., and A. A. R. de Meijer. 1993. Macromycetes from the state of Parana, Brazil. 4. The psychoactive species. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology 36(2): 313-329. Stijve, T. C., and T. W. Kuyper. 1985. Occurrence of psilocybin in various higher fungi from several European countries. Planta Medica 51(5): 385-387. Wasson, R. G. 1957. Seeking the Magic Mushroom. Life May 13, 1957: 100-120.

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Summer Fungal & Floral Foray: July 31-Aug 13, 2011 Mushroaming Ecuador & Bolivia: Jan / Feb 2012 Cordyceps Expedition: June 2012 FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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by Jack Silver ABSTRACT This article reviews the most recent legal status of psilocybin and psilocin in the USA and select foreign countries. This article is not intended to constitute legal advice. Persons on U.S. soil are generally subject to federal laws as well as the laws of the state in which they reside and/or do business concerning an activity within that state. Under federal law psilocybin or psilocin are Schedule I drugs. Possession, sales, manufacturing and transportation are all prohibited. Spores do not contain psilocybin or psilocin and are therefore not illegal under federal law, but can be used as evidence of the intent to manufacture. Fungi, at any stage and in any form, are not specifically prohibited unless they contain psilocybin or psilocin. The laws of each state vary. Generally, the states follow federal law. Three states, California, Georgia, and Idaho prohibit spores. In California, mere possession of spores is not illegal.

I

t’s odd to think that walking in the woods and stopping to pick a mushroom could be considered a criminal act. If the mushroom you pick contains psilocybin it could be.1 In Georgia you could be guilty of possessing a “dangerous drug” by unwittingly picking up spores on a stroll. Georgia Code - Crimes and Offenses - Title 16 § 16-13-71 (b) In addition to subsection (a) of this Code section, a “dangerous drug” means any other drug or substance declared by the General Assembly to be a dangerous drug; to include any of the following drugs, chemicals, or substances . . .(627) Mushroom spores which, when mature, contain either psilocybin or psilocin; Also considered “dangerous drug(s)” in Georgia are penicillin (694), sodium thiosulfate (880.5); vitamin K (1035) and estrogenic substances (354)2. In a strict reading of Georgia law the possession of any soy product could be considered the possession of a dangerous drug. Although, as Dickens observed, sometimes “the law is a ass-a idiot.”3 Ignorance of the law is no defense to felony or misdemeanor charges.

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A person on U.S. soil is generally subject to federal laws as well as the laws of the state in which they reside and/or do business concerning an activity within that state. Under federal law psilocybin and psilocin are Schedule I drugs.4 Possession, sales, manufacturing and transportation are all prohibited. Spores do not contain psilocybin and are therefore not illegal under federal law but can be used as evidence of the intent to manufacture. Fungi, at any stage and in any form, are not specifically prohibited unless they contain psilocybin. The laws of each state vary. Generally, the states follow federal law. In other words, it is illegal to possess, sell, transport or manufacture a controlled substance. California, Georgia, Idaho also prohibit spores even though the spores themselves do not contain any controlled substance. In California possession of spores in and of itself is not illegal. It is illegal to cultivate “any spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material which contains such a controlled substance” (CA Health & Safety Code § 11390). It is also illegal to transport, import, sell, furnish, give away, or offer to transport, import, sell, furnish, or give away “any spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material which contain a controlled substance” (CA Health & Safety Code § 11391). So, if you are just acquiring spore prints for a collection with no intention they be cultivated or used to produce psilocybin containing mycelium or fungi you are not violating the law. CA Health & Safety Code §§ 11390-11391 11390. Except as otherwise authorized by law, every person who, with intent to produce a controlled substance specified in paragraph (18) or (19) of subdivision (d) of Section 11054, cultivates any spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material which contains such a controlled substance shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not more than one year or in the state prison. 11391. Except as otherwise authorized by law, every person who transports, imports into this state, sells, furnishes, gives away, or offers to transport, import into this state, sell, furnish, or give away any spores or mycelium capable of

producing mushrooms or other material which contain a controlled substance specified in paragraph (18) or (19) of subdivision (d) of Section 11054 for the purpose of facilitating a violation of Section 11390 shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not more than one year or in the state prison. Generally the federal government is only interested in crimes committed in areas under federal jurisdiction such as post offices, airports, federal land, federal buildings or large scale multi-state operations. Using the U.S. Postal Service to transport controlled substances across state lines violates several federal laws as would transporting controlled substances into the U.S., including lying to a federal agent by going through customs and failing to claim your substance. States vary not only state to state but regionally within a state. The reach of any law is limited by the language which was enacted. If you are in the woods in California selecting Psilocybe spp. specimens for your spore print collection you would not be violating the law. But in Georgia you might be. Most criminal laws require that prosecutors prove scienter, that is, the defendants knew they were violating the law.5 Thus in Fiske v. State of Florida, No. 50796, Supreme Court of Florida (1978), the court found that psilocybin mushrooms could not reasonably be considered “containers” of the Schedule I substance psilocybin. The court essentially held that if the Florida legislature wished to make wild psilocybin mushrooms illegal, it would have to name them in the law. The court ruled: “the statute does not advise a person of ordinary and common intelligence that this substance is contained in a particular variety of mushroom. The statute, therefore, may not be applied constitutionally to [the defendant Fiske who was caught with freshly picked psilocybes].” The court did not address whether Fiske would have been breaking the law if the prosecution had proven Fiske knew the mushrooms contained psilocybin. Subsequent cases in other states have found the knowledge component to be the deciding factor. In 2005 a New Mexico appeals court ruled that growing psilocybin mushrooms for personal consumption could not be considered “manufacturing a controlled

substance” under state law, State v. Pratt No. 24,387 (NM Court of Appeals 2005). Although Pratt was able to reverse the charge of manufacturing a controlled substance, he was still convicted of possession. Therefore whether it is a crime to pick mushrooms containing psilocybin depends upon where you are and the laws of that jurisdiction.6,7 Resources within state and local law enforcement are allocated toward serious offenses such as sales, transportation and manufacturing before they are used to build a case for possession. Mushrooms containing psilocybin are generally low priority for the federal government and most state and local law enforcement prefer pursuing hard drugs like meth and heroin or popular targets such as marijuana. Although the entheogenic or psychedelic effect from psilocybin can be as powerful as that from DMT or its cousin LSD, psilocybin is considered a mild intoxicant.8 Worldwide, the legal status of psilocybin mushrooms varies.9 Psilocybin and psilocin are listed as Schedule I drugs under the United Nations 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.10 However, psilocybin mushrooms themselves are not regulated by UN treaties. As a matter of international law, no plants (natural material) containing psilocin and psilocybin are at present controlled under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971. Consequently, preparations made of these plants are not under international control and, therefore, not subject of the articles of the 1971 Convention. UN recommendations notwithstanding, many countries have some level of regulation or prohibition of psilocybin mushrooms. Criminal cases regarding psilocybin-containing fungi are decided with reference to the laws of the country or jurisdiction in which a person find themselves. Within national, state, and provincial jurisdictions there is a great deal of ambiguity as to the legal status of psilocybin mushrooms, as well as a strong element of selective enforcement. The legal status of spores is even more ambiguous, as spores contain neither psilocybin nor psilocin, and hence are not illegal to sell or possess in many jurisdictions, though these jurisdictions may prosecute under broader laws prohibiting items that are used in drug manufacturing. In some countries such as Indonesia, trafficking in psilocybin can technically carry the death penalty. Though like most jurisdictions, Indonesia considers mushrooms a “soft drug” and until recently allowed restaurants in Bali to serve magic mushroom

smoothies and omelets. However, do not expect other jurisdictions such as China, Singapore or the Middle Eastern countries to be so forgiving. As mentioned above, psilocin and psilocybin are controlled substances under Schedule 1 of the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, so all Member States control them accordingly. However, control of the mushrooms themselves is interpreted in many different ways across Europe – this may reflect the extent to which they grow freely in certain conditions, and the fact that they appear to be a somewhat regional phenomenon. A number of countries remain with unclear legislation, simply as there have been so few cases to reach the courts. No matter where you are, the threshold for charging someone with a crime is very low compared to the threshold for a conviction. As a general rule the knowing possession of psilocybin containing fungi in any stage or form is illegal in all jurisdictions within the U.S. and most outside the U.S. If a prosecutor wants to make an example of you the laws are there to support the prosecution, requiring an expensive defense. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jack Silver is a mycophile and public interest attorney living in Sebastopol California. In addition to environmental law Jack has defended the First Amendment rights of individuals from groups like Critical Mass and Food Not Bombs as well the right of the Santo Daime Church to use ayahuasca as a sacrament.

FOOTOTES 1 For simplicity, I refer to psilocybin and psilocin as psilocybin. 2 Estrogenic substances also occur naturally in cultivated plants, e.g. subterranean clover, and in fungi growing on plants and plant products, e.g. Fusarium graminearum, F. roseum. 3 “That is no excuse,” replied Mr. Brownlow. “You were present on the occasion of the destruction of these trinkets, and indeed are the more guilty of the two, in the eye of the law; for the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction.” “If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, “the law is a ass- a idiot. If that’s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is, that his eye may be opened by experience - by experience.” Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens. 4 The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) Pub. L. 91-513, 84 Stat. 1236, enacted October 27, 1970, codified at 21 U.S.C. § 801 et. seq.

The CSA is the federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain substances is regulated. The legislation created five Schedules (classifications), with varying qualifications for a substance to be included in each. Schedule I drugs are classified as having a high potential for abuse; no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States and, a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision. Other Schedule I drugs include heroin and marijuana. Cocaine and methamphetamine (“meth”) are Schedule II drugs. 5 Generally in order to convict a person for a criminal felony, due process requires that a prosecutor prove the defendant knew he was committing a crime. However, certain crimes are strict liability requiring no scienter. In certain states statutory rape is a strict liability crime as is selling alcohol to a minor. Under federal law environmental crimes are generally strict liability. 6 An excellent text for identification is Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World by Paul Stamets; Ten Speed Press; 1996. 7 For a state by state list see North Florida Shroom Guide’s mushroom law page www. jug-or-not.com/shroom/statelaw.html. 8 Based upon arrests compared to other substances including heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine. 9 For a comprehensive list of the laws in various countries see European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) http://www.emcdda.europa. eu//html.cfm//index17341EN.html?. Also EROWID has numerous references as to the legality of psilocybin containing mushrooms. See http://www.erowid.org/ plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_law.shtml and related links. 10 See “List of psychotropic substances under international control” International Narcotics Control Board. August 2003. http:// www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf.

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SOME CASE REPORTS:

by Gary Lincoff Preface In a matter of hours, mind-altering substances may induce profound psychological realignments that can take decades to achieve on a therapist’s couch From “Hallucinogens as Medicine,” Roland Griffiths and Charles Grob, December 2010 issue of Scientific American So, can psilocybin save you from decades of therapy (at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars)? If it can, what “profound psychological realignments” can you expect to realize?

F

reud would probably say that the best you could hope for would be to accept the “human condition,” that is, the general unhappiness of life. Other therapists would say some very different things. Sandor Ferenczi might say that the human quest is to return to the peaceful condition of the fetus before birth, before being thrust out into the world. Other therapists, like Otto Rank, might focus on the trauma of birth itself, well before the onset of early childhood issues, as the ultimate source of our most disabling neuroses. One therapist, Stanislav Grof, thinks that under the influence of a mind-altering substance or a trance-induced state, one can experience profound encounters with life before conception, prior lives,

Sit back, relax, take 5 mg and call me when the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars.

similar in a way, perhaps, to experiencing Jung’s archetypes. The general consensus of those therapists not in the “Freudian school” seems to be that the oceanic feelings often associated with mindaltering substances, like psilocybin, is not so much a return to “life” in the amniotic fluid as it is the sense of connectedness with all life, with all creatures, great and small, as well as all plants and all fungi. Is this sense of “oneness,” this strong feeling of bonding with all sentient life, real or illusory, and in what sense? Can the experience give us a window onto a world otherwise denied us, or is it just

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a journey through the looking glass? Are metaphors inescapable here? “If the doors of perception were cleansed,” would everything “appear to man as it is, infinite”? First, a few caveats Psilocybin is a value-free, nonintegrated molecular strategy for developing cooperative individuals in the pursuit of social equality in a democratic society. This might sound like an oxymoron, if not outright moronic, and it is something that seems easier to disprove than prove, but that doesn’t deter exercise of its use or prevent belief in its efficacy. Warning: If you are having an experience lasting more than 4 hours, consult a shaman as soon as possible, if time has any meaning for you. Psilocybin is not to be taken alone or with your doppelganger (if you can recognize him or her), or with total strangers (assuming you know a stranger when you see one). Taken with friends it can lead to intense emotional bonding between individuals that others may interpret as totally inappropriate, and that the affected couple finds nearly impossible to dissolve amicably. Psilocybin is not to be taken by those adherents of Freudian psychology who believe that a feeling of “oceanic wholeness” is a symptom of infantile regression, and that this is something to be eschewed. Psilocybin is not for those unprepared to experience phylogenetic regression; the event, not manifested in physical terms, as shown in the film Altered States, but capable of being described as clear, concrete, and accurate memories of a life in the body of a different species. Psilocybin is not for people who display a rigid personality or for those who fear loss of control; or, as Lily Tomlin has said, “reality is a crutch for those who

can’t handle drugs.” It might be true that there are no atheists in a foxhole, as the saying goes, but an atheist highdosing psilocybin will be unprepared to experience God face to face, as it were, and consequently will most likely misinterpret the experience. Psilocybin is not for males who plan to become pregnant; nor is it for males attempting to breast-feed a baby. Psilocybin is not for females experiencing acute penis envy or SDS (Sports Distraction Syndrome). The successful use of psilocybin depends in part on one’s set and setting. If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, or your expectations or those around you are creating stress, its use in such situations cannot be recommended. Psilocybin is not the drug of choice to get you through rush-hour traffic or a colonoscopy. People taking psilocybin while on an MAO inhibitor medication can find the experience more intense, perhaps too intense, and longer lasting, perhaps never ending. Who knew? So, who in their right mind, you might ask, would take psilocybin? Someone out of their (left) mind? Or, if you are finding yourself on planet Earth in the Human Christian Earth-year of 2011, and are wondering who took the wrong turn, it’s too late to check your genome. In this case, it might just be better to sit back, relax, take 5 mg and call me when the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars. Or, if you are wondering how the best minds of our generation got wasted by the evening news, or how people who have reached the biblical age of three score years and ten, seem to be disappearing before your very eyes, or are finding themselves with lots of body parts that aren’t the ones they were born with, or are entering the dark world of dementia, now may not be too soon to double the dose.

1 The YouTube clip from the movie Know Your Mushrooms is essentially true, at least as it was experienced. If I learned anything from the event, it was that there’s more to a psilocybin experience than set and setting, since I didn’t know or trust the people I had met who wanted me to share this mushroom with them, and I wasn’t in the “mood” for having a non-dreaming out of body experience; in fact, I was anxious to get to the airport on time and not miss my flight home. How naïve I was (and still am) is beyond belief. Still and all, the experience, as described on YouTube and in the film was quite exhilarating. Whether it was an actual out-of-body experience, or only an imagined one, it was one that was intensely experienced. It was not spiritual in any normal sense of that term, although space travel does seem to have a spiritual component. The only sense I could make of it was some kind of attempt on my part to escape from wherever I was, which I did thanks to the light beam that I followed out to somewhere in the vicinity of the Andromeda galaxy. Was it the acting out of a birth trauma event, an escape from a living “womb” that was no longer a place I felt comfortable being in? Was my outof-body experience a snake-like slithering out of my “mortal coil,” an escape from life rather than an escape into life? Did it in some way change my life? Since I remember it so vividly, something that happened so long ago, it must have changed me in some way or other. 2 I was in the Amazon with a group on a ship exploring a few of its tributaries. We passed by a pasture and pulled in to see what mushrooms might be coming up in the cow pies. We were ecstatic to find a blue-staining, black-spored mushroom, a species of Panaeolus, now called Copelandia. We put a handful or two in a bowl with some fruit juice and mashed bananas. We had no idea what its potency was. We called the mixture a blue banana smoothie. It wasn’t blue at all, but it tasted great. We became unusually quiet, quite odd for a group of American eco-tourists (something we didn’t know we were at the time). I lay in a hammock and became somewhat dreamy. A storm blew up out of nowhere. It suddenly got quite dark and there was lightning and loud crashes of thunder. The ship’s crew

lowered large, blue plastic sheets along the sides of the deck, to keep the rain from blowing in. I was immobilized in the hammock, imagining myself in a lifeboat. I remembered reaching under the hammock and feeling all the holes between the interconnected strands of rope. Everything around me had become deep blue. Lightning would light up the scene and the blue plastic sheets flooded the deck with its color. I was panicky. I tried to talk but couldn’t; words wouldn’t come out of my mouth. I was overboard in a lifeboat full of holes. I was drowning. I was scared beyond belief. I must have passed out because the next thing I knew it was morning, the sun was out, the blue sheets had been raised, and I had not drowned in a leaky lifeboat. The experience, as horrific as it seemed at the time, has become a mere cocktail circuit anecdote. Many questions remain unanswered. For example, was this experience a pre-natal one, a sense of being mute and helpless in the womb at the very moment of being pushed out into the world? What, if anything, is to be made of such an experience? Why is it such an indelible memory for me when so little else from that trip down the Amazon can be recalled? 3 We were in Hobart, Tasmania. We had gathered in a motel room one night. We ate a number of mushrooms we had found earlier that day. We spent hours sitting around mostly responding to what anyone else was saying. It seemed to get progressively colder. One person wrapped herself in blankets that were on the bed. Another clutched a warm radiator, and hugged it like it was a sentient being. Not much happened. It was very late and we realized we were very hungry. We went out in search of an open restaurant. Everything was closed except for a Chinese restaurant, which was practically empty. We sat around a large table. After too long an interval someone came out of the kitchen and asked us what we wanted. We ordered. The food took forever to arrive. We asked for chopsticks. The dishes of food were placed on a large Lazy Susan. We had to move it around to bring whatever dish of Chinese food we wanted to sit in front of us so we could take some for ourselves. That’s when we knew the experience wasn’t over. The Lazy Susan started moving. The problem was it wouldn’t stop. Someone was always moving it. If

you tried to grab some food with your chopsticks while the dish passed by you, you would inevitably fail. The Lazy Susan seemed to move faster and faster. Nobody was able to take any food off it. The few people in the restaurant noticed our dilemma and watched us. They pulled up chairs around our table and sat there silently observing us. People walking by the restaurant saw something happening inside and came in and joined the group watching us. Every now and then the Lazy Susan slowed sufficiently so that we could get something out of one of the dishes of food, even if it wasn’t something that we really wanted to eat. We were convulsed in laughter the whole time, incapable of controlling our movements or communicating with one another. We were not getting dinner, as it were, but we were having a great time. Eventually, chairs were put up on tables, and the restaurant gave every sign of closing for the night. We lurched out into the street, still laughing, still hungry, still wondering whether this was the way things worked in the southern hemisphere. Across the street two kids were walking along as a group approached them. One of the kids in the group took off and ran full out at the two kids and tackled one of them. We assumed we were watching a mugging. But all we heard was laughter, and the kids involved got up and hugged and talked like this was the appropriate way of greeting someone in Tasmania. We thought they must have been high on something or other, or they were living in too close proximity to a large variety of marsupials, whatever that means. What sense, if any, could be made out of this group experience? Why, after a couple of decades, do I still feel connected to the people who just happened to be in that place at that time? 4 We were in Telluride, in a condo one night, about a dozen or so of us, taking mushrooms the way some people might have a drink or a smoke, a form of relaxation after a long, busy day. Someone said it was the night of the full moon. She went outside to watch it. After some time another person said she wanted to see it, too. She got up and went to the door. Unfortunately, the refrigerator was so placed that she had to pass it on her way to the door. She mistook the door of the refrigerator for the condo door, opened it, noticed the FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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light in the back of the refrigerator, and stuck her head inside. She stayed like that for several minutes, perhaps ten. Then she emerged from the refrigerator, closed the door, turned towards us, and said “the moon’s nice tonight, but it’s too cold out there,” and sat back down. Nothing we could say would convince her that she had not gone outside to see the moon. She was only convinced that we had conspired to fool her. To this day, we still wonder what she did, what she thought she was seeing, and what we saw her doing. After all, we had all had mushrooms, and nobody present was a designated driver. Was this a hallucinogenic experience on her part, or on ours? Was she acting as our surrogate for something we couldn’t begin to verbalize? What does it mean if it means anything at all? After all, does everything have to mean something? 5 We were in southern India, in Kodaikanal, a hill station resort town high above the lowland tropics. Irene and I and another couple had taken a cottage for the night. It offered a woodburning fireplace and the promise of a thermos of hot tea in the morning. We wandered about town. The center of town had one large dusty intersection. There were no paved roads in this town at the time. At one corner of the intersection a group of women gathered. All were wearing beautiful saris. One sat down on the ground holding a large basket. It contained mushrooms. The mushrooms were an edible kind, Russula virescens or something close. She was selling them even though it didn’t appear that anyone was buying. We didn’t know that Indians liked to eat mushrooms, or that any would be interested in eating wild mushrooms. We made a fuss over her, and engaged her and her family in chatter. It turned out that she also had mushrooms hidden in the folds of her sari. These were magic mushrooms, some bluing species of Psilocybe. She was selling these to Europeans who passed through Kodaikanal on their way to Goa. Goa was party central for a certain generation of European youth. We didn’t see anyone looking for her, but we took advantage of her supply and bought some for ourselves. That night in our cottage the four of us consumed the lot. The cottage was unheated and it was getting progressively cooler as the night wore on. We sat by the fireplace, made a

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huge fire, put on all our clothing, and still felt cold. The other male sat closest to the fire and, though wrapped in his scarf, was clearly still cold. We talked a lot, laughed a lot, shivered a lot, and soon ran out of firewood. We went out into the night looking for more but found nothing. We considered burning the furniture in the cottage. We discussed it matter-of-factly, as if it was a reasonable solution to keep the fire going. I’m not sure why we didn’t. There was a lot of wood to burn in that place, the chairs, the tables, the dressers, the doors, the walls themselves. We could have burned the cottage down to the ground. Instead, we said good-night and the two couples wandered off to bed – cold, dressed in everything we had to wear, covered with thin blankets, and clutching each other for all the animal warmth it was worth. Morning came, the cottage was intact, the hot tea was left for us at our front door, and we walked out into the crisp morning air. What had we experienced besides a numbing sense of cold, an inability to get warm, a drawing together then a pulling apart, and relief that we had not burned the house down around us? Perhaps we should have doubled the dose. But, then, if we had, perhaps we wouldn’t be here now. 6 We were in Oaxaca, Mexico, a group of about six of us, in a hotel room in the middle of town. On the bus ride crossing the mountains from Vera Cruz to Oaxaca, the bus overheated again and again. Each time we got out and walked about the surrounding forest waiting for our bus to cool down. We found mushrooms every time we stopped, all kinds of mushrooms, including magic mushrooms. We found nice collections of at least six different species of Psilocybe. In Oaxaca the next day we decided to try the different kinds of Psilocybe to see if there were any differences to be noted. The way we did this was to put all the mushrooms out on the bed in the hotel room. We made little piles for each species. Each person interested in taking them had to agree on the ground-rules. There was only one rule, actually, no mix and match. What you took you could only keep taking. You couldn’t move on to a second kind. You had to get whatever you could out of the one you selected, and nobody could select the same one anyone else did. Everyone was agreeable, and I kept notes

on a legal pad: How’s it going? How are you feeling? Are you seeing anything? Anything happening? It went along like that for a while. Then, one of our group decided to try another kind. I explained that this wasn’t a Whitman Sampler. You had to stay with what you chose. She didn’t see why that was necessary, and proceeded to try a different mushroom. This led a second person to do likewise. It wasn’t long before the study dissolved into a feeding frenzy, maybe because we hadn’t eaten much all day to prepare for this event, and we were very hungry. We were also very noisy. Someone from our group entered the room to tell us to quiet down. We were on the second floor but we could be heard down in the lobby. We tried to quiet down, and did to some extent, and sat or lay about in a kind of dreamy stupor for the rest of the day. Discussing it afterwards, some of us said they saw Mexican motifs everywhere, Mesoamerican hieroglyphics, things we had seen on our trip through Mexico come to life. Others didn’t see much of anything, just enjoyed the dreaminess of the experience. After three or four hours we were back to “normal,” except, of course, that we were in Oaxaca, and this was the epicenter for the shamanic ceremonies that Maria Sabina held, and Gordon Wasson described for the world to know. What had we accomplished, if anything? What had we experienced? What did it mean? Was Maria Sabina, hours away and high in the mountains, aware of our antics, perhaps mystified by our feckless attempt at studying something that, maybe, is beyond study, or from her perspective is something that shouldn’t be studied at all? 7 I was at Breitenbush, a New Age hot springs resort two hours from Portland, Oregon, for a Halloween weekend mushroom foray many years ago. At this time Breitenbush attracted a large diverse group of mushroom hunters. Some were actually just interested in identifying what was found. Many were attending because it was a place where one could take magic mushrooms in a setting deep in the forest, in a place festooned with hot tubs and saunas— some designed near the edge of the forest, quite isolated from everything and everyone else. It was a perfect place to get stoned, or so it was thought by many of those attending. I was given a number of mushrooms before a talk by

Terence McKenna. I remember being so locked into the talk that I jabbered along and made various enthusiastically encouraging noises. Others tried to hush me. I was undeterred. Someone said, “Give him more. He’s in too low an orbit.” I thought I was just fine. Obviously, I was interfering with others trying to listen to the talk. I didn’t think the words were important, just his presence, standing up before everyone, and saying something, anything. Meanwhile, my roommate, who had never taken magic mushrooms before, and who had taken the same amount that I had, had not felt anything at all. He was frustrated, walked about after the talk, and found someone with more, and took them. He did this again about a half hour later; that is, he took a total of 21 Psilocybe semilanceata, and nothing appeared to be happening. We went back to our cabin for the night. He disappeared for a while and came in somewhat disturbed. He found someone in the dark, who gave him a handful of some mushroom or other. He didn’t know what it was, but he swallowed them all. Soon after he returned, he got into his sleeping bag. He was silent for a while until suddenly he blurted out “Can you see my feet?” I thought he was joking. Of course not, I assured him, he was zipped up in a sleeping bag. His feet were covered. He didn’t believe me. He scrunched down in the sleeping bag so that I couldn’t see him at all, except as an outline in the sleeping bag. “Can you see me now?” he challenged me. He was sounding angry and somewhat frightened. I got help. Four or five of us sat up with him that night, mostly to talk to him, to calm him down, to assure him that everyone would be all right. One of these people—one of his close friends—started crying. She had taken mushrooms, also, and for the first time. She was cry-talking a stream of negative feelings, feelings of being inadequate, incapable of responding normally to being “high.” She seemed to be going through a painfully remembered (or imagined) childhood experience, and we became uncomfortably aware that we had two “patients” on our hands. It was a long night. The next morning we all got up, got to breakfast, and seemed none the worse for wear. We didn’t discuss the events of the night with either “patient.” But we wondered how much of what they were experiencing was a reliving of

traumatic early experiences. 8 It was late November, Irene and I were walking through San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. We entered the Strybing Arboretum because it looked like it had lots of trees and seemed promising for mushrooms, which we were not seeing elsewhere in Golden Gate Park. Almost immediately we encountered a young guy with a handful of mushrooms. “What are you going to do with those?” I asked. “Eat ’em,” was his only reply. I looked at what he had, and he was more than willing to show me his collection. He had a bunch of Psathyrella, a couple of Tubaria, and a number of Psilocybes. I told him that the Psilocybes looked like they were bluing, which meant that they were psychoactive. He replied that they all were. I tried to correct him, but it was hopeless. “I eat ’em all, and it always works,” he said. He went on his way, and we on ours. We passed an area mulched in wood chips, and there was a squirrel in the middle of it holding a mushroom! It was a Psathyrella. I took a photo or two before it moved away. We went to the spot and found it must have been the place the young man had just collected his mushrooms. There were Psathyrellas, Tubarias, and Psilocybes. The Psilocybe was P. cyanescens, a pretty distinctive species with a wavy cap. We collected some. We ate a couple of caps each. Irene ate the stems as well, but I thought they were too chewy and somewhat bitter. We continued to walk about the arboretum, and it wasn’t long before our legs were starting to feel rubbery. We sat down on a park bench. I looked into her eyes. They were glowing a kind of emerald green, a color that seemed to come from an ancient forest on the shores of a deep green sea. I felt I had been anesthetized, unable to move, barely able to speak. It started raining. We seemed to be glued to the park bench. The sidewalk in front of us broke up into geometric figures, no longer rectangles, but now all manner of free floating objects, assembling and reassembling themselves. We tucked our legs up under us. The grass beyond the path had tips that were glowing yellow, and in the distance there was a line of tall trees that became giant prehistoric birds, somewhat ostrich-like perhaps, standing on one leg, the other tucked up underneath, with heavy bodies moving back and forth in the wind. They weren’t

menacing, just there. The whole scene continued this way, in the rain, for an hour or so. We thought we could trust our legs to walk, and got up and walked out of the park. The rain had let up but it had gotten dark, and I was attracted to the bright red taillights of the cars on the road. I tried to reach them, to touch the lights, but was moved out of harm’s way. We made it back to where we were staying, somewhat giddy about the whole experience. What had we experienced? Perhaps it was something Jung described, archetypes in geometric patterns, in fairy tale form of giant, looming prehistoric birds, a world beyond the quotidian, Blake’s infinity in a grain of sand; or perhaps not. 9 We were a group of seven or so. Two of us were emergency room physicians. We were out on Long Island at a friend’s house. We had a quantity of dried Gymnopilus spectabilis, the Big Laughing Gym mushroom. It does not seem to contain psilocybin, but it does contain something very similar. It does not produce hallucinations but it does seem to be able to separate people temporarily from their inhibitions and anxieties. It is also intensely bitter and cannot be eaten raw or cooked without some kind of flavoring that can overpower the bitterness. We had dried a collection and we were eating them as crackers heavily covered with fruit preserves. Each of us had one or two three-inch dried caps. One person soon developed cramps, which she alleviated by standing on her head in the corner of a room for an hour or so. One of the doctors went outside and sat by a swimming pool. Although nothing tragic happened, it was a mistake to have taken mushrooms that can compromise our ability to see danger, and our reflexes to respond to an emergency. Another person found a tree in the yard that he latched onto and proceeded to slowly walk around and around, never letting go of the tree, for what seemed over an hour. When we asked him later what he did, he answered that he went for a walk. When we asked the emergency room physician sitting by the pool what he saw he said “pink dolphins.” I saw people in the distance getting on horses. What I thought I saw was the unfolding of a moment in our evolutionary past. A pair of primates had suddenly become erect and bipedal. Continued on page 50. FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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Notes from

Underground by David Rose

Psilocybe and Psychedelics; or, Timothy Leary in Baltimore Recent history is the record of a vast conspiracy to impose one level of mechanical consciousness on mankind and exterminate all manifestations of that unique part of human sentience, identical in all men, which the individual shares with his Creator. The suppression of contemplative individuality is nearly complete. – Allen Ginsberg, 1959.1

O

ne could come down with a terrible case of political mushrooms from reading the findings of the Johns Hopkins University psilocybin study and its sequelae in the media. The inordinate attention given to the study should not come as a surprise given the volatility of the subject. Possession of psilocybin, the psychoactive principle of many mushrooms in the genus Psilocybe, has been a federal crime in the U.S. since 1968, a year marked by unprecedented brutality and violence culminating in the election of Richard Nixon. Yet 1968 is recalled for a profound revolution in consciousness thanks, in part, to the widespread use of mind-altering chemicals that promised far better for humanity than tear gas, napalm, and

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dioxin. The Johns Hopkins study has garnered attention as a miraculous thaw after decades of enforced neglect into inquiry about psychedelics, for its research has confirmed that psilocybin is remarkable for its ability to provoke profound religious experiences with lasting benefits. The titles of the resulting journal articles summarize the findings quite neatly. The first, “Psilocybin can occasion mysticaltype experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance” by Roland R. Griffiths, William A. Richards, Una McCann, and Robert Jesse was published in Psychopharmacology in 2006. The second, “Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal

meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later,” by Griffiths et al., appeared two years later in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. The conclusion that psilocybin “occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously occurring mystical experiences” is presented as a scientific breakthrough of significance, but the irony remains that this is most certainly not news to anyone with a modicum of knowledge about psilocybin.2 This conclusion is rather like the jejune discussions one finds in a forum such as the “Science Times” section of The New York Times whose headlines serve up self-evident banalities like “New Study Shows Depressed People Are Sad.” If a shred of hopefulness can also be occasioned by the Johns Hopkins

findings, it will hardly be enough to warrant dancing in the streets over the forthcoming repeal of repressive drug laws. This thaw will scarcely mitigate the continuing deep freeze on Psilocybe and may only perpetuate it as neuroscience becomes vested in its control. That the psilocybin study was permitted at all, sanctioned as it was by the National Institute for Drug Abuse, is far more remarkable than the conclusion reached. The significance of the study is wholly political and not scientific; to be understood at all, it must be situated in its deeper historical context – one that is rife with stupendous and bitter controversy – and then examined with a cold eye, lest it elude us entirely. On the surface, the study was a rigorously controlled experiment designed to demonstrate whether or not persons having no previous experience with psychedelics might reach a state of consciousness described as “mystical” by ingesting high doses of psilocybin. Participants afterwards rated and described their drug sessions in twenty psychological rating scales and questionnaires recording various subjective data from “sensitivity to hallucinogens” to “spiritual transcendence.” Over 50 percent of the participants rated the psilocybin trips (not Dr. Griffiths’ word) among the top five most personally meaningful experiences of their lives. The study was not designed to test the utility of psilocybin in psychotherapy, nor was it intended as a basis from which to advocate for or against any change in policy or legislation regarding proscribed drugs other than the inevitable suggestion about the need for “further research” once its conclusions had been published. What clamors most for correction is the claim that “a systematic study of such effects has been almost nonexistent,” a statement fixated in a disregard for history that fosters a misperception that scientific investigation of psilocybin has never been attempted or even considered before. Yet the singular conclusion drawn from positive measures of mystical experience was carefully expressed by Dr. Griffiths: “When administered under supportive conditions, psilocybin occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously occurring mystical experiences. The

ability to occasion such experiences prospectively will allow rigorous scientific investigations of their causes and consequences.”3 But compare that bland caution to the Baltimore City Paper’s salutary extrapolation that “psychedelic drugs offer the potential for profound, transformative, and longlasting positive changes in properly prepared individuals.”4 Should we dare to suggest “positive changes for society” as well? Since 1968 however, such expressions of hopeful enthusiasm have been damned as misguided defense of “drug abuse;” uncontrolled personal experience is dismissed as “anecdotal;” and science in service to people has been ignored and willfully forgotten. Implicit in the Johns Hopkins study are the suppression of history and the denial of spiritual experience grounded in the colossal hegemony of drug control via the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA). As Hunter Thompson once quipped, “the brutal reality of politics alone would probably be intolerable without drugs.” The history of the truncated research into psychedelics and human personality has been treated

One of the first popular studies of psychedelics, personality, and psychotherapy; 1966.

in Psychedelics by Aaronson and Osmond, in The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience by Masters and Houston, and in LSD Psychotherapy by Stanislav Grof. Grof has reviewed the history of psychedelic therapy in studies of model psychosis, the psychology of religion, and the treatment of mental disorders. Research and therapy conducted through the 1970s had been designed to expedite the psychotherapeutic process, to provoke reactions in hardto-reach patients to resolve clinical conditions, and to treat cancer patients and aid the dying. After the Nixonian repression, the momentum of this research was effectively halted in the U.S. and much of the world. Findings about the psychotherapeutic safety of LSD and psilocybin have been repeatedly demonstrated and are widely known. The long defunct Association for Psychedelic Therapy active in the Sixties has been superseded today by other organizations, but the thread of history that unites these groups as a trend of advocacy has yet to be charted. Dr. Griffiths was not attentive to this history, but then the study he supervised did not intend to be – it was, rather, clinical. In actuality, the Johns Hopkins psilocybin study was nothing more than an exercise in legitimation. Since the legitimacy of research into psilocybin has long been questioned and thwarted, it had to be re-established and isolated in the white room of clinical purity if it was to shed viable spores for the NIDA. To this end, neuroscience and psychiatry collaborated to confirm the obvious. As an exercise in legitimation, the Hopkins psilocybin study is in essence a vindication of the path-breaking work of Timothy Leary, the psychologist-prophet of the psychedelic revolution, branded by Nixon as “the most dangerous man in America.” Control, as William Burroughs made painfully clear, is the ugly American. Tim Leary’s demise from Boston Brahmin Harvard psychologist to untouchable outcast guru on the lam was strictly a function of the generous humanity of his vision to relinquish control of LSD and psilocybin to all people, coupled to the hysterical politics of reaction and fear of transformative drug experience. Leary’s starting point for the deliverance of humanity via FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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psychedelic illumination is precisely the conclusion of the Hopkins psilocybin study. In 1963, Leary reported in The Psychedelic Review: Three years ago, on a sunny afternoon in the garden of a Cuernavaca villa, I ate seven of the so-called “sacred mushrooms” which had been given to me by a scientist from the University of Mexico. During the next five hours, I was whirled through an experience which could be described in many extravagant metaphors but which was above all and without question the deepest religious experience of my life.5

Originally delivered as a lecture at a meeting sponsored by the Board of Theological Education of the Lutheran Church of America at the 71st annual convention of the American Psychological Association, and later published in The

The “yen for instant Zen” spread from campus to campus like an epidemic of mononucleosis; 1966. Politics of Ecstasy, Leary’s statement on the spiritual potential of Psilocybe is seminal. This, the reasoned observation of an eminent psychologist, was recast as the raving of a lunatic in the subsequent campaign of harassment that led to Leary’s arrest and incarceration for a

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couple of joints of marijuana. The course of the story in its lamentable detail is found in a recent biography and in Leary’s Flashbacks.6 In essence, it has taken science half a century to validate Timothy Leary’s insight, an insight repeatedly achieved by countless college students and other seekers since the earliest LSD experiments were conducted by the CIA in the 1950s. Leary’s role as psychedelic guru remains vital to understanding the success of the Sixties counterculture in bringing an end to the war in Viet Nam; but its lesson here involves the manipulated discrediting of an accomplished academic and the wholesale crackdown on dissidence. Leary’s indiscretions and overstatements are outrageous only in light of the campaign of political persecution and vilification he endured. His mantra “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out” was a masterpiece of sloganeering, but the forces of reaction distorted its meaning into a monstrous evil on par with the communist menace if not the Anti-Christ. The result was to criminalize the mushroom eater. The further result was to waste billions of dollars in a hopelessly futile drug war and ruin millions of lives in the name of ideological rectitude over who defines what consciousness is and what it means. In Flashbacks, Leary stated he believed that psilocybin would “accelerate behavior change.” He was exasperated with “practicing a profession that did not seem to work” and changed careers (i.e., dropped out) to embrace psychedelics in an honest effort to counteract the unhappiness, stupidity, and conflict in which humanity is mired, is still mired. Aldous Huxley told him straight out that one obstacle to his newfound religionin-a-mushroom would be the Bible, i.e., the threat from established religion and America’s overzealous, pleasure-denying Puritanism. This was hardly news to Leary, for the Psilocybe of his inaugural trip had been provided by Gerhardt Braun of the University of Mexico who wrote on the suppression of Aztec use of teonanacatl by the Catholic Church. In 1960, Leary invited the poet Allen Ginsberg to Harvard to try psilocybin, and Allen came away so impressed that he and Leary began to consider the possibility of a “psychedelic revolution” to radicalize humankind with this lifechanging experience of inner vision. Allen realized that while marijuana easily

provoked states of mindful attentiveness, psilocybin represented a revolutionary transformation of consciousness. Allen later wrote to his father from Tangier that the “Harvard Mushroom professor came to visit… & is bringing Burroughs to Harvard to experiment in consciousness alteration.”7 Leary later visited Allen in New York where they took psilocybin together with Jack Kerouac. On that occasion, Leary and Kerouac rushed out to the street to play football with a fresh loaf of rye bread.8 As Allen’s understanding of psychedelics deepened, he came to believe that their essential character was to “inhibit conditioned reflexes.” He suggested that everyone take LSD at least once, though he later tempered the idea with emphasis on meditation that provides a ground for the natural unity of the experience. He insisted that any “tendency to bring police anxiety onto the scene will literally cause more traumatic damage to LSD users than the LSD itself.”9 Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg shared the reputation as the era’s most vocal and conspicuous advocates for psychedelics – Leary as the “high priest of LSD” and Ginsberg as the “poet laureate” of not only the beat movement in literature but of an entire generation coming of age in the shadow of war and impending nuclear holocaust. Allen’s research on U.S. government complicity in drug trafficking was years ahead of its time, and he was called on to share his views on LSD with a Senate committee deliberating on a law to ban it entirely. It was a perfect opportunity to speak truth to power, and Allen did so with sincerity and vision. In a statement before a U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee on June 14, 1966, Allen asked for forbearance and sympathy in presenting his case for accepting LSD “with proper humanity and respect.” Allen could hardly have been addressing more intransigent foes of open-mindedness and consciousness expansion. By such men Allen was perceived as a dangerous bearded commie faggot left-wing hippie provocateur. And Jewish. “If we want to discourage use of LSD for altering our attitudes,” Allen told the committee, “we will have to encourage such changes in our society that nobody will need it to break through to common sympathy.”10 It is difficult to imagine a more poignant statement on an issue about to turn sour beyond all recognition.

Allen’s honest assessment of the social context of psychedelics was rooted in Walt Whitman’s vision of democracy – the acid revolution carried the promise of democracy’s fulfillment. Allen cited three factors critical to a reasoned assessment of LSD, and his insights were spot-on: that “journalist panic” had exaggerated the dangers of psychedelics, that the actual dangers were minimal, and the potential for religious self-realization was inherent in the drug. In support of his plea for the benefits of LSD, he proposed 21 areas for systematic research on aspects of psychedelics and psychotherapy that included alcoholism, death and dying, obesity, depression, autism, addictions, homosexuality, and various modalities of psychotherapy the whole of which constituted an astute, well-researched review of the applications through which psychedelics might carry immediate benefit. Allen failed to win his case. Possession of LSD, psilocybin, and psilocin has been a federal crime since October 24,

Wherein we learn that marijuana leads to terminal apathy, psychosis, and murder; 1971. 1968 with passage of the Staggers-Dodd bill (public law 90-639) which amended the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act. In 1970, proscription of these hallucinogens

came under the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, which placed them in Schedule I, i.e., having a “high potential for abuse” and no accepted medical use. What the irrational taxonomy of this classification really means, as David Lensen points out in his book On Drugs, is that psilocybin has the highest “ratio of utility to danger,” i.e., it is used for getting high and nothing more.11 In 1971, psilocybin was also proscribed under the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances. President Nixon commissioned the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse in 1972 for recommendations about marijuana, which by then had become far and away the most popular illicit drug on college campuses as both the symbol and instrument of the countercultural protest against global war and eco-catastrophe. The commission stated that drug use is irresponsible when it “impedes integration into the economic and social system,” but when it recommended that marijuana not be criminalized, Nixon refused to read the report. The War on Drugs, in essence a program of social engineering, replaced the Viet Nam conflict as the militarization of America continued unabated.12 In the 1972 presidential race that spawned the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s resignation, the Republican smear campaign against Democrat George McGovern attempted to associate McGovern with “Acid, Amnesty, and Appeasement,” code words for chaos, dissidence, and treason.13 Though the campaign against psychedelics had reached a climax, the twisted politics of “Acid, Amnesty, and Appeasement” still acts on the psyche like a splash of grappa for breakfast. A decade earlier Ginsberg had prophetically implored: When will we discover an America that will not deny its own God? Who takes up arms, money, police and a million hands to murder the consciousness of God?14 The most omnivorously detailed work documenting the social turmoil of the Nixonian abyss is Ginsberg’s epic road poem, The Fall of America. Allen described it as a record of “the flux of car bus airplane dream consciousness Person during Automatic Electronic War years,” and he was the bardic third eye and mantra-chanting nerve net of consciousness confronting the robotic police state of America. Allen followed

Leary’s travails closely and gave his support at every turn. When Leary was jailed, Allen pressed for his release, even writing to Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas to request an explanation for Leary’s incarceration, calling it unconstitutional. He raised money for Leary’s defense and visited him in Folsom Prison.15 In The Fall of America, Allen portrayed Leary as the author of a psychedelic Declaration of Independence, unjustly silenced and denied liberty by the brain police: Leary out of action– “a public menace… persons of tender years . . .immature judgment . . . psychiatric examination . . .” i.e. Shut Up or Else Loonybin or Slam16

The Fall of America is a poetic documentary of intensity and moral conviction in which Allen also captured the psychobabble of the drug experience, as in the poem “Graffiti 12TH Cubicle Men’s Room Syracuse Airport:” Man, I’m really stoned out of my skull really O-Zoned – good old LSD the colors in here are so nice really fine colors and the floor tile is really outasight if you haven’t tried it you ought to since it is the only way to really get your head together by first getting it apart LSD Forever.17

Allen’s verbatim transposition of trippy graffiti from a lavatory into poetic form vividly documents the prevailing zeitgeist, but it also reminds us of the intrinsic connection of poesis and psychedelic experience as pure creativity. Maria Sabina’s mushroom velada ultimately came to be a vital source of this realization, but the poets and writers who plumbed consciousness through language and drugs in the Sixties also proved this out. Leary included the work of poet Charles Olson in an early issue of The Psychedelic Review following Olson’s experiments with the mushroom. Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test was an enormously popular and inventive language experiment disguised as a documentary novel. Wolfe brilliantly explored the tension between the extrasensory athleticism of Ken Kesey’s merry pranksters and the buttoned-down fastidiousness of Leary’s ecclesiasticism at Millbrook where LSD was revered as a “sacrament.” In Richard Brautigan’s FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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Trout Fishing in America, vomiting at “Mushroom Springs” was a sly reference to the ingestion of Psilocybe, which turned up yet again as an herb to be smoked in Carlos Castaneda’s The Teachings of Don Juan. Michael McClure’s essay on “The Mushroom” in Meat Science Essays appears alongside his triptych on peyote, heroin, and cocaine. McClure believed Psilocybe “opens you up so that you feel internally deep inside, and all around you, the utterly human and humane.” Just as Wolfe penetrated the intersubjectivity of shared psychedelic experience in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, McClure emphasized that with the mushroom, people are primary: “The strangest, most grotesque, and most glorious people on earth are selected and paraded in front of you. It’s one of the most elevated cosmic dramas ever seen.”18 After the Sixties, interest in Psilocybe scuttled underground and spread into streams of psychedelia worlds apart from amateur mycology, even though some cross-over of interests occurred. There were strong pockets of interest in the northwest coast and in the San Francisco Mycological Association, aided with reliable information from mycologists such as D. H. Mitchell, co-author of Toxic and Hallucinogenic Mushroom Poisoning. Terrence McKenna lit out for the territory and plunged fearlessly into an extended experiment with Psilocybe and psychoactive plants that lasted a lifetime. McKenna assumed the pseudonym “O. T. Oss” in one of the first cultivation guides, Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide by “O. T. Oss and O. N. Oeric.”19 The laws banning Psilocybe, however, usually divided the interests of psychonauts from the clubland of amateur mycology. In 1974, Harry Knighton, founder of the North American Mycological Association (NAMA), wrote to the Charleston, SC police department in defense of a student member of NAMA for collecting Psilocybe. Knighton’s complaint came to naught, and the student was charged with possession of Schedule I contraband. In a note entitled “Contrasts in the Carolinas” in The Mycophile, Knighton discussed the legal predicament of the student. The young man, who had been collecting mushrooms near a stable, was “accosted by a detective who confiscated his collection and his NAMA membership card.” After analysis of the mushrooms,

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the student was arrested and charged with “possession of psilocybin for distribution.” Knighton stated that “this is our first experience with students or collectors being equated with the modern drugcult.” In an appeal to members to notify NAMA of similar incidents, Knighton made it plainly clear that NAMA was more concerned about the bureaucratic “red tape” of obtaining collection permits for foray sites than with the injustice of seeing an innocent collector thrust behind bars for the suspicious contents of his collecting basket. That Psilocybemycophiles were dismissed as members of a “drug cult” and were therefore not “serious” collectors was one root of NAMA’s reluctance to take an activist stance on the politics of Psilocybe. NAMA thereafter remained aloof from the issue entirely. Knighton had contemptuously dismissed the book entitled A Key to the American Psilocybin Mushroom (1972) as “drivel,” and while the book contains both serious inaccuracies and trippedout hosannas in praise of hallucinations unlikely to appeal to traditionalists, he complained, “the whole thing is wrapped in a plastic cover, no doubt to protect the user from the dung-hill habitat favored by the author.” Psilocybe thus came tainted with the (political) shit that it grows on, Knighton had no inclination to understand the motivation behind getting high, and NAMA’s journal McIlvainea never published an article on the subject save for minor asides in toxicology columns and Andrew Weil’s “The Psilocybin Mushroom Rituals of Maine,” an interesting but inconsequential historical piece. NAMA’s perspective on the agarics banished the genus Psilocybe to a Neverland a propos its position in political taxonomy as The Outlaw Mushroom.20 Psilocybe-mycophiles were hungry for knowledge, but knowledge is dangerous, and the case of a little Golden Guide book on psychoactive plants provides an instructive example of how a whiff of knowledge is quashed. Golden Guide books were familiar to most everyone who grew up in the last fifty years interested in nature and science. The books were ubiquitous, simplistic, but fairly reliable guides to a host of subjects, directed to a younger audience. In 1976, the publisher, Western Publishing Company, released Hallucinogenic Plants, a Golden Guide written by Richard Evans

Schultes, the pre-eminent ethno-botanist of the Americas. In it, Schultes covered everything from Amanita muscaria to yage, identifying over a dozen species of Psilocybe and allies, and discussing the chemistry of psilocybin and ethnomycology. Morning glories, Datura, Cannabis, peyote cactus, and Amanita muscaria are depicted conspicuously on the cover. The price was $1.95 for a compact guide by a foremost expert on psychoactive plants and fungi, which slipped handily into one’s back pocket.

Knowledge of Psilocybe is dangerous: this Golden Guide was suppressed; 1976. Both the hardcover and paperback editions of Hallucinogenic Plants sold with such rapidity that Western Publishing refused to re-publish it, even though its market was assured. Here was a book, not with recipes for psilocybin synthesis, but rather simple, accurate information about the mushrooms.21 Yet it was deemed entirely too dangerous for re-release and remains out-of-print. Soon after, Psilocybe Mushrooms and their Allies by Paul Stamets was published in 1978, providing the first authoritative guide to the genus apart from professional monographs. Stamets revisited the subject with Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World in 1996, which is a masterpiece of the fully realized potential of a field guide grounded in practical science and a deep

appreciation of ethnohistory. The hard-shell empiricism of the Hopkins study seems impeccable, but who needs empiricism when, as Goethe claimed, the highest wisdom is to realize that every fact is already a theory. The political subjectivity infiltrating Dr. Griffiths’s use of language distances his experiment from the history of previous study. Two of his terms, “anecdotal” and “drug abuse,” deserve comment. “Anecdotal” is a catch-all dismissal of the truth or validity of any subjective experience or cultural phenomenon. Thus, the experiences of those who passed the acid tests, Mazatec shamanism, the ceremony of the Native American Church, and the personal testimony of the Harvard Mushroom Professor are all baseless in the Johns Hopkins schema. Such dismissive spin on “the anecdotal” reconfigures the epistemology of mystical experience, blessing the clinical regime as superior in the hierarchy of legitimacy. Reference to the “epidemic of hallucinogen abuse that occurred in the 1960s” thus aligns the study with the state and legal sources of legitimation. Who defines drug abuse? “Drug abuse” is a concept shared by psychiatry with the police. Dr. Griffiths also appropriated the terms “set” and “setting” in implicit denial of Leary’s earlier use of these very terms. An examination of the selection bias in the study based on social class, education, and ethnicity of its participants might topple Dr. Griffiths’s stack of questionnaires, but the musical program used to guide his Psilocybe trippers reveals subjective bias quite vividly. Reclining on sofas and protected from visual distractions, the subjects listened to the Brahms Second Symphony, Bach’s Mass in B Minor, and Samuel Barber’s Adagio.22 Was there a control group listening to old Pat Boone records? Or playing football in the street with a loaf of rye bread? The Brahms offers stimulating dynamics, but why not the Grateful Dead’s Dark Star of February 18, 1971 at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York? If anything, subjecting one’s subjects to Bach’s Mass contaminates the study with the Christian imagery of the Kyrie: Christ have mercy! Why not Kyrie Eleison by the Electric Prunes? Better still, John Lennon’s Gimme Some Truth. If the protocol calls for Samuel Barber, try Music for a Scene from Shelley. The Johns Hopkins psilocybin

study seems to represent a sort of breakthrough, an indication of attitudes in transformation, a tiny flake from the fortress of intransigence. But somehow its claim to relevance shrinks to insignificance before the evidence that the whole thing has been so strictly policed. Until Psilocybe mushrooms are freely available, and marketed freely, without restraint of law and fear from intimidation, violence, and terror intrinsic to America’s drug inquisition, the study holds promise solely for psychiatric career-making and pharmaceutical profits. It will continue to be cited as exemplary for all the wrong reasons as “further studies” pile higher and deeper to create a psilocybin bureaucracy to match the NIDA’s marijuana bureaucracy. In actuality, the experiment smothered the revelatory mystique of psilocybin in a bloated excess of methodology. That its battery of prepared questionnaires legitimated Timothy Leary’s quest remains its crowning irony, but its overseers will veer away from this implication as the discourse of “neurochemical systems” and “counterbalanced methods” continues to shroud outlaw mushrooms in the fogbank of science for a single purpose: to perpetuate control. Dr. Herbert Kleber bemoans the fate of scientific research forestalled by the “street use of these agents,” knowing full well that it is criminalization and not street use, that has foreclosed scientific inquiry for nearly five decades.23 Satisfied that psychedelics have not reached “the same penetration” of popularity as in the Sixties, Dr. Kleber seems blissfully unaware of the breadth of recent 420 observances in celebration of another Schedule I substance. The contradiction inherent in Kleber’s political justification thrusts the legacy of the Johns Hopkins study into the abyss of paranoia attended so efficiently by the watchdogs of the NIDA. Instead of illumination, we are given a piffling reminder that the “legal” use of psilocybin is securely in the hands of bureaucrats. Meanwhile, in mason jars and Petri dishes, from Berkeley to Tallahassee, thousands of fruiting bodies of Psilocybe cubensis are nosing their way upward into the light of day. March 13, 2011 saw the death of Owsley Stanley, whose role as archchemist of the psychedelic revolution was legendary in the countercultural

exuberance to cleanse the doors of perception. In his private labs Owsley manufactured millions of doses of pure LSD that energized the acid tests of 1965. Deservedly lionized as the sound engineer for the Grateful Dead in their glory days, he proved for all time that chemistry trumps politics. To paraphrase Swift, Owsley did more essential service for his country than the whole race of politicians put together. The Fugs, in their album Tenderness Junction, rendered Timothy Leary’s famous slogan into an electrified exhortation for “middle-age, middle-brow, middle-class whiskey drinkers” to TURN ON / TUNE IN / DROP OUT! The Fugs’ Tuli Kupferberg, who died July 2010, was memorialized in Allen Ginsberg’s Howl as the person who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge. Tuli was a mordant wit, poetic radical, and unrepentant street anarchist, and late in life he had this to say about the youth culture that embraced psychedelics in the flower of Sixties dissidence: We haven’t retreated from 1968. Almost everything we believed in is correct. We’re biding our time, and still keeping in shape. The world is going to hell in a computer; we need radical changes. The problem is no one knows quite what to do, since the old theories of Marxism and anarchism are rather inadequate. So we need a lot of new ideas and ways of putting them into reality. And everybody who is reading this better get to work. That’s my message.24

The Incredible String Band posed acid politics as a pair of half-remarkable, never-realized questions: What is it that we are part of? What is it that we are? Science and Dr. Griffiths will have a tough time trying to weigh in on existential imponderables. “With all your science can you tell how it is, and whence it is, that light comes into the soul?” So asked Henry David Thoreau in his magnificent journal. The divine Henry David had no experience with shrooms (presumably), but he had quite the knack for provoking neverrealized questions. Neuroscience and psychiatry, on the other hand, consider the soul either an epiphenomenon of mind or a mere will-o’-the-wisp, a quaint and outmoded figment to be explained away. The flash in the soul brought on by shrooms doesn’t need to be privileged by neuroscientists and psychiatrists. Psilocybin is chemical FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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Hopkins Psilocybin Studies” Baltimore City Paper, October 8, 2008. 5 Timothy Leary, “The Religious Experience: Its Production and Interpretation,” (1963) The Psychedelic Review, 1(3): 324-46. 6 Robert Greenfield, Timothy Leary: A Biography (2006) Harcourt. 7 Allen and Louis Ginsberg, Family Business: Selected Letters between a Father and Son (2001) Bloomsbury, p. 157 8 Bill Morgan, I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg (2006) Viking Penguin, p. 324. 9 Allen Ginsberg, “A National Hallucination” (1966) in Deliberate Prose, p. 84. 10 Allen Ginsberg, “U.S. Senate Statement,” June 14, 1976, in Deliberate Prose, pp. 67-82, first published in the Congressional Record. 11 David Lensen, On Drugs (1995), University of Minnesota, pp. 4-6. 12 See Dan Baum, Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure (1996) Little, Brown; and Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD, and the Sixties Rebellion (1985) Grove Press. 13 Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 (1976) Grand Central Publishing, p. 200. 14 Allen Ginsberg, “Poetry, Violence, and the Trembling Lambs,” p. 5. 15 Allen and Louis Ginsberg, op. cit., pp. 314-14; 341; 343; 384-85. 16 Allen Ginsberg, “Crossing Nation” in The Fall of America: Poems of These States, 1965-1971 (1972) City Lights Books, pp. 90-91. 17 Allen Ginsberg, “Graffiti 12TH Cubicle Men’s Room Syracuse Airport:” in The Fall of America (1972) City Lights Books, pp. 137-38. 18 Michael McClure, “The Mushroom,” in Meat Science Essays (1966) City Lights, pp. 32-39. 19 O. T. Oss & O. N. Oeric, Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide (1976) And/Or Press. 20 “Contrasts in the Carolinas” The Mycophile, July/August 1974, 15(4):2; “Strange Interlude” The Mycophile, May/ June 1972, 13(3):4; Andrew Weil “The Psilocybin Mushrooms Rituals of Maine” McIlvainea, 1981, 5(1):20-22. 21 Richard Evans Schultes Hallucinogenic Plants (1976) The Golden Press: Racine, WI. 22 Michael M. Hughes, op. cit. 23 Herbert D. Kleber, “Commentary on: Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences...” Psychopharmacolog (2006). 24 Tuli Kupferberg, liner notes for Electromagnetic Steamboat: The Reprise Recordings, by The Fugs (2001) Warner Bros Records, RHM2 7759. 25 Incredible String Band, “The Half-Remarkable Question,” in Wee Tam & the Big Huge (2000, orig. 1968) Fledgling Records, FLED 3079; Henry David Thoreau, The Journal, 1837-1861 (2009) New York Review Books, p. 60; on Dock Ellis, see James Blagden “Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No” (2009) at www youtube.com; see Taj Mahal “Take a Giant Step;” Allen Ginsberg’s epigram is from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.

By Michael W. Beug Professor Emeritus, The Evergreen State College, P. O. Box 116, Husum, WA 98623, [email protected]

O

n May 13, 1957, a Life magazine article by R. Gordon Wasson brought the ritual use of hallucinogenic mushrooms in Mexico to the attention of readers in North America and a new age, the psychedelic 60s, was about to begin. The title of Wasson’s now famous Life magazine article was “Seeking the Magic Mushroom” and the opening spread (Figure 1, pp 100-101) shows Curandera “Eva Mendez” preparing for the ceremony by smoking the mushrooms in burning aromatic leaves. Wasson and his Russian-born wife, Valentina, had spent four summers in the remote mountains of Mexico seeking the mushrooms with vision-giving powers and in this article Wasson changed the names of the Mixeteco Indians to protect their

privacy. “Eva Mendez” was actually the Mazatec healer, Maria Sabina, who was to become quite famous. It was the night of June 29-30, 1955 “in a Mexican Indian village so remote that most of the people still speak no Spanish, my friend Allan Richardson and I shared with a family of Indian friends a celebration of ‘Holy communion’ where ‘divine’ mushrooms were first adored and then consumed.” It was a ceremony of mixed Christian and preChristian elements. “The mushrooms were of a species with hallucinogenic powers; that is, they cause the eater to see visions. We chewed and swallowed these acrid mushrooms, saw visions, and emerged from the experience awestruck… Richardson and I were the first white men in recorded history to eat these divine mushrooms, which for centuries have been a secret

of certain Indian peoples living far from the great world in southern Mexico. No anthropologist had ever described the scene that we witnessed.” Figure 2 shows pages 102-103 of the famous article with an image of the house where the mushrooms were consumed and images

Figure 1.

software, requiring but an open mind, fine-tuned education, and guided preparation to begin the personal search for halfremarkable answers. The inevitable cautions about safety and risks may be balanced against gonzo prescriptions like “when in doubt, double the dose.” Surely we won’t want airline pilots and pregnant women to trip out, but the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis once demonstrated that it’s possible to pitch a no-hitter “high as a Georgia pine” on acid. Psilocybin won’t necessarily alter your inauthentic existence, banish feelings of loneliness and alienation, or penetrate the thick rind of your false consciousness … but then again, it might. So, Godspeed, good neuroscientists! Take a giant step outside your mind! As Allen Ginsberg sang in his holy epigram to Howl: – Unscrew the locks from the doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!25 Endnotes 1 Allen Ginsberg, “Poetry, Violence, and the Trembling Lambs, or Independence Day Manifesto” (4 July 1959) in Deliberate Prose: Selected Essays, 1952-1995 (2000) Perennial, pp. 3-5. 2 R. R. Griffiths et al., “Psilocybin can occasion mystical type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance” (2006) Psychopharmacology, 187: 268-83; R. R. Griffiths et al., “Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later” (2008) Journal of Psychopharmacology, 22(6):621-32. 3 Griffiths, op cit, 2006. 4 Michael M. Hughes, “Sacred Intentions: Inside the Johns

of Wasson first taking his ration of six pairs of mushrooms from Curandera “Eva Mendez” and then, following custom, chewing them slowly, taking about one half hour to eat. This was the second night, when Allan Richardson

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3) of the ceremony that was held in an underground room in complete blackness photographed by pointing the flash towards audible sounds. For the hordes of mostly young people who would soon descend on this region, the next pages, 106107, became like a biblical guide, for they contain “Rare vision-giving fungi shown for the first time”

phosphate group, P, and its surrounding oxygens in the Figure 6, leaving an –OH group in its place). Psilocin is the more potent of the two chemicals, but since the GI tract quickly dephosphorylates psilocybin, it matters little which drug you ingest – they both wind up as psilocin as they enter circulation and mimic serotonin (Figure 7) in the brain. A few years before, Albert Hoffman had synthesized LSD-25, one of many derivatives of lysergic acid he was making in a search for a drug to help stop excessive bleeding in childbirth. The lysergic acid is isolated from ergot, the resting stage of the fungus Claviceps purpurea. Ergot, a contaminant in grain that looks much like a blackened kernel of wheat, was known to produce feelings of intense heat followed by severe loss of blood flow, resulting in a gangrene-like condition, leading, in severe cases, to the loss of arms and legs. The condition, produced by ergotamine, is known as

Figure 7.

Figure 6.

Figure 4. therapies, with some patients reporting profound spiritual experiences and, hence, the ability to make important life changes… understanding how mystical experiences can engender benevolent attitudes towards oneself and others will, in turn, aid in explaining the well-documented role of spirituality in psychological well-being and health.” But they also caution that “In the Johns Hopkins study, even after careful screening and at least eight hours of preparation with a clinical psychologist, about a third of the participants experienced some period of significant fear and about a fifth felt paranoia sometime during the session… other potential risks of hallucinogens include prolonged psychosis, psychological distress, or disturbances in vision or other senses lasting days or even longer.” In unsupervised situations, they report that paranoia following mushroom usage has led to accidental injuries and even suicide. When the Life magazine article was written, no one yet knew what drug

was present in the mushrooms. It was Albert Hoffman, a Swiss researcher working for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals who successfully isolated and synthesized the two principal active ingredients of the magic mushrooms, announcing his success in the late 1950s. He named one compound psilocybin (Figure 6) and the other psilocin. Psilocin is simply a psilocybin molecule that has been dephosphorylated (loss of the

Figure 5.

Figure 2. Figure 3. photographed the ceremony rather than partaking again, and so we have the images on pages 104-105 (Figure

(Figure 4). On his last trip to southern Mexico before writing the Life article, Wasson was accompanied by Professor Roger Heim, a mycologist and head of France’s Muséum National d’History Naturells. Heim would collect and name many of these magic mushrooms. There was the prized Psilocybe mexicana Heim, found in pastures (see Figure 13 in the accompanying article “The genus Psilocybe in North America” by M. Beug in this issue of FUNGI); the “Crown of Thorns,” Psilocybe zapotecorum Heim, found on marshy ground (see Figure 13, Psilocybe hoogshagenii Heim sensu lato, in the accompanying article Beug); the “Mushroom of Superior Reason,” Psilocybe caerulescens Murrill var. nigripes Heim also found on marshy ground (see Figure 4 in the accompanying article by Beug); and “Children of the Waters,” Psilocybe aztecorum Heim, found on woody debris (see Figure 18 in the accompanying article by Beug). There was also the abundant Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Singer, found on dung (Figure 5). Psilocybe cubensis was to become the low-potency less desirable Psilocybe served to uninformed gringos who would soon be flooding to Mexico in pursuit of the Magic Mushrooms. About his experiences Wasson said “For the first time the word ecstasy took on real meaning. For the first time it did not mean someone else’s state of mind.” But Wasson also issued a caution that was soon to be lost on the masses: “hallucinogenic mushrooms must be treated with extreme caution. Among the Indians, their use is hedged with restrictions of many kinds. Unlike ordinary mushrooms, these are never sold in the marketplace, and no Indian dares to eat them frivolously, for excitement. The Indians themselves speak of their use as muy delicado, that is, perilous” (p. 106). Fast forward to the present and an article hot off the presses as I write this. The title is “Hallucinogens as Medicine” and it appeared in the December 2010 Scientific American (Griffiths and Grob, 2010). Roland Griffiths is the lead investigator of the psilocybin research initiative at Johns Hopkins. Charles Grob’s research at UCLA includes looking at psilocybin for treating anxiety in cancer patients. “Early results from the new trials point to the promise of these

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edible mushrooms were still abundant in the forests around Breitenbush, and cooking demonstrations, often in the past by Dr. Andrew Weil (Figure 8), were always part of the festivities. Halloween night there was a costume party. At the dance, Gary Lincoff was the most exquisitely costumed of all – in the authentic dress of a Siberian Shaman, obtained in his tours of the Russian Far East in pursuit of ethnomycological knowledge – his talk had been on what he learned in that part of the world where Amanita muscaria is the mushroom of the shamans. As I listened to Gary, I came to realize that were this an earlier time or had Gary lived in Siberia, he would indeed have been one of those very special people, a shaman. I had agreed to be the guide that 1999 Halloween night for a writer/reporter who wanted to try magic mushrooms for the first time. I do not know what mushrooms were consumed or how many. But I do believe that I may have been one of the few who merely observed the proceedings. But far from what one might imagine from the descriptions of Timothy Leary’s orgies, it was a sublimely quiet and peaceful evening. Some people danced a little but most sat quietly on cushions and couches, visiting at times but mostly turned inward and reflective. No one was loud, boisterous or rowdy. People came and went from the hot pools and the steam sauna. Participants enjoyed the beauty of the ancient forest and the old wooden meeting hall where we were

Evergreen faculty came from failed educational experiments elsewhere, experiments that were a product of the times. Rebellious faculty, having been fired for participating in Civil Rights marches and other protest activities like the Viet Nam War protests, flooded to Evergreen, whose doors opened to the first faculty in 1970 and to students in 1971. Students who had departed from multiple previous institutions poured in. I was hired in 1972, somehow picked out of the 10,000 faculty applications that they had received (including, according to mycologist Dr. Ron Peterson, an application by his entire University of Tennessee Biology Department, to bring their department intact to Evergreen). I applied to Evergreen merely because I wanted to live in the Pacific Northwest, ski, fish and hunt gathered. I wondered, once again, why mushrooms for dinner. I had not a clue these mushrooms are illegal. what I was about to get into. I had tried In 1968 the U.S. federal prohibition marijuana a few times and was quite of psilocybin and psilocin was passed. unimpressed. The most notable drug Possession was treated the same as event of my young professional career possession of hard addicting drugs had been the morning that I gave my last like heroin and cocaine. The battle of lecture at Harvey Mudd College before Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert and leaving to join the Evergreen faculty. the Harvard administration was the The freshman women (there were about focal event that led to the QuarterPageFungiMag passage of 20 or 11/3/10 30 women8:54 in all AM of Harvey Page 3Mudd this law. For the first time, a drug of bright, affluent white kids had been banned. Research M U S H R O O M G U R U · N AT U R A L I S T on hallucinogens at Harvard and elsewhere came to an abrupt end (Wark, 2010). The founding in the late 1960s of The Evergreen State College, an alternative college with evaluations rather than grades, teamtaught integrated programs rather than courses and no specific course requirements, would soon provide a new venue. The T E A C H E R · M E N T O R · M O T I VAT O R emergence of this To order posters: www.samristich.com college at this time 18”X 24” · $25 UNFRAMED · $115 FRAMED was no accident. Proceeds benefit Sam Ristich Archive Fund Many of the early

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he was possibly too successful. Within six weeks of his return from Cuernavaca, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals had granted Dr. Leary four bottles of psilocybin pills for research. Along with a colleague, Richard Alpert (who was to change his name to Ram Dass) and several graduate students, Timothy Leary began experiments to learn the effects of dosage and place, soon moving from classroom to his home and student residences to escape the sterility of academia. Undergraduates began to hear rumors of psilocybin sessions turned orgy and demanded to be able to take part. Scandal ensued. Traditional psychologists at Harvard began to express concerns in private but soon word of their displeasure reached the pages of the Harvard Crimson. Timothy Leary added mescaline and LSD to his researches - recreational drug use was sweeping the country. In 1963 official concern came to a head at Harvard and both Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert were fired, only to go on to become cultural icons. In the 1960s Timothy Leary’s slogan was “Turn on, tune in, drop out.” Rebellious youth rioted against the Viet Nam War, smoked pot and tried all manner of hallucinogens – leading to increasing official consternation. Meanwhile the CIA and the military were exploring the potential for hallucinogenic drugs. At the very last Mycomedia® gathering (in 1999) at Breitenbush, a hot springs retreat in the Oregon Cascades, we all jammed with Ken Kesey and his band, the Merry Pranksters, and listened while Ken told the audience of participating in those CIA drug experiments and clandestinely obtaining the keys to the locked cabinets with the various hallucinogens – and thus the birth of the “Kool Aid Acid” bus and his psychedelic tours about the U.S. with his Merry Pranksters. At Breitenbush at the end of October, 1999, we were marking the end of the biennium. We even got to ride on the last incarnation of the famous bus. At this final Mycomedia® event (it had been about 15 years since we had last all been together) Paul Stamets had spared no expense to bring speakers from all over the world, shamans and scientists alike. It was the weekend of Halloween, the traditional time of year for the Mycomedia® gatherings, while choice

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backbone and both would be expected to bind to the same receptors in the brain – albeit bind with different strengths. LSD binds much more strongly and thus it is no surprise that it is both effective at a much lower dosage and effective for much longer – much too long in my humble opinion. LSD is also much more likely to cause long-term adverse effects and “flashbacks.” In the 1950s, R. Gordon Wasson and his associates were not alone in traveling to Mexico to learn about the ancient mushroom rituals of the Indian peoples. Blasius P. Reko, Richard E Schultes and others were also involved in rediscovering and documenting the use of psilocybin mushrooms in shamanic ceremonies by indigenous Mesoamerican peoples. They uncovered quite convincing evidence that the shamanic rituals that they were observing were remnants of ancient religion practiced by Aztec and Mayan civilizations, modified little by the overlay of Catholicism introduced by the Spanish. Their evidence included “mushroom stones” and other archeological evidence, plus they were able to uncover some obscure writings by one early monk that survived despite Catholic Church attempts to wipe out all ancient knowledge of these peoples and to persecute users of magic mushrooms. Schultes and others came to realize that Psilocybe mexicana was esteemed as a holy sacrament called teonanacatl (God’s flesh) in Aztec (see Stamets, 1996). In the summer of 1960, Timothy Leary was vacationing in Cuernavaca when he tried the mushrooms, purchased from a street peddler (Hudler, 1998b). The influx of thrill-seekers after the Life article was already having a profound effect on southern Mexico and the societal prohibitions regulating use of Psilocybe mushrooms were already fraying. As a psychotherapist and newly appointed director of the Center for Research in Personality at Harvard University, Dr. Leary felt that the mushrooms could form the basis for his newly proposed existential approach to psychotherapy, where the therapist becomes immersed in the patient’s psychological turmoil. The mind-altering mushrooms would allow the therapist to reach the mental state of the disturbed. Leary had been told by his superiors to shake things up at Harvard, and at this

Figure 8.

gangrenous ergotism but because of the intense fire-like pain of the early stages of the disease became known as St. Anthony’s fire (Hudler, 1998a). Madness also often accompanied accidental ergot consumption and was caused by two compounds in Ergot, ergine and lysergic acid hydroxyethylamide, the target of Hoffman’s research (Hudler, 1998a). The discovery of the hallucinatory effect of LSD-25 was purely an accident resulting, Hoffman believed, from the absorption of tiny amounts of LSD directly through his skin. It was Albert Hoffman’s fascination with the effects of LSD (and the consequent massive self-experimentation with LSD by Hoffman and many other researchers at Sandoz) that led Hoffman to also investigate Psilocybe species to see what caused them to produce hallucinations so remarkably similar to LSD. He knew that LSD produced hallucinations that were much longer lasting than the hallucinations produced by Psilocybe species (on average 12 hours for LSD versus 6 hours for the mushrooms) but the hallucinations were otherwise exceptionally similar in nature. Were the active ingredients of the Psilocybe mushrooms at all structurally similar to LSD, a slight modification of a metabolite from the mushroom Claviceps purpurea? To the untrained eye, the answer is no, LSD is a much more complicated molecule. But at their core, the two molecules share a very similar indole

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were swarming farm fields, critically examining mulch and wood chip beds, and were stooped over on athletic fields

Jeremy Bigwood (Figure 10), who never seemed interested in completing a degree, instead worked with me as a registered undergraduate for roughly six years. His focus was mushroom cultivation as well as chemistry. He had coauthored (under an alias) Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide (Oss and Oeric, 1976 & 1986) and in 1978 coauthored with Jonathan Ott the book Teonanacatl: Hallucinogenic Mushrooms of North America. While Paul stayed pretty focused on mushrooms, Jeremy was interested in all hallucinogenic plants, using that interest to prepare a list of all of the plants and spices containing controlled substances that one could purchase at Safeway®. I used that list in a frontal approach on the law against psilocybin and psilocin possession while as an expert witness in a trial of a person who had been cultivating Psilocybe cubensis. The arguments were that 1) the law provided no list of which mushrooms it was illegal to possess and 2) there was unequal application of the law since Safeway® was never prosecuted for their sale of hallucinogenic materials. I did succeed in getting threatened with a citation for

Figure 11. contempt of court. I did not succeed in protecting the grower from prison. Jonathan Ott was a prolific writer. In addition to his previously mentioned book with Jeremy Bigwood, he wrote Hallucinogenic Plants of North America (Ott, 1976) and published articles on psilocybin in fungi (Ott and Guzmán, 1976; Ott and Pollock, 1976). Jonathan never liked the term hallucinogen and coined the term “entheogen,” but though he championed the term for years, it never caught on. Jonathan became a close friend of R. Gordon Wasson and soon left Evergreen to work on Amanita muscaria and Amanita pantherina with Dr. Scott Chilton (Figure 11) at the University of Washington. Interestingly, even though ibotenic acid and muscimol, the active ingredients of these Amanita species, are potent mind-altering drugs with a very narrow dose-response curve (it is easy to get too much) and very nasty side-effects, neither ibotenic acid nor muscimol were ever made illegal. They never got the notoriety

Figure 12.

and prison exercise yards. Paul Stamets (Figure 9) was to work with me for the next four years and completed his Bachelor’s degree – I was his only professor. For his capstone senior project, Paul completed the manuscripts for his first two books, which were soon published. One manuscript became Psilocybe Mushrooms and their Allies and the other, with coauthor Jeff Chilton, became The Mushroom Cultivator, soon to be a major book used, not only to start thriving edible mushroom growing businesses, but also as a guide for the cultivation of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Figure 10.

Mexico. These students quickly taught me otherwise, and my research was transformed. At Evergreen I had initially become an Environmental Chemist. My colleague, Dr. Steve Herman, and our students had just completed the research that secured the final ban on the use of DDT in North America (my amends were now complete), another group of our students had done the research that ultimately helped close a smelter that was covering Tacoma, Washington, with arsenic and yet another group worked on PCBs in marine mammals and formed a research cooperative still in operation today. Prominent U.S. Senators from the cotton belt were trying to get us both fired, as were the City of Tacoma, the Washington State Department of Agriculture, and officials from Hawaii (because of some pesticide related research). For still other research we were also considered a threat to the now defunct aluminum smelting industry along the Columbia River. The EPA and the NSF were funding much of our work but the EPA itself was so under threat that the head of the U.S. EPA even came to Evergreen to meet personally with our students and explain the predicament that they were in with Congress. After this, I was politically radicalized and mushroom research was a welcome relief. Paul Stamets, Jeremy Bigwood and I set out to discover which mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest were potentially hallucinogenic and which were not. Jeremy Bigwood knew the West Coast head of the DEA (how that came about remains a mystery to Paul and me to this day – but I will not repeat our theories here). Soon, seekers of magic mushrooms were all over western Washington and western Oregon. They

Figure 9.

in those days) invited me to their dorm for breakfast. It consisted of “brownies” and orange juice. I consumed half of a pan of the “brownies” and they had so much weed in them that I could barely get them down. I went on to my last lecture and indeed the rest of the day totally unaffected! The girls were most disappointed. Back when I had started graduate school, the one thing that was clear to me was that I never would be a teacher – I was headed for industry. But several months before completing my PhD, my advisor had asked me to see what effect DDT and some other pesticides had on Carbonic Anhydrase, the enzyme system that was the focus of my research. The resultant paper was accepted by the journal Biochemistry, but the editor said that the work was so important that I needed to also publish an article either in the journal Science or in the British Journal Nature. But a Science reviewer rejected my article and then sent in the paper essentially word for word under his name, eventually resulting in two Nobel Laureates intervening on my behalf, and my article was also published in Science. I had not yet read Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and knew not what I had done. Industry then twisted the meaning of my work to “prove” that DDT could not be causing egg shell thinning in birds. To make amends, I wrote to a leading ornithological researcher at Cornell University suggesting the course of research that might undo the damage I had inadvertently done. He wrote back – to my thesis advisor – thanking him for the sage advice. I was then thoroughly scolded by my advisor for giving away research ideas. These two events were focal points turning me away from both industry and university research and to academia at small colleges. Arriving at Evergreen, I was a physical chemist with not the slightest interest in biology and my mycological training consisted of one previous adult education course at the University of Washington under Dr. Daniel Stuntz. But no one else on the faculty knew anything at all about mushrooms and so the students came to me. Paul Stamets, Jeremy Bigwood and Jonathan Ott all showed up in the mid-1970s. Psilocybe mushrooms were not mentioned in any of my field guides and I thought that they were restricted to southern

of psilocybin and psilocin. The person championing Amanita muscaria was R. Gordon Wasson, a Vice President of J. P. Morgan & Co, a staid New York banker. Psilocybin and psilocin and LSD were championed by Timothy Leary and many other flamboyant individuals. The age of ethnomycology, initially developed by R. Gordon Wasson, was also taking off. The champions were Jonathan Ott, Terrance McKenna, Andrew Weil, Jochen Gartz and others. I still vividly remember when Jochen Gartz first contacted me from what was then Communist East Germany – he wanted vouchers of the Pacific Northwest Psilocybe species that Paul, Jeremy and I were working on. What to do? There was no legal way to respond to the request but I packaged up the requested specimens, labeled them “dried material for scientific research” and put them in the mail. Much to my amazement, it worked. The Evergreen students formed a core group that organized two international hallucinogenic mushroom conferences in the 1970s, the first one held at Millersylvania State Park near Olympia, Washington, in 1976 and the second at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Washington, in 1977. At the 1977 conference R. Gordon Wasson, Albert Hoffman and Carl Ruck first postulated that the use of psychoactive fungi lay at the heart of the Eleusinian mysteries (ancient Greek religious ceremonies that persisted for 2,000 years, yet whose ceremony’s secrets could not be mentioned – under pain of death). These early conferences were followed by a conference on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington and then by a series of conferences at Breitenbush in the Oregon Cascades organized by Mycomedia® with Paul Stamets as the principal driving force of the organization. I believe that Dr. Andrew Weil, a young MD from Harvard,

interested in alternative medicine, drug use and abuse, and mushroom use, attended every one of these conferences. He was to become a very close friend of Paul Stamets and he provided us both with much sage advice on the importance of set and setting in the use of psilocybin mushrooms. These conferences also attracted Dr. Gastón Guzmán (Figures 11 and 13), who would write a monograph to the genus Psilocybe and become the world Psilocybe expert; Dr. Steven Pollock (Figure 12) came from Texas bringing attention to the fact the psilocybin mushrooms were also present in the southern states of the U.S.; Gary Menser (Figure 13) contributed his knowledge of the Oregon hallucinogenic species. There were many others drawn to the region, including John Allen who has gone on to make the pursuit of psilocybin species around the globe his life passion. Terrence McKenna was also present at some of the events and became another colorful champion of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Terrance McKenna argued that “the root cause of society’s ills today is not that we use too many hallucinogens, but rather that we use too few” (Hudler, 1998b). I attended the conferences to speak about toxic mushrooms in general and

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left to attend the evening lectures. K and I waited and waited – nothing. Determined to have this experience, we each consumed more mushrooms. This time about 30 mushrooms each. We visited and relaxed with Maggie still observing, but still nothing. We each took about 20 more mushrooms, pretty well polishing off all that I had brought along – a total of about 75 each, 6 times what Wasson had consumed in Mexico and these were very potent mushrooms that we had eaten. We then headed off to the last of the evening lectures. A bag of Psilocybe cyanescens was being passed around so I helped myself to a handful, remembering what Repke and Leslie had told me about their strong visual effects. I do not remember if K took any more at that point or not. As we left the lecture, both still feeling quite normal and quite disappointed, someone offered me fresh Psilocybe cubensis from a shopping bag, so I took a good-sized handful and proceeded to munch them slowly as I walked K and Maggie to their cabin. In all my years of attending these conferences this was the first time I had been offered any magic mushrooms and the first time that I had even seen them out in the open other than a few labeled specimens on the display tables along with hundreds of other mushrooms of all shapes and sizes. After getting Maggie and K safely to their cabin, I then joined a friend who was working on trying to determine the structure of some of the other indole-like compounds that we had been seeing in Psilocybe cyanescens. We drank some very fine rare California wines (about two bottles, I did not keep track) and talked about his research while observing his roommates who were quietly off in a distant bemushroomed world. It was about 1 AM when I headed back to my cabin, walking in a drizzle through the beautiful old-growth rainforest. Resigned to never know what effects these mushrooms could have, I slipped into my sleeping bag and closed my eyes. About to put this next bit down on paper for the first time ever, tears have come to my eyes and powerful emotions have welled up – yet it is more than a quarter century since the event. When I closed my eyes twenty five years ago, visions in a brilliant blue soon commenced. The blue was the exact same blue of the images from

the Evergreen State College Scanning Electron Microscope, where I had spent so many hours watching Paul Stamets photograph Psilocybe and other mushrooms (Figures 14, 15). I felt myself leave my body and proceed far, far away and worried that I might never get back. Growing scared after a few more minutes, I opened my eyes and it was over as fast as it had begun. I dressed and walked to the cabin where K and Maggie were sleeping and knocked on the door to tell them. They dressed and came to the cabin, K wanting more mushrooms so that she could also experience the effect – her massive 6X dose had had no effect. But I had previously thrown away the last few mushrooms not wishing my current state on anyone else. Maggie and K decided to stay and watch over me for a bit when I decided to lie down and then closed my eyes again in a darkened room. As soon as I did, the visions returned. By then the other two mycologists had joined K and Maggie and for the next hour or so I would lie with the sleeping bag pulled over my head and narrate the trip as it was happening. Each time I closed my eyes and darkened the room with my sleeping bag I would leave my body and go far, far away into that gorgeous blue world. I would open my eyes and all would be normal. Close my eyes and plunge into darkness under my sleeping bag and the visions would resume. Fortunately, I knew from years and years of research that I would survive this experience and I could both enjoy the extreme beauty and marvel at the power of the mushrooms. At about 2 AM, Maggie and K returned to their cabin. The two mycologists also retired. My visions continued as I drifted in and out of a restless sleep. At 4 AM, almost exactly 6 hours after I had consumed the last of the Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms, there was what seemed like a sudden explosion and as suddenly as it had started it was all over. I went into a sound sleep. At breakfast, I told Andrew Weil about how much I had eaten and what I had experienced. Then I got into my VW Squareback and headed up the spine of the Cascade Mountains on logging roads straight towards my vineyard, which lies due North of Breitenbush. Soon I started having difficulty keeping the car on the road. I was scared and pulled over fearing that the mushrooms still held

sway. Then I saw it. The right front tire was flat. I changed the tire and made it back to the vineyard without further incident. But for a year afterwards, I broke into a sweat just reading about someone involved with drugs of any kind. For many years I said and felt that this was the one thing in my life that I wish that I had never done. But I realize now that there has also been a permanent change in me – I am now much more sensitive and emotional than ever before. I know that if cancer ever strikes and I am nearing my end, there is a traumatic stress leading to PTSD, or if I were to suffer incurable depression or unmanageable pain, I will look for a way to reach out to the mushrooms one more time. Soon after this Breitenbush experience, someone broke into my lab and stole the two tiny vials of my standards – one vial with a trace of pure psilocin and the other with a dab of pure psilocybin. It was not enough for a person to experience any effect, but it was sufficient to bring my research to a halt. In those days no one was making the two chemicals and existing stocks of pure chemical were nearly exhausted everywhere. Years later I was told that the thief had been a very nice student of mine, but a student living a double life. When the student was killed by police shooting at a bank robber holed up in a trailer in a back yard in Seattle, we found that my wife and I (he was also one of her students) had befriended “The Hollywood Bandit,” a notorious Western Bank Robber – and a modern Robin Hood. The rebirth of funded scientific research on hallucinogens, after a 40year hiatus, began in the 1990s. The funding was neither from taxpayer money nor pharmaceutical company money, but from private nonprofit groups. The first paper on the revival of research that I found was titled “Psychedelics: The second coming” (Taylor, 1996). Then in 1997 a paper described the case of a 34 year-old male who obtained rapid and sustained relief of obsessive-compulsive disorder using psychedelic drugs (Moreno, 1997). In

Figure 14.

Figure 13. to interview users of Psilocybe species in order to understand dosage and effects. Over the next several years I quietly observed psychoactive mushroom use and noted their effects on hundreds of participants. My policy was to discourage use of the mushrooms but to assist in identification so that no one consumed one of the several deadly look-alikes. I was struck with how different it was to be around people using mushrooms containing psilocybin than it was to be around drunks. Unlike being in a rowdy group where there was high alcohol consumption and one can sometimes sense actual physical danger, the mushroom consumption scenes I observed were always very subdued and peaceful. Some individuals were prone to laughter. Gymnopilus spectabilis, a very bitter tasting species with significant levels of psilocybin is even known as “Big Laughing Gym.” My favorite tale involves a story from Japan where a housewife mistook “Big Laughing Gym” for an edible and was later found dancing and laughing naked in the street. Another tale of laughter came from a colleague, near retirement age, who along with his wife each consumed about 10 specimens of Psilocybe semilanceata shortly before hosting a dinner party. Their guests were totally mystified why the colleague and his wife found everything so very funny. I learned that the mushrooms were generally not abused as is the case with many other drugs. They are not addictive and most individuals use them only very infrequently and reflectively in quiet, tranquil settings. The few who push the boundaries soon learn that with repeated use the mushrooms lose their transformative power. The use of mushrooms containing psilocybin and

psilocin ideally requires both guidance and restraint. Set and setting is very important. If you are troubled, the mushrooms can increase your sense of anxiety. Individuals told me of cases where they needed years of therapy after a bad trip – the mushrooms are indeed perilous and should not be taken lightly. Psilocybe cyanescens even proved lethal to one young child who consumed it from his yard. A physician told me of treating an adult patient who nearly died from aspirating some of the mushroom. However, psilocybin and psilocin themselves are remarkably non toxic. There is no risk of death from overdose as can happen with cocaine and some other drugs of abuse. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s my students kept asking how it was that I never would try the mushrooms and asking how I could lecture about their effects without personal knowledge. My mushrooming partner, K, fondly known by my children as their honorary grandmother, wanted to experience these mushrooms. Thus in the mid-1980s I went to the median of the Evergreen Parkway and in broad daylight picked about 200 Psilocybe semilanceata specimens. I knew that no one would take notice because I had been gathering mushrooms of all kinds on campus for over a decade. I took them to Breitenbush for what was to be the last Mycomedia® conference for many, many years. The conference was packed with friends and experts and hangers-on. It was the second night, a Saturday, about 7 PM. I slowly consumed 15 specimens – they were quite tasty, not at all unpleasant as I had expected. There was no nausea as I had been told might happen. K and two other mycologists in the room also consumed the mushrooms. A fifth person, Maggie Rogers, observed. We sat quietly and in just under one hour mycologist L was laughing and seeing the world through very rosy glasses and soon the mycologist G was feeling similar effects. They both

2002 a review of the widely dispersed literature on psilocybin pharmacology was published in Addiction Biology (Seifert, 2002). A study in 2005 (Palmer, 2005) was followed by an explosion of news reports in 2006. Scientific American published two stories in 2006. The first was “Magical Mushroom Tour” (Choi, 2006) and the second, “Not Imagining It” describes research by Roland Griffith of Johns Hopkins University on the pharmacology and physiological effects of psilocybin (Beillo, 2006). By 2008, the floodgates were open wide with headlines like “Spiritual Effects of Hallucinogens Persist, Johns Hopkins Researchers Report.” The Lancet carried a great review titled “Research on psychedelics moves mainstream” (Morris, 2008). There was a review in 2008 of three new books in “Psychedelic medicine: new evidence for hallucinogenic substances and treatments” (Biley, 2008). A conference, “Psychedelic Science in the 21st Century” was held in San José California in April 2010. The development of largescale synthetic methods to produce psilocin and psilocybin now provides researchers with a convenient and measurable way to utilize psilocybin and psilocin (Shirota, 2003). Psilocybin research is once again underway. On April 14, 2010, The Oregonian newspaper published the story of a 65 year-old man, Clark Martin, a retired clinical psychologist from Vancouver, Washington, who was suffering from seemingly untreatable depression as he battled with kidney cancer and chemotherapy (Tierney, 2010). He was admitted into the research program at Johns Hopkins University (described in Griffiths and Grob, 2010). He took psilocybin in an attended, controlled FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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Figure 15. setting on a couch with eye mask and head phones while listening to classical music. A year later he reports that the one six-hour experience was so profound that it has helped him overcome his depression and profoundly changed his relationships – marking it among the most meaningful events of his life. Numerous news reports including the Oregonian article have reported on the findings of the scientists that many participants have a profound spiritual experience similar to the experiences reported both by religious mystics and those who meditate. Egos and bodies vanish as they feel part of a larger state of consciousness. Griffiths feels that it is like the human brain is wired to experience these “unitive” experiences, perhaps because of an evolutionary advantage. The “feeling that we are all in it together may have benefited communities by encouraging reciprocal generosity.” Griffiths was rediscovering what Wasson had learned over 60 years ago, when asking for the first time about the mushrooms from a Spanish speaking Indian: “Le llevan ahí donde Dios está. ‘They carry you where God is’ an answer that we have received on several occasions, from Indians in different cultural areas…” (Wasson, 1957). Today research is underway not only at Johns Hopkins University and UCLA but also at many other colleges and universities including the University of Arizona, New York University, the University of California and even, once again, Harvard. The Psilocybe mushrooms are indeed “muy delicado,” but used with respect, restraint and care can, for at least

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some who turn to them, create from just one exposure a spiritual and emotional transformation lasting for years. References Biello, D. 2006. Not Imagining It. Scientific American 295(5): 33-35. Biley, F. C. 2008. Psychedelic medicine: New evidence for hallucinogenic substances and treatments. Volumes one and two. Psychedelic horizons. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 15(9): 787-790. Choi, C. Q. 2006. Magical Mushroom Tour. Scientific American 295(3): 36. Griffiths, R. S., and C. S. Grob. 2010. Hallucinogens as Medicine. Scientific American 303(6): 77-79. Griffiths, R. R., W. A. Richards, M. W. Johnson, U. D. McCann, and R. Jesse. 2008. Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later. Journal of Psychopharmacology 22(6): 621-632. Hudler, G. W. 1998a. Ergot of Grain Crops. Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds Chapter 5: 69-85. Princeton: Princeton University Press Hudler, G.W. 1998b. Hallucinogenic Mushrooms. Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds Chapter 11: 172-185. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Morris, K. 2008. Research on psychedelics moves into the mainstream. Lancet 371(9623): 1491-1492. Moreno, F. A., and P. L. Delgado. 1997. Hallucinogen-induced relief of obsessions and compulsions. The American Journal of Psychiatry 154: 1037-1038.

Oss, O. T., and O. N. Oeric. 1976. Psilocybin: magic mushroom grower’s guide. Seattle: Homestead Press (reprinted, 1986; Berkeley: Lux Natura). Ott, J. 1976. Hallucinogenic plants of North America. Berkeley: Wingbow Press, Ott, J., and J. Bigwood, ed. 1978. Teonanacatl: hallucinogenic mushrooms of North America. Seattle. Madrona Press. Ott, J., and G. Guzmán. 1976. Detection of psilocybin in species of Psilocybe, Panaeolus, and Psathyrella. Lloydia. 39: 258-260. Ott, J., and S. H. Pollock. 1976. Psychotropic mycoflora of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California, and British Columbia. Mycologia 68: 1267-1272. Palmer, G. A., and D. D. Daiss 2005. Personality characteristics of adolescents with hallucinogen, methamphetamine, and cannabis dependence: a comparative study. Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse 15(1): 37-49. Seifert, J., U. Schneider, H. M. Emrich, and T. Passie. 2002. The pharmacology of psilocybin. Addiction Biology 7(4): 357-364. Shirota, O., W. Hakamata, and Y. Goda. 2003. Concise large-scale synthesis of psilocybin and psilocin, principal constituents of “Magic Mushroom.” Journal of Natural Products 66(6): 885-887. Stamets, P. 1996. Psilocybes from a Historical Perspective. Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World Chapter 1: 1115. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. Stamets, P. 1978. Psilocybe Mushrooms and their allies. Seattle: Homestead Press. Stamets, P., and J. S. Chilton. 1983. The Mushroom Cultivator. Olympia: Agarikon Press. Taylor, E. 1996. Psychedelics: the second coming. Psychology Today 29: 56-59. Tierney, J. 2010. Flashing Back to Hallucinogens. The Oregonian April 14: C1-C2. (From New York Times News Service). Wark, C., and J. F. Galliher. 2010. Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and the changing definition of psilocybin. International Journal of Drug Policy 21(3): 234-239. Wasson, R. G. 1957. Seeking the Magic Mushroom. Life May 13, 1957: 100-120.

by William Harrison

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eople disagree as to whether magic (psilocybin-containing) mushrooms are, or are not, precious, misunderstood, God-given blessings, but currently here in the U.S. they are prison bait. Under federal law, they are illegal (Boire, 2002) – illegal to possess, grow, give away or sell. Federal penalties for magic mushroom doings are severe, so purchasing and using abroad, where they are legal, can be a much wiser choice than collecting or growing them illegally here. Magic mushrooms are legal or tolerated in lots of places abroad (Gartz,

1996), but many people had best not use – especially anyone with mental or emotional problems or a family history thereof. Many have fine experiences. Some, though, end up temporarily ill or incoherent, with a panic attack, or worse. Almost every year there are a few deaths worldwide, due to the bizarre behaviors that can result from overdose, including a famous case a few years ago in the Netherlands. By 2006, magic mushrooms had become quite popular in the Netherlands. That year, there were 128 magic mushroom-related ambulance emergencies in Amsterdam – mostly short-term panic attacks or disorientations. For perspective, there were some 500,000 mushroom packets sold there that year, so the percentage of emergency outcomes was tiny. On March 24, 2007, though, an underage French girl took mushrooms, overdosed, wandered away from her friends, and jumped to her death from a building onto a freeway. Dutch newspapers kept the tragedy on their front pages for weeks, the Dutch Legislature responded, and a national ban on the sale of fresh magic mushrooms took effect on December 1, 2008. Should the vast majority who use responsibly, though, be penalized for the behavior of a tiny few who don’t? Perhaps that thought entered the minds of some who drafted that new law. In that law, all species of psilocybin-containing mushrooms were outlawed. Psilocybin, though, also shows up in the sclerotia (underground “tubers” encouraged by adverse growing conditions) of certain

psilocybin containing mushroom species. Such sclerotia (neither mushrooms nor truffles, but commonly called magic truffles) were not outlawed. So, “magic truffles” remain legal in the Netherlands. They are sold, as were magic mushrooms, only in the Smart Shops. Purchasers are supplied with detailed warnings and instructions. That alone makes them much safer there than here. But, is that enough? Should more be done, even there, to protect users? All who try magic mushrooms should know the dangers, and how best to avoid them. Outside the Netherlands, though, little if any information and few warnings are offered. But mushroom shop managers are knowledgeable, so interested tourists should be inquiring as to proper amount and use, how to recognize freshness, where best to use, where not to use, how best to avoid overdose, etc. If you visit a magic mushroom shop that doesn’t offer such information, you might request they do. And what about mycological societies here? Is there anything they could do to better inform their members and the public? How best to use magic mushrooms where legal? R. Gordon Wasson saw them as sacred sacraments. As he stated in his book The Wondrous Mushroom (Wasson, 1980) “I have often taken the sacred mushroom, but never for a ‘kick’ or for ‘recreation.’ Knowing as I did from the outset the lofty regard in which they are held by those who believe in them, I would not, could not, so profane them.” Wasson would have preferred magic Continued on page 59.

Mukur procession at dawn, Kuta Beach.

by Britt A. Bunyard Photos by Paul Stamets, Michael Beug, Alan Rockefeller, and Joshua Hutchins

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Spore Prints as Art Artwork & Essay by Marlana Stoddard-Hayes

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y background growing up in rural Iowa shaped me to develop a heightened awareness of the natural world, especially the diverse world of living forms, clustered in communities. Now as a mature painter, I still seek to embody these early ideas. Primarily, my work is concerned with following the organic process and is not forced into being. I prefer the method of inviting chance and growth to occur over time and to follow its own path. The pieces are grown over a period of months, and I hope to convey a depth of atmospheric space that causes a sensation of peace in the viewer. Hopefully, they embody my belief

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in the transferred touch of the human hand to lend beauty and warmth. Since moving to the Pacific Northwest over a decade ago, my current work has evolved to include the use of spore prints from the mushrooms that appear like clockwork on our land with the onset of fall rains. After harvesting the caps and trimming off the stems, the spores are allowed to drop over a period of minutes or hours and are then encased in a resin layer that slowly dries. Further working over the top of this layer allows the imagery to develop into a dense network of information...which requires a meditative process to create, as well as to decipher.

It is my hope that the paintings create a world or picture space that is joyful to inhabit. By engaging the mushrooms and recognizing their unique design and pigmentation qualities, I feel I am calling the muse to co-create in a partnership that transcends time. Currently I am represented by Butters Gallery in Portland, Oregon (www. buttersgallery.com). In the fall, I will launch my new website, designed by bluemousemonkey design group (www. bluemousemonkey.com). Once a year I give painting workshops on the Oregon Coast at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, where the relationships between nature and the creation of art are examined in detail (www.Sitkacenter.org).

he genus Psilocybe is a large group (nearly 400 species worldwide) of small, brown to tan or buff mushrooms that grow saprobically on decaying organic material. So much has been written about these LBMs (“little brown mushrooms”)... Indeed, this is one of the best “known” mushroom groups among amateur mushroom hunters and enthusiasts. Funny thing is, most information passed around about Psilocybe is incorrect and based on myths and hearsay. Species of Psilocybe are often called “magic mushrooms.” While it is true that some species contain hallucinogenic properties, the vast majority of the genus are not “active.” Furthermore, most of the species that are hallucinogenic are only very mildly so or are tiny, making them of little interest to myconauts looking for a free high. Inexperienced and uneducated Psilocybe hunters are often disappointed to find that after eating piles and piles of their pickings, all they end up with is an upset stomach. It is at this point in our discussion that I should caution the reader about unscrupulously picking perceived wild magic mushrooms. All wild mushrooms are fairly indigestible and can cause gastric upset if eaten in enough quantity. Of greater concern to you should be the fact that there are many lookalike species closely related to Psilocybe. And that many of these are highly poisonous mushrooms. And that severe poisonings—even death—happen every year in North America involving people misidentifying and consuming wild mushrooms. Another misconception about this group is that all species occur on dung. While this is true of one or two of the commonly sought psychedelic species, in reality nearly all the species of this group occur on rotting wood, wood chips, or even decaying materials in lawns or pastures. There are, of course, many related and unrelated small mushrooms that do occur on dung. Probably the

best known coprophilic (“dung loving”) species is Psilocybe cubensis because it is large (for the genus), fairly active, and easily cultivated. (You can see photos of P. cubensis on the cover and elsewhere in this issue). Psilocybe cubensis occurs naturally around the Gulf of Mexico and Central America. It is thought to occur in much of Europe and Australasia as well; likely escapes from cultivation. Gary Lincoff, mushroom guru and author of The Audubon Guide to North American Mushrooms, tells a hilarious story about attending a prestigious mycology conference in Florida several decades ago and slipping away with mycologist Steven

Figure 1. Psilocybe semilanceata, the Liberty Cap. Photo courtesy M. Beug. Pollock to “discover” this mushroom’s much more potent coprophilic cousin, P. tampanensis, growing in a pasture nearby. Still dressed in suits, ties, and dress shoes, the mycologists pensively scaled wire fences to conduct their successful

foray. This is apparently the only known collection for this species in the wild as it is very rare. Psilocybe tampanensis has been cultivated successfully, though. Strangely, this species produces a large tuber-like underground sclerotium from which it fruits. The sclerotium is strongly potent and known colloquially as “Philosopher’s Stone,” “Rock of Ages,” and “Magic Truffles.” Magic truffles are cultivated and sold in parts of Europe, especially Amsterdam; many websites can be found claiming to sell magic truffles. After P. cubensis, the most notable species are P. semilanceata, P. cyanescens, and P. azurescens. Psilocybe semilanceata, known as the “Liberty Cap,” is a small brown mushroom, having a bellshaped cap and often a sort of nipple (“umbo”) at the top. It commonly fruits on lawns and pastures around the world (Fig. 1). Psilocybe semilanceata is native to northern Europe. Recently, it has been found in tremendous fruitings throughout much of the Pacific Northwest. The great American mycologist Charles Horton Peck first documented this species in the New World in the early 1900s, though this has been determined by Gastón Guzmán, the world authority on the genus (Fig. 2, pictured in 1976 with Michael Beug), to have been a misidentification. Like other members of the genus, this species is a saprotroph, probably living on decaying roots of grass plants. Many grass loving mushroom species, some of which are close relatives, look similar to the Liberty Cap. With its umbonate, bell-shaped appearance, the Liberty Cap takes its name from the ancient Phrygian (a region of Anatolia in modern day Turkey) “Liberty Cap.” The Liberty Cap image (the hat, not the mushroom) is popular to this day on many state and national seals of the United States, believe it or not. (Incidentally, the mycological term for the cap of a mushroom, the pileus, comes from the ancient Greek hat, also called a pileus which looks somewhat like a fez.)

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understood but it is purple-black (Fig 9). known that the serotonin Like just about everything else with receptors where in binds the genus Psilocybe, the taxonomy of this in the cerebral cortex group is somewhat of an enigma. Ever are involved with the since mycologists first noticed them, perception of pain and these little mushrooms have been shuffled anxiety. Although the between Stropharia and Panaeolus, and effects on the brain are at times other groups, depending on who reportedly similar to those was the authority and what characteristics of LSD, there is no affinity were felt to be most important at for dopamine receptors illustrating phylogeny. Recent DNA in the brain (as there are sequence analysis has shown why there’s with LSD). Psilocybin and long been indecision: firstly, species of psilocin have a very low Psilocybe really are closely related to some Figure 2. Gastón Guzmán, pictured in 1976 with toxicity (about 1.5 times of these other groups (Fig. 10); secondly, Michael Beug. Photo by Kit Skates. that of caffeine) and do the genus Psilocybe is polyphyletic. Huh? not seem to be addictive That is, what we called one genus, is Psilocybe cyanescens (Fig. 3) and P. (all this despite the contentious claims of actually composed of different clades azurescens (Fig. 4) are considered closely antidrug propaganda of several decades that are not forming one “monphyletic” related; both are fairly common, active ago). Psilocybin and psilocin show clade - in other words, one branch here, species and are native to the West Coast. much promise as therapeutic drugs (see one branch there, etc. in the fungal tree. Both grow in cespitose clusters (“onionelsewhere in this issue). What to do? It recently was determined like”) in rotting wood and wood chips that all the bluing species (including P. Morphology and Taxonomy and have an overall similar appearance cubensis) are to be moved into the family of Psilocybe but note the margins of P. cyanescens take Hymenogasteraceae, along with Galerina, Telling one species of Psilocybe from on a wavy appearance as the mushroom Hebeloma, Alnicola and Flammula another (even from species of other, matures. Psilocybe azurascens has a (Fig.10). The former Psilocybe species will closely related genera) can be very tough much smaller range, restricted to the be placed in the genus Deconica within the for anyone—including mycologists. Oregon coast. However the species is genus Strophariaceae (where Hypholoma, Stropharia, Nivatogastrium, Agrocybe highly sought as it has double or more the Most species are usually pretty small and Pholiota, reside). Once again, those and nondescript: classic LBMs. Besides potency of P. cubensis. the brown to tan or What’s so Magic About Psilocybe? buff color, notable characteristics of The “active” species of Psilocybe and the cap are brown a few closely related genera (Panaeolus, to purple-black Panaeolina, Copelandia, Inocybe, gills underneath; Conocybe and others) contain the hygrophanous cap on psychotropic tryptamine compound top. “Hygrophanous” psilocybin, an alkaloid, or analogues refers to a color psilocin or baeocystin (or a combination) change that occurs (Fig. 5). All parts of the mushrooms in the tissues of the seem to have the compounds, except pileus (cap) as the for the spores. Most active species of mushroom matures; Psilocybe turn a striking blue color where as it loses or absorbs handled; the blue pigment can leach water, the pileipellis from the mushrooms and even discolor Figure 3. Psilocybe cyanescens. Photo courtesy M. Beug. (the skin-like outer the handler’s fingers or other materials layer of the cap, (Fig. 6). Environmental stresses can cause sometimes called a cuticle) becomes bluing; Paul Stamets recently found a beautiful blue reaction in P. cyanofibrillosa somewhat transparent when wet and opaque when dry and can lend a blotchy, following a frost episode (Figs. 7a-c). water-soaked look to the cap. Panaeolus, It should be noted that bluing is not a Agrocybe, Galerina, and Psalthyrella foolproof characteristic for identification also have hygrophanous species. Many and some active species do not turn blue. of these species (Fig. 8) grow on the Psilocybin is rapidly turned into same substrates, are similar colors and psilocin inside the body. Both resemble sizes, and occur at the same times of the the neurotransmitter serotonin, Figure 4. Psilocybe azurescens. Photo year as Psilocybe spp. Many of them are structurally, and as a result bind with toxic. Psilocybe species have very dark serotonin receptors in the brain. Just courtesy J. Hutchins. spore prints ranging from lilac-brown to how psilocin works in the brain is poorly Continued on page 56.

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Family Trees:

A Mycolegium of Fungal Literature by Else C. Vellinga [email protected] The family tree takes center stage in this installment of my overview of recent fungal literature. I focus on articles which deal with evolutionary relationships between species and groups, or with evolutionary timing, to find who is most closely related to whom, and why. The answers have consequences for how we humans classify the fungal world, and what names we give to groups and species. Many of the articles I consider also try to put the results in a broader context – a context of time, of diversification, or the ways fungi get their food. However, only a handful of authors translate their insights into a new classification. Many articles could be chosen and what is presented is my personal choice, and a small fraction of the cornucopia of articles that appears annually. You can find more articles for yourself by going on line and using search engines, visiting journals’ web sites or accessing university library sites. Here the topics are presented in alphabetical order and the complete references are given at the end. Boletus edulis and relatives King boletes are my favorite edible mushrooms. What more can a mushroomer want than a young maggotfree firm-stiped porcino? But, besides its recognition as edible and a “king bolete,” I want to know which particular species is sizzling in my pan; what is its ecology and distribution, how rare is it, how often does it fruit? For this kind of information we have to go a bit deeper than the recognition of a brown big fleshy not-discoloring brown blond bolete. Besides these characters, what unites these boletes is that in young fruitbodies the pore mouths are filled

with white hyphae, acting like a veil to protect the growing spores from the outside world; insects cannot enter, and the temperature and moisture inside the tubes are kept constant and favorable for the maturing spores. What also unites these boletes is a shared history: all these different porcini belong to a monophyletic group, with a common ancestor. This ur-porcino lived some 42 to 54 million years ago, at a time when the angiosperms (the trees with which they would maintain a mutualistically beneficial relationship) were only up and coming. Boletus edulis is an exceptional species, in that it has a very wide distribution – we know that it grows not only in Europe, but throughout North America. For a long time we thought that such wide distributions were normal, but now they seem to be the exception. The fly agaric Amanita muscaria is an example of a species that once appeared to be widespread. It has now been shown that specimens from Europe and from America are not identical and that we have to use different names for them. Similarly, most species in the Boletus edulis complex, other than Boletus edulis itself, can only be found locally. For instance, some species only occur west of the Rocky Mountains (e.g. B. regineus, B. rex-veris, and B. fibrillosus), while others have only been found in the eastern parts of the USA (B. nobilissimus, B. variipes, and B. subcaerulescens). There are also purely European species, such as B. aereus and B. pinophilus – names which have been misapplied in North America. Twenty five representatives of Boletus edulis in the strict sense were analyzed in this study but that still leaves out huge parts of its distribution and fails to sample many of its tree associates. We are still left with such questions as whether the species under Sitka spruce in Oregon is the same species as the one that associates with Valley oak further south, and as the species

that forms humongous fruitbodies and is so common with pines along the Pacific coast (recently distinguished as a separate variety, var. grandedulis), and whether these three are identical to the summer-fruiting species that make hiking in the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains such a pleasure. Other issues that are left aside are what exactly the genus Boletus comprises, and what the wider relationships within the boletes as a whole are. Ectomycorrhizal fungi Boletus edulis is thought to have been around for more than 40 million years, based on analyses of the changes in their DNA. But what about all the other mushroom species that depend on tree species for their carbon? Ectomycorrhizal species (those that live with trees providing nutrients to the tree roots and receiving carbons, sugars, in return) are found in many different fungal groups – chanterelles, Ramarias, Russulas, all kinds of different gilled mushrooms (Tricholoma, Amanita, Cortinarius to name a few), boletes, and also many crust formers such as Tomentella (a relative of Thelephora). How did these mushrooms start out? Did they associate with trees right from the beginning, enabling the trees to diversify as land plants, or did early basidiomycete fungi live off dead plant material, exhibiting a saprotrophic lifestyle? This kind of question motivates the research of David Hibbett and Brandon Matheny who compared the ages of different fungal groups with those of different plant groups. There are very few fungal fossils that give us information on age so on the fungal side there are many unknowns. Plants, on the other hand, fossilize well and can be dated much more easily. The authors circumvented the problem by using plants to make one phylogenetic tree with reliable ages with both plants and fungi in it. This enabled them to compare the branching of the FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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plant part of the tree with the branching in the fungal part. Fungi as a group are thought to be much older than trees and the ancestor of the mushroom forming species definitely began by living on dead material, and not as a mycorrhizal partner. When the ectomycorrhizal partnership appeared it developed repeatedly. In the history of fungi it was established with the pine family of trees at least six times, and with angiosperm plants at least eight times. The ectomycorrhizal members of the genus Amanita could have started out with either of these groups, as their origin is considered to have happened when there were both pines and broadleaved trees such as oak and beech. Questions still remaining concern the mechanisms and pathways of these mycorrhizal beginnings; one such question is whether all these different groups lost the ability to break down plant material (lignin and cellulose in particular), or whether they all adapted in different ways to the new lifestyle. Entolomataceae Pink nodulose spores are the hallmark for the family Entolomataceae. Different spore types have been used to define the genera – ridges for Clitopilus, low bumps for Rhodocybe, and from straight or twisted boxes to more gently curved but bumpy spores in other genera. In the European tradition the rest are united in one genus Entoloma, but in North America many different genera (Nolanea, Leptonia, Pouzarella, Inocephalus, Entoloma etc.) are recognized. The study by Co-David and co-workers uses spore morphology and a molecular analysis of representatives of the whole family to re-establish genus borders. All the (sub) genera are represented in the sampling for this study, though not in equal numbers. The family tree shows several interesting and unexpected relationships: Clitopilus, the genus with the ridges on the spores, nestles nicely in the middle of Rhodocybe, the genus with the bumpy spores. The most species rich group is definitely Entoloma (in the wide, European, sense), and Entoloma is also the most diverse group, encompassing everything from species with hypogeous fruitbodies to the beautiful bluestemmed, blue-capped species in (subgenus) Leptonia. The spores show a basic framework or scaffold over which

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the spore wall is draped, resulting in multi-faceted to irregular structures that are more bumpy than faceted. Within the big Entoloma group, species representing the various (sub)genera are all mixed up, with the exception of a basal group mostly containing taxa from (sub)genus Entoloma (though some members of the (sub)genus are found elsewhere). Almost every clade has a mixture of species. Once again it has been shown that European names cannot be applied to American species without a thorough comparison. The outcomes of these studies are translated into taxonomic changes, an approach I particularly welcome. This means that Clitopilus is now the accepted name for a new genus combining Clitopilus and Rhodocybe, as it is the older of the two names. The secotioid entolomatoid species are placed within Entoloma, and all species that had been described in the split off genera are now included in Entoloma proper. Not everybody will accept these proposals, so we will keep seeing a dual system. Species are still being described in the separate genera, and we can only hope that more molecular data will be used. With more data added to this backbone we will get a better understanding of the group and the changes it has undergone in evolutionary time. Gomphales The order of the Gomphales, in which Gomphus and Ramaria are the best known genera, forms one big cluster with the orders Phallales, Geastrales, and Hysterangiales. The four orders also keep themselves to themselves; in other words the four together, and each separately, form a monophyletic group. Within the Gomphales, different life strategies (ectomycorrhizal and wood inhabiting) and completely different fruitbody shapes are present, (think of Ramaria with its coral look, the truffles of Gautieria, and Gomphus’ pig ears). An earlier article showed already that Ramaria is not a coherent group and those results are now confirmed, with a broader sampling of species and of genes. The problem is that some morphologically welldefined groups, such as Gomphus and Turbinellus (with Gopmhus floccosus), and Gloeocantharellus, fall right in the middle of Ramaria; should we call everything Ramaria (whatever it looks

like), or should we split Ramaria up in genera that are not easily recognized macromorphologically? This question is left unanswered. Some new names are given in the figures (e.g. Turbinellus and Phaeoclavulina in which some species from Ramaria subgenus Echinoramaria find a place), but none of these are proposed in a nomenclatorially sound way, i.e. in accord with the rules of the code for botanical nomenclature. So, the framework is there, but the hard and sweaty taxonomic work, including the challenge of dealing with a polyphyletic Ramaria, is left for future workers. Hygrophoraceae and their diets The grasslands of northwestern Europe were traditionally enlivened by the presence of colorful wax cap species (non-Hygrophorus members of the family Hygrophoraceae); however, artificial fertilizers, changes in land use and intensified agriculture in general have made these grasslands and their species rarer and rarer. The wax caps are now used as indicator species for the natural state of these grasslands and have been extensively surveyed throughout the area. A great study by Griffiths and co-workers published in 2002 looked at a range of different aspects of their life and lifestyle, focusing on a well-studied grass ecosystem in southern Scotland. The nitrogen and carbon signatures of the wax caps turned out to be quite different from the signatures of saprotrophic fungi in the same grassland. What was nourishing the wax caps could not be determined, but they certainly were not decomposing dead plant material. Because the authors looked only at grassland fungi, they could not compare the wax caps with the ectomycorrhizal Hygrophorus. It also appeared that wax caps cannot be grown in the lab, another indicator that they might depend on living organisms. In contrast to the situation in northern Europe, in North America we find wax caps in woods and forests. The present study by Seitzmann et al., again looks at the wax cap fungi and compares how they and saprotrophic or ectomycorrhizal species process sugars and nitrogen. The study also included Hygrophorus species from the same area where the wax caps were collected (Harvard Forest in Massachusetts). The results of this analysis are put in a phylogenetic context, comparing

the four different wax cap genera (Hygrocybe, Humidicutis, Gliophorus and Cuphophyllus) with Hygrophorus. The last is definitely ectomycorrhizal; we knew that already as its hyphae had been found making ectomycorrhizal root tips, but that fact is confirmed here with a totally different method. The other genera are certainly not living from dead material, but are presumed to live biotrophically, getting their sugars from living organisms. Ectomycorrhizal fungi are one kind of biotroph as they get their sugars from the living trees they associate with, but the wax caps have not the same carbon and nitrogen signatures as Hygrophorus and other ectomycorrhizal species. Could they be lichens, or associating with mosses? Many tropical species in the Hygrophoraceae do in fact live with, and take advantage of, green algae or cyanobacteria. A symbiosis with mosses seems less likely, as here in the West of the USA, mosses are not very abundant, and often the wax caps fruit on bare soil or among tree litter without any moss in sight. All these questions are still very open, and we have to admit that the lifestyle of these fungi, and the carbon source they have access to, is still a big (colorful) mystery. The Pluteus family Pluteus and Volvariella are easily recognizable genera: the combination of pink (mycologically pink) spores and free lamellae with an inverse lamella trama sets them apart from all other gilled mushrooms. Pluteus species do or do not have a ring, but Volvariella has a volva that surrounds the young fruitbody. In the phylogenetic trees proposed earlier for the Agaricales Volvariella was split into two parts – one with V. gloiocephala (V. speciosa) being close to Pluteus, and the other for all species far removed from it. The present study examines this issue in detail, and concludes that indeed V. gloiocephala (plus some close relatives) is very close to Pluteus, but the other, smaller and small-spored species, are not. The new genus Volvopluteus is proposed for V. gloiocephala. The second part of the study investigates the genus Pluteus itself. It is very refreshing to see that the division of the genus based on morphological characters is mirrored by that based on evolutionary relationships; those species with a cutis as pileipellis and thick-walled horned cystidia

form one group, species with a celluloderm form a single clade, while species with long upright cells in the pileipellis form another tight-knit group. Placing the morphological odd-ball P. ephebeus (characterized by a cutis and thin-walled non-horned cystidia) in a group is difficult in the molecular context. A second article by more or less the same group of authors (from all parts of the world) focuses much more deeply on the various species groups. I plugged our Pluteus data from coastal California into the data provided by these authors, and it appears that what we have here been calling P. cervinus is actually a group of at least three species which are close to P. cervinus, but are all still without names. This may serve as a caveat not to call any brown-grey Pluteus with horned pleurocystidia P. cervinus! All our specimens have clamp connections in the cap cuticle, whereas the real P. cervinus lacks them, but there is also a look-a-like of P. cervinus itself, that so far, cannot be distinguished by its looks. There is still a lot of work to be done to answer all our questions, but at least there is a sound framework on which to build. It is also good to see that the phylogenies are translated into classification, and that name changes have been proposed. Psathyrellaceae The article on the Psathyrellaceae has as one goal to test the applicability of various methods to analyze sequence data. The phenomenon it seeks to explain is the evolution of ink production in the ink cap family, i.e. the process by which the lamellae are dissolved during the maturation process (autodigestion). The Psathyrellaceae includes Psathyrella and Lacrymaria, and all the ink caps, EXCEPT Coprinus comatus and C. sterquilinus which are now in the Agaricaceae. Panaeolus and Panaeolina, formerly thought to be close to Coprinus have also been ousted from the family and are now on their own among the dark-spored gilled mushrooms. So, what is the outcome of this “playing” with different data sets, different coding methods and different analytical methods? Whatever method is used, it is clear that several different roads lead to Rome: autodigestion has evolved several times within this family, and outside it, and the ancestors of the present-day species did not dissolve their gills. What the background is, what the enzymes are

that resolve the gill tissues, and whether these are the same in the different groups, are questions to be addressed in future research. With each bit of insight, the shore line of our little island of knowledge increases amid the ever present sea of ignorance. The articles: Co-David, D, D. Langeveld, and M.E. Noordeloos. 2009. Molecular phylogeny and spore evolution of Entolomataceae. Persoonia 23: 147-176. doi:10.3767/003158509X480944 Dentinger, B.T.M., J.F. Ammirati, E.E. Both, D.E. Desjardin, R.E. Halling, T.W. Henkel, P.-A. Moreau, E. Nagasawa, K. Soytong, A.F. Taylor, R. Watling, J.-M. Moncalvo, and D.J. McLaughlin. 2010. Molecular phylogenetics of porcini mushrooms (Boletus section Boletus). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 57: 1276-1292. doi:10.1016/j. ympev.2010.10.004 Giachini, A.J., K. Hosaka, E. Nouhra, J. Spatafora, and J.M. Trappe. 2010. Phylogenetic relationships of the Gomphales based on nuc-25S-rDNA, mit12S-rDNA, and mit-atp6-DINA combined sequences. Fungal Biology 114: 224-234. doi:10.1016/j.funbio.2010.01.002 Hibbett, D.S., and P.B. Matheny. 2009. The relative ages of ectomycorrhizal mushrooms and their plant hosts estimated using Bayesian relaxed molecular clock analyses. BMC Biology 7: 13. doi:10.1186/1741-7007-7-13 Justo, A. Vizzini, A.M. Minnis, N. Menolli Jr., M. Capelari, O. Rodríguez, E. Malysheva, M. Contu, S. Ghignone, and D. S. Hibbett. 2011. Phylogeny of the Pluteaceae (Agaricales, Basidiomycota): taxonomy and character evolution. Fungal Biology 115: 1-20. doi:10.1016/j. funbio.2010.09.012 Nagy, L.G.. Urban, L. Örstadius, T. Papp, E. Larsson, and C. Vágvölgyi. 2010. The evolution of autodigestion in the mushroom family Psathyrellaceae (Agaricales) inferred from Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian methods. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 57: 1037-1048. doi:10.1016/j. ympev.2010.08.022 Seitzman, B.H., A. Ouimette, R.L. Mixon, E.A. Hobbie, and D.S. Hibbett. 2011. Conservation of biotrophy in Hygrophoraceae inferred from combined stable isotope and pylogenetic analyses. Mycologia 103: 280-290. doi:10.3852/10195 FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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by Kora Page Sauter, Fungi Festival Coordinator

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he 6th Annual Sicamous Fungi Festival started off with a blast! Once all the fungi personnel had arrived, we commenced an introductory talk at the KOA in Revelstoke and a video presentation from Larry Evans documenting tours during the 2009 Fungi Festival. There’s always a high level of energy and excitement to be found when Larry Evans is along for the festival! It was a delight for all to see what the Fungi Festival is all about. Ellen Visser, sponsor of the Festival and owner of Narrows Village, joyously cooked freshly picked Chanterelles I had hunted out at Narrows Village, and we all devoured them. Mmm… extremely delish! Monday and Tuesday proved to be excellent for the Revelstoke area mushroom picking. With the rain, everything was just coming up like mad! Wonderfully chunky Chanterelles were found by the bucketful. Vibrant and beautifully colored Amanitas seemed gracefully placed among the landscape. For the newbies to mushroom hunting, there is always excitement on their faces as their eyes lay upon the vivid blast of color from a Lobster mushroom, peaking out of the murky browns and greens of the deep forest cover here around Revelstoke. On Wednesday we traveled toward Nakusp, stopping to pick along the way. We hopped aboard the Upper Arrow Lakes Ferry from Shelter Bay and pulled over just after arrival at Galena Bay. There local Nakusp area biologist, Tyson Ehlers lead us on a tour along the lakeside in search of Pine mushrooms, or Matsutake. Oh boy what a score! … perfect buttons popping out of the moss beneath their hosts, red and black pine. On Thursday our tour launched from the Nakusp Hot Springs along the Kuskanax Creek trail, which is a great area providing many different kinds of fungi and some local history. We followed along the pioneers’ original packhorse route of 1912.

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Friday began our weekend festivities in Sicamous at the Red Barn Arts Center, where we highlighted two educational and informative slideshow presentations that showed “all you want to know about wild mushrooms.” First up, Tyson Ehlers showed “Wild Mushrooms of British Columbia-Edibility, Ecology and Economy.” Second, Paul Kroeger presented his “Magic Mushrooms” slideshow. Our Saturday tour was jampacked and a gorgeous sunny day shone for hunting fungi edibles, starting with a morning hike at Yard Creek with Ellen’s homemade mushroom lasagna for our lunch stop, followed by a light hike through Eagle River Nature Park. The weekend was also filled with a live stage and beer gardens to which bands like Cats & the Fiddle, Hoodoos, and Blue Scarlet kept our celebrations high!

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he 7th Annual Fungi Festival will present an opportunity for curious mushrooms lovers to identify while actually picking wild mushrooms—all the while having a gourmet experience in Revelstoke, Nakusp, and Sicamous in Beautiful British Columbia! The Festival week provides exciting guided tours every day, Monday to Sunday, featuring Mycologist Paul Kroeger, local Naksup Biologist Tyson Ehlers, and renowned Fungi Expert… “the Indiana Jones of Mushrooms,” Larry Evans to guide along the mushroom tours. The festival offers a unique outdoor experience that is focused around the education of safely hunting, identifying, and harvesting this worldwide delicacy. The festival will include everything from Presentations, Workshops, Vendors & Exhibitors, informative Slide Shows, even Live Stage & Beer Gardens! These will all be showcased during the Weekend Fungi Festival, Sept. 23 – 25, at the Red Barn in Sicamous, BC. Join us to celebrate the end of summer and enjoy a mushroom experience! For more information check out www. fungifestival.com and to make a tour reservation send an email to narrows@ telus.net.

What mushrooms have taught me about the meaning of life

Sicamous! Revelestoke! Nakusp!

by Nicholas P. Money

by Larry Evans

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h the mushroom trail is long and winding and leads us to some very interesting places. In all the years of chasing mushrooms and mushroom festivals, Fungi Festival is by far the most fun. While they do have a great parade at the Telluride Mushroom Fest, the 3 afternoons of live music at Fungi Festival are more fun. At no other festival but this one do we get to pick mushrooms in the morning and listen to dance bands at night. Where else do you wake up, soak in the hot springs, and skip across a moss covered footbridge into an old growth rainforest wonderland for an afternoon of finding Chanterelles, Matsutake, Sweet Tooths, and King Boletes? How else are you going to find 2 striking individuals like myself and Paul Kroeger to advise you on your mushroom discoveries? Hmm maybe better re-word that one… who wouldn’t be thrilled to eat Lobster mushrooms and drink spicy Chaga tea, both collected the same day, while listening to Paul expound on the entheogenic qualities of coprophilic fungi? We expect a long hard laugh at the 2011 Festival as well. Come join us!

Miami University, Oxford, Ohio l [email protected]

Not all science is bad (just the big bits that tell us we shouldn’t look forward to an eternity of ice cream and great sex in a peaceful garden where we get to meet all our pets again). —Nicholas P. Money, Mr. Bloomfield’s Orchard: The Mysterious World of Mushrooms, Molds, and Mycologists (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002)

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grownup neighbor in the English village of my childhood told stories about angels that sat upon our shoulders and fairies that lived in her snapdragons. Like the other kids, I searched her flowers for a glimpse of the sprites, but agnosticism imbibed from my parents quickly overruled this innocent play. Yet there was magic in my neighbor’s garden and I had seen real angels on her lawn: little stalked bells that poked from the dew-drenched grass on autumn mornings; evanescent beauties whose delicately balanced caps quivered to the touch. By afternoon they were gone, shriveled into the greenery. Does any living thing seem more supernatural to a child than a mushroom? Their prevalence in fairy tale illustrations and fantasy movies suggests not. A reliable piece of scenery behind unicorns, providing forest shelters for elves, mushrooms are the only things in these stories drawn from reality. Like no other species, the strangeness of fungi survives the loss of innocence about the limits of nature. They trump the supernatural, their magic intensifying as we learn more about them. Once upon a time, I spent 30 years studying mushrooms and other fungi. Now, as my scientific interests broaden with my waistline, I would like to share three things that I have learned about the meaning of life from thinking about these extraordinary sex organs and the microbes that produce them. This mycological inquiry has revealed the following: (i) life on land would collapse without the activities of mushrooms; (ii) we owe our existence to mushrooms, and (iii) there is (probably) no God. The logic is spotless. Mushrooms are masterpieces of natural engineering, the most wondrous inventions in evolutionary history.

The overnight appearance of the fruit body is a pneumatic process, with the inflation of millions of preformed cells extending the stem, pushing earth aside, and unfolding the cap. Once exposed, the gills of a meadow mushroom shed an astonishing 30,000 spores per second, delivering billions of allergenic particles into the air. A minority of spores alight and germinate on fertile ground and some species are capable of spawning the largest and longest-lived organisms on the planet. Mushroom colonies burrow through soil and rotting wood. Some hook into the roots of forest trees and engage in mutually supportive symbioses; others are pathogens that decorate their food sources with hardened hooves and fleshy shelves. Mushrooms work with insects too, fed by and feeding leaf-cutter ants in the New World and termites in the Old World. Among the staggering diversity of mushroom-forming fungi we also find strange apparitions including gigantic puffballs, phallic eruptions with revolting aromas, and tiny “bird’s nests” whose spore-filled eggs are splashed out by raindrops. Readers of this magazine know all this, but I wanted to remind you of the brilliance of our obsessions before humbling Homo. Mushrooms have been around for tens of millions of years and their activities are indispensable for the operation of the biosphere. Through their relationships with plants and animals, mushrooms are essential for forest and grassland ecology, climate control and atmospheric chemistry, water purification, and the maintenance of biodiversity. This first point, about the ecological significance of mushrooms, is obvious, yet the 16,000 described species of mushroom-forming fungi are members of the most poorly understood kingdom of life. The second

point requires a dash of lateral thinking. Because humans evolved in ecosystems dependent upon mushrooms there would be no us without mushrooms. And no matter how superior we feel, humans remain dependent upon the continual activity of these fungi. The relationship isn’t reciprocal: without us there would definitely be mushrooms. They wouldn’t notice our absence. Judged against the rest of life—and, so often, we do place ourselves against the rest of nature—humans can be considered as a recent and damaging afterthought. Some people may find my next point more controversial. Mushrooms demonstrate, quite convincingly, that gods are figments of the hominid imagination. Carefully designed experiments with psilocybin, the hallucinogenic alkaloid from species of Psilocybe mushroom, show that spiritual feelings of kinship with something greater than oneself, mystical experiences, and other nebulous phenomena can be induced by this single chemical. Participants treated with psilocybin in a recent study at Johns Hopkins University described feeling closer to God. Here is an example of a patient’s comment: “My conversation with God (golden streams of light) assur[ed] me that everything on this plane is perfect; but I do not have the physical body/mind to fully understand.” And another: “The experience of death, which initially was very uncomfortable, followed by absolute peace and being in the presence of God. It was so awesome to be with God that words can’t describe the experience.” After ingestion, psilocybin is converted into psilocin. Psilocin is remarkably similar in chemical structure to serotonin and when it reaches the brain it docks with serotonin receptors, upsets the normal FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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functioning of the neocortex, and can conjure deities from thin air. Amateur anthropologist Gordon Wasson was right that mushrooms held the secret to understanding the origins of religion, but he was right for the wrong reason. His thesis, extended by followers, that modern faiths evolved from ancient practices involving ritual inebriation with magic mushrooms is found wanting. But psilocybin is affording investigators access to a fresh and unambiguous neurological and cognitive explanation of the supernatural. Belief in God has no more substance than a mushroom dream.

continued from page 23. They somehow had acquired clothes. They had somehow managed to domesticate another animal, a horse, which they then got up on and rode away. And this all happened in the blink of an eye, as it were. I didn’t imagine it – I saw it. I thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen. I couldn’t imagine anything sillier. I told the others. They were interested until I repeated it over and over. I couldn’t get the scene I saw out of my mind. It’s still there, as sharp as ever. I have no idea what it means except that it seems to be a way to turn Long Island into a “Coney Island of the mind.” 10 On another occasion, I took this mushroom with a friend, and experienced, quite by surprise, a rebirth, a passing through the birth canal and emerging laughing out loud, having had a wonderful time, quite unlike what I have read the first time must have been like. Birth trauma redux with no “fear and trembling” this time around. A potential therapy for the traumatized? So, if you were a C-section baby, and were plucked fully formed from the head of Zeus, metaphorically speaking, does this mean you can’t benefit from this experience? Only if your name is Athena, but then you’d be wise beyond your years. 11 A young woman collected some of the Big Laughing Gym for dinner one night. She thought she had collected Honey Mushrooms. She had had a drink or two before dinner, but she still found the mushrooms to be too bitter to eat.

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To sum up: life on earth depends on mushrooms, humans wouldn’t have evolved without mushrooms, and mushrooms afford formidable support for the nonexistence of God. This is all good news. A clear picture of our place in the universe is the only path to enlightenment. That we are manufactured from stardust, rescued from disorder by the big reactor in the sky, and destined to diffusion, is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. This simplifies things; it’s a relief to know the parameters. And while mushrooms are everywhere and will

She doused them with soy sauce. She ate the meal and went off to a meeting. During the meeting she found herself commenting out loud about various people in the room. She commented on what people looked like to her, what they were wearing, what they were saying, and she said all this in a rather loud voice, laughing at each insult she was flinging. She was heard by everyone there. Some people present thought she was drunk. Others thought she was being unforgivably rude, whatever the cause. She had no idea about any of this. She was having a great time, totally dis-inhibited from refraining to speak out about whatever casual observations came into her head. What does this all mean? Perhaps that this mushroom has an unappreciated therapeutic value as something that can allow us to separate ourselves from what we say so that a therapist can be able to get quickly to the core of a person’s otherwise undiagnosed neurosis. SUMMARY In summary, I think we can say that psilocybin, in addition to being a college age (and middle age) “party drug,” has an untapped potential for understanding (or misunderstanding) human behavior, for re-experiencing childhood traumas (as Sigmund Freud understood them), as well as birth trauma itself (as Otto Rank delineated it), and for connecting the isolated, anomic individual with the archetypes, the permanent forms, the underlying spirit or soul, as Carl Jung wrote. It might even be a way to “experience” phylogenetic regression, as Stanislav

outlive us by an eternity, what marvelous and unlikely fortune to be alive at this moment! The quotes from patients in the Johns Hopkins University study come from R. R. Griffiths, W. A. Richards, M. W. Johnson, U. D. McCann, and R. Jesse. 2008. Journal of Psychopharmacology 22: 621-632. Nik’s fourth book on fungal biology, titled MUSHROOM, will be published by Oxford University Press in November. His website, www.nikmoney.com, offers a selection of unpublished writings.

Grof has described it. At its best, in ways too complex to explore in this article, psilocybin might just be that tool or, as Carlos Castaneda might have said, one of the “allies” we can use to explore our inner space, our life before birth, our lives as other creatures, and our journey out of this life into the unknown. At the very least, it should keep us so busy that we have no time to spend on a therapist’s couch. THE END REFERENCES A few references for all those who are not familiar with non-mycological literature. Ferenczi, Sandor. “Thalassa: A theory of genitality” Freud, Sigmund. “Civilization and its Discontents” Grof, Stanislav. “The Adventure of Self-Discovery” Jung, C. G. “Psyche & Symbol: a selection from the writings” Rank, Otto. “The Trauma of Birth”

Swedish Roots Run Deep

G

rowing up in a Swedish family and celebrating seasonal customs has influenced my interest and appreciation of the forest and its mushrooms. My mother Ingrid was always an inspiration to me. Her love of the natural world, its fungi, flowers and creatures instilled in me an appreciation for this strange and wonderful world. I was fueled as a child by countless stories of trolls, gnomes, and the various fauna and flora of the Swedish forest. Ingrid was a kindergarten teacher in Sweden before immigrating to the US in the late 1950s. She shared her enthusiasm of Swedish culture and customs with children and adults of all ages in the Midwest where she lived and worked in the local school system from the 1960s to the early 1980s before she retired. Both my mother and father were an important part of the Swedish-American community. My father Lennart owns a Swedish import store and travel agency in Geneva, Illinois. He introduced me to

wonderful Swedish objects. During my childhood and adult life I have spent many months in Sweden enjoying the various seasons, visiting relatives and friends. Spring is a welcome season after the long and dark winters. The flowers are in full bloom continuing into the summer months in an infinite variety. Midsummer festivals are celebrated all over Sweden in late June. Many varieties of fungi grow in the forests of Sweden as well. Chanterelles are picked in both summer and fall in Sweden. Late summer and fall is when you find a cornucopia of mushroom varieties in the Swedish forests. There is always plenty of rainfall in Sweden, similar in climate to our Pacific Northwest. That is why so many Scandinavians came to settle that part of North America. In the mid 1980s, I spent two terms attending a Swedish Folk-College in Sigtuna, learning Swedish, of course, and taking classes in various subjects. My emphasis was in art and weaving.

Sigtuna is an old city established by the Vikings in the 1100s, and is about a half hour drive north of Stockholm. Folk Colleges in Europe are different from universities. They are referred to as “Peoples Colleges” and the curriculum is less formal. Folk Colleges are institutes of higher learning attended by people of all ages. The personal development of the individual student is equally as important as the curriculum. Grades are not given for individual classes, but students are graded as a whole for the entire term. The Folk-College I attended was also the one my father attended during World War II. An important part of the learning process was the countless “field-trips” attended by teachers and students. One of the more memorable weekend field trips took place in October at a nature preserve for the sole purpose of picking and learning about the various mushroom species. We picked so many mushrooms and feasted on them in the evening in delicious casseroles, which for years I have attempted to recreate. The art students picked mushrooms used for dying wool. There are many books on the subject of extracting dyes from mushrooms, both in English and Swedish. I recommend the Folk-College experience to anyone. It’s a great way to immerse oneself into a new culture and a great way to learn a new language too. Mushrooms in Swedish Literature Mushroom imagery appears in Swedish folklore, music, art and literature and is almost iconic as it is in many other European countries and other places all over the world. The infinite shapes and colors of mushrooms have inspired many Swedish artists and writers. Elsa Beskow: Author of Swedish Children’s Books Elsa Beskow (1874-1953) was one of Sweden’s most beloved authors and illustrators of children’s books. Beskow frequently combined the reality of mankind with elements from the fairy tale world. Her readers, mostly children, meet elves, goblins, and farm animals who often talk to people. Central themes FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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are relationships between children and adults, and the development of the child’s independent initiative. She wrote and illustrated around thirty books which have been translated into 14 different languages around the world. Overall, she would publish some forty books using her own text and images. A book called Tomtebo Barnen (Children of the Forest) depicts a little

gnome family that lives in the woods. The children wear hats made from Amanita muscaria which helps keep them safe in the forest while on their own. When danger approaches the children drop to the ground, revealing only their mushroom cap heads which blend into the forest floor. The family partakes in many activities including, hunting poisonous snakes to feed to the

forest hedgehogs, harvesting mushrooms and picking berries. The children attend school with all the other forest creatures. Their teacher is an owl, and their playmates are squirrels and frogs!

Har Du Sett Herr Kantarell - Music: Herman Palm, Text: Jeanna Oterdahl (Swedish) Har du sett herr Kantarell, bor i enebacken, Han kom dit i förrgårkväll ,med sim hatt på nacken. Den är gul & den är grann, passar just en sådan man, Passar åt herr Kantarell bort i enebacken.

(English) Have you seen Mr. Chanterelle, he lives at the forests edge, He was over just yesterday with his glorious hat on his head. His hat is gold and beautiful, suits a man like this perfectly, Suits Mr. Chanterelle who lives at the forests edge.

Har du sett fru Kantarell i den gula kjolen? Hon är rund & glad & snäll, skiner rätt som solen. Jämt hon har ett rysligt fläng, tidigt uppe, sent i säng. Alltid glad, fru Kantarell i den gula kjolen.

Have you seen Mrs. Chanterelle in her golden skirt, She is round & happy & nice, shines just like the sun. Always rushing around, up early in the morning, late to bed. Always happy, Mrs. Chanterelle in her golden skirt.

Alla barnen Kantarell, hundra visst och mera, Krupit upp ur gräsets fäll och bli ständigt flera. Alla knubbiga och små med små gula koltar på Komma barnen Kantarell, hundra visst och mera.

All the children Chanterelle 100 and more, Popping up from the grassy carpet and multiplying. They are stubby and small wearing their golden kilts Come along now children Chanterelle, 100 and more.

Lilla Kalle Kantarell slog sin lilla syster. ”Kalle, kom skall du få smäll”, talar mamma dyster. Kalle, nyss så käck och stolt, gråter på sin fina kolt. Stackars Kalle Kantarell slog sin lilla syster.

Little Kalle Chanterelle hit his little sister. ”Kalle, come here you are getting a spanking, says mother. Kalle, now so plucky and proud, cries on his golden kilt. Poor little Kalle Chanterelle hit his little sister.

Lilla Lotta Kantarell i sin gula kappa, fick en regndroppskaramell av sin stränga pappa. “Är du alltid flink som nu, blir du nog en duktig fru”, sad’ till Lotta Kantarell hennes stränga pappa.

Little Lotta Chanterelle in her golden coat, got a raindrop caramel from her strict father. ”If you are nimble and quick, then you’ll be a clever wife” said the strict father to Lotta Chanterelle.

Ack, familjen Kantarell lever där I gamman, tills de så en vacker kväll plocka allesamman, rensas vid ett trädgårdsbord, bort med skägg och skråp och jord! Ack, familjen Kantarell plockats allesamman!

Alas, family Chanterelle lives there in blissful splendor, until one beautiful evening the entire family is picked altogether, rinsed and prepared upon a outdoor garden table, Away with the beard and scraps and dirt! Alas, family Chanterelle picked up altogether!

Stackars pappa Kantarell puttrar I en gryta. Stackars mamma Kantarell ville gärna byta. Men som läcker sommarmat hamna alla på ett fat, och du äter kantarell och vill inte byta.

Poor father Chanterelle simmering in a pot. Poor mother Chanterelle would rather be somewhere else. But as delicious summer food, everyone ends up on a plate, and we all eat chanterelles, there is no substitute.

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One of my favorite Elsa Beskow illustrations is the Kantarell familjen (Chanterelle family). It depicts mother and father chanterelle in their glorious golden attire and their children. Their babies resemble tiny, golden chanterelles just as they are popping their little heads out of the ground. I was reminded of this family as I picked my first bumper crop of chanterelles in my favorite spot in southern Colorado, near the New Mexico border. It’s almost as if the forest floor is alive with groups of Chanterelle families as one goes from group to group picking the golden treasure from the forest floor. I am reminded of family and the importance of rain at the right time of the summer to provide plentiful fruitings of the delectable golden treat, enough to fill our freezers and larders for years to come. A song was even written about this famous Swedish mushroom family. It is part of a group of familiar Swedish children’s songs called Nu Ska Vi Sjunga (Now We Shall Sing), which came out in 1943 with the help of Alice Tegnér. Alice asked schoolchildren and teachers from all over Sweden to help her chose their

favorite songs to be included in the song book. The songs are well known and sung in the classroom. Eventually the book was made into a music CD in 1972 and 1973, and is still available today. The purpose of these songs is not only to entertain but to teach children about the natural world and to nurture their creativity. As they grow and become adults, hopefully they will continue to appreciate nature and help protect and preserve it for future generations. Before television, video games, and the internet, children spent many more hours outside playing and developing their imaginations by images that surrounded them instead of images generated by the media and commercialism. Modern society and its inhabitants are becoming more disconnected to the natural world. We are being taught that material wealth leads to happiness. We all need to spend more time in the forest. It’s time well spent! Many of Elsa Beskow’s books became classics and are continually reprinted. She also illustrated elementary school ABC books. Book pages are often framed by decorative motifs of the Art Nouveau style. Another influential book from my childhood days is an elementary school book entitled Vill du Läsa? (Would You Like to Read?) written by Herman Siegvald. This book is used in the 1st grade in Sweden and is illustrated by Beskow. Two separate pages are devoted to depicting the most common mushrooms known to the average Swede. A poem is included along with the illustrated mushrooms to educate children about what mushrooms are edible and which should be avoided. I have translated the Swedish text into English.

Vill Du Läsa? Herman Siegvald Svamparna (Mushrooms) (English translation) When the flowers of the woods have gone to sleep and rain begins to fall amongst the moss, we grow hastily up from the earth towards the surface. We hurry up and grow so we have a little time to ourselves, before everyone comes stomping into the woods in search of us. Cows love to eat us, and people think that mushrooms are heavenly, and larvae eat us from the ground up. But you should know the dangers if you don’t pick the right ones of us, because many mushrooms I tell you have poison in them. If you want to try and look for mushrooms you had better learn what we are called, the choicest ones can be served on a silver plate. And another thing you must learn, you need to cut our stalks close to the ground, so we can grow up again from head to toe. This song teaches children the joys and the dangers of selecting the right mushrooms. By the time they are adults they know what mushrooms are the best tasting and the ones that can be fatal. Imagine growing up with this kind of knowledge of mycology in the elementary curriculum in the US. Maybe it is good that children in the US don’t learn about mushrooms in grade school;

that leaves more mushrooms for the rest of us! So many people don’t know the fun of hunting mushrooms, they are frightened of what they don’t know or understand. We are lucky to have so many resources such as mushroom clubs, mycological associations, and seasonal forays available in the US. Even those of us who don’t become skilled mycologists can learn to enjoy being in the woods, identifying and/or tasting the infinite variety of mushrooms out there waiting to be discovered. The poem above inspired another Swedish mushroom song (see page 50) which many children know and love. Sometimes there are even dances that accompany the music. Rolf Lindberg: Troll Artist One of the most famous troll artists of Sweden was the late Rolf Lidberg, who spent a great deal of his life illustrating these wonderful creatures who live in the Swedish forests. If you go to Sweden, you can see trolls in the woods easily in every rock or tree. The bearded trolls in his illustrations are actually selfportraits of himself. What a jolly man he must have been. He painted trolls at various stages of development, partaking in various activities in the beautiful surroundings where they lived, worked and played. Many of his paintings depict trolls picking mushrooms. He painted scenes such as father troll educating his children about

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Picking Mushrooms - Music: Herman Palm, Text: Jeanna Oterdahl Plocka Svamp (Swedish)

Picking Mushrooms (English)

Kom med nu ska vi gå ut på tramp, gå ut på tramp, gå ut på tramp. Tag korg & kniv, vi ska plocka svamp, plocka svamp, plocka svamp. Det är så roligt i skogen gå, i skogen gå, i skogen gå. och leta rätt på de svampar små, svampar små.

Come along now we shall go out and tromp, go out and tromp, go out and tromp. Take your basket and your knife, we will pick mushrooms, will pick mushrooms, will pick mushrooms. It is so much fun to go out into the forest, go out into the forest, go out into the forest. And find the right little mushrooms, little mushrooms.

Karl Johan står där så kort och tjock, så kort och tjock, så kort och tjock. Med morkbrun hätta och snövit rock, och snövit rock, och snövit rock. Grönkremla, smörsopp, och champinjon, och champinjon, och champinjon. och fjällskivling stolt som en högbaron, hög baron.

King Bolete stands there so short and thick, so short and thick, so short and thick. With a dark brown hat and a snow-white coat, and a snow-white coat, and a snow-white coat. Green russula, butter-bolete, and champignon, and champignon, and champignon. and parasol mushroom, proud as a high baron, high baron.

Där har vi taggsvamp och kantarell, och kantarell, och kantarell och flugsvamp, nej, han är inte snäll, är inte snäll, är inte snäll. Nu har vi korgarna fulla fått, vi fulla fått, vi fulla fått. nu lagar mamma oss något gott, riktigt gott.

Look there is hedgehog mushrooms and chanterelle, and chanterelle, and chanterelle. and fly agaric (amanita muscaria), No! He is not nice, He is not nice, he is not nice!

mushrooms, fishing scenes and groups of trolls cooking their meals out in the open. These illustrations are so much fun and depict the Swedish landscape as it actually is. One of Ingrid’s favorite pastimes was writing letters to everyone she knew, and even people she didn’t know and wanted to get to know. This included Rolf Lidberg.

I have a postcard she received from him. He sketched a portrait of himself as well as signed his name. He spent many of his winters in the Canary Islands to get away from the cold, dark winters of Sweden. It was a better climate for his ailments during his senior years. Rolf was also an avid botanical artist, illustrating the flora

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Now our baskets we have filled, we have filled, we have filled. Now mother will cook us up something good, really good.

and fauna of the Canary Islands in addition to painting trolls and the Swedish landscape. One of my favorite images is the scene of a large group of trolls rushing out into the forest to pick mushrooms. Hiding behind rocks and trees are various mushrooms with faces. The mushrooms elders are educating their children about how to avoid the “mushroom picking trolls.” They are to run away when they see their mushroom baskets. What a riot. The imagination of Rolf to paint faces on mushrooms, very similar to what Elsa Beskow did in some of her books. Mushrooms really are living entities in the minds and imaginations of many, especially artists. Maybe mushrooms too have souls like humans. That’s why when we are out picking, we must leave some behind for the forest spirits and the

animals, and not be too greedy. Mushroom Favorites The forests in Sweden are usually covered in various types of mushrooms from spring to late fall, usually peaking in mid to late summer and into September and October. These are months of intensive foraging in Sweden. A common summer mushroom that fruits in the early to late summer is

Cantharellus tubaeformis

of course the Kantarell, Cantharellus cibarius. This is a mushroom that you can see in Sweden in the summer months. It is similar to the species that grows in the US. The Swedish Chanterelle is a bit smaller than the ones I have picked in the southern Rockies, but they are equally as delicious. Sweden is a very rainy country, especially in the summer and fall months. The basket holding the Chanterelles in the picture is an example of the many types of handicrafts produced and sold in Sweden. Some of Sweden’s glass artists living in the province of Småland are inspired by mushroom forms and reproduce them in beautiful artglass.

In the fall, another type of Chanterelle grows in the forests of Sweden. They are called the Trattkantarell (Cantharellus tubaeformis).They are also found in North America. I saw them myself on a foray in Oregon last October. On a recent trip to Sweden to help celebrate my Aunt Birgitta’s 90th birthday was my first exposure to this species of mushroom. One of her nephews proudly produced a basket of Trattkantarell to her in honor of this grand occasion. Birthdays are celebrated magnificently in Sweden. Every year that passes is

a reason to celebrate with family and

friends of all ages. Another beloved mushroom that grows plentifully in the forests of Sweden is the King Bolete, Boletus edulis. The Swedes call it Karl Johan, named after Karl XIV Johan, who came from France to rule over Sweden and Norway in 1818. The mushroom was aptly named after this King because when he first ruled, there was a shortage of food in the country. Karl XIV Johan took notice of how many Boletes were growing in the Swedish forests and suggested that the people eat the King Bolete to supplement their diet when other food was not available. They honored him by naming this mushroom after him. Swedes are very proud of the fungi that grow in their forests. So proud that a series of stamps were issued in 1978, by Eva Jern representing six species including the Orange Russula (Russula decolorans), the Common Puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum), the Parasol mushroom (Macrolepiota procera), the Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius), the King Bolete (Boletus edulis) or “cep,” and the Coral (Ramaria botrytis). I think it’s time that the United States of America produced a mushroom stamp don’t you? We should hold our heads up high

when we walk through our vast forests and take pride in the delights growing on the forest floor of all shapes and sizes. Pray for rain! References/Permissions/Photo Credits Vill du Läsa? Första och andra skolåret. By Elsa Beskow and Herman Siegvald. Bonniers Junior Förlag AB 1st printing 1935. Blommornas bok. Visor av Jeanna Oterdahl, illustrated by Elsa Beskow. Bonniers Junior Förlag AB 1st printing 1905. Photos of Trattkantarell and Karl Johan mushrooms from the book: Nya Svampboken. By Pelle Holmberg and Hans Marklund. Norstedts Förlagsgrupp AB 2009, Stockholm, Sweden.

Nu Ska Vi Sjunga av Alice Tegnér 1943, Almqvist & Wiksells förlag. Generous thanks to Dag Beskow for permission to use Elsa Beskow images. Generous thanks to Hans Andersson and Trollrike for permission to use Rolf Lidberg images. Maria Jönsson is Swedish/American fungophile, artist and archaeologist, and lives in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Maria grew up in the Fox Valley, west of Chicago Illinois in a predominantly Swedish community. She travels to Sweden as often as possible. FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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Psilocybe 101 continued from page 44.

7a.

8a.

8d.

7b.

Figure 9. Spore print of Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa. Photo courtesy of P. Stamets.

8b.

this group, particularly as a source of medicine. That mushrooms containing psilocybin are outlawed seems, to me and many other mycologists, crazy and maybe even hurtful to those who could benefit from potential benefits (that have been demonstrated clinically) of their use under the care of a physician. Furthermore, such laws are all but impossible to enforce (as pointed out above, there are many mushrooms that possess the banned substances, they can be all but impossible to distinguish from other nonactive species, and psychedelic mushroom species pretty commonly occur just about anywhere humans live). The genus Psilocybe continues to

Figure 5. Psilocybin (top) and psilocin (bottom). at-times confusing macromorphological characteristics are resolved by looking deep down into the recesses of the DNA code within the organism. Which is not to say that macromorphological characters are useless. Based on spore color and morphology of pileipellis, nonbluing species are kept in the Strophariaceae, including P. montana, the tiny little type species (Fig. 11). In some cases it’s all but impossible to tell the difference between Psilocybe and Stropharia (Fig. 12, and see also Figs. 8e and f ).

Figure 6. Psilocybe azurescens bluing and “bleeding” onto a paper towel. Photo courtesy J. Hutchins. Personal Experience with Psilocybin-Containing Mushrooms and Concluding Remarks Full disclosure: I have eaten magic mushrooms. Most field mycologists I know, who may or may not admit to it in public, also have eaten magic

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8e.

7c. 8c.

Figure 7. Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa taken (a) October 2010 before frost and (b, c) November 2010 after frost episode. Photos courtesy P. Stamets. mushrooms. I think, as a mycologist— one who is curious about and studies fungi—it would be anathema to lecture and write about this group of mushrooms without experiencing them firsthand. I also have tasted species of Amanita including the deadly ones—just a very small taste and it was completely spat out. (Taste is diagnostic for many species of mushrooms.) At no point did I think I was endangering myself with the Amanitas or with the Psilocybes. But this is because I have many years of expertise in studying mushrooms. Do I consider magic mushrooms to be a holy sacrament?... or gift from the gods?... or do I anthropomorphize magic mushrooms in any way (I have heard some people refer to magic mushrooms as a “her,” rather than an “it”)? No. They are fungi. They do happen to

8f.

Figure 8. (a) Conocybe filaris, considered toxic; (b) Galerina marginalis, considered deadly; (c) Panaeolus papilionaceus var. campanulatus, not edible; (d) Panaeolus semiovatus var. retirugis, not edible; (e) Stropharia ambigua, edibility questionable; (f ) Stropharia alcis, growing on moose dung in Newfoundland, edibility questionable. Photos a-d courtesy M. Beug. Photos e-f by B. Bunyard. possess compounds that act as powerful psychotropic drugs in the human body.

Figure 10. Family tree for Psilocybe including their closest relatives.

Figure 11. Deconica (formerly Psilocybe) montana. Photo courtesy M. Beug. (Amazingly powerful in my experience.) But those compounds are the result of evolution, just like compounds in Amanitas that can kill us, or the odor compounds in Matsutake mushrooms that drive me wild. It is pretty clear that more research needs to be done with

Figure 12. Leratiomyces (formerly Psilocybe) squamosus. Photo courtesy M. Beug. surprise us mycophiles. No doubt there are many species still awaiting discovery. Some species like the conspicuous and showy

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continued from page 41.

Figure 13. Psilocybe zapotecorum, two images of a rarely seen species from Mexico. Photo courtesy A. Rockefeller.

Figure 14. Psilocybe stuntzii. Photo courtesy M. Beug. P. zapotecorum of Mexico are rarely seen and photographed (Fig. 13), and remain poorly known. Other species seem to be hidden in plain sight. Psilocybe stuntzii, known as “Stuntz’s Blue Legs,” was first discovered growing in wood chips right outside the door to the botany department on the University of Washington campus in Seattle! The mushroom (Fig.14) was named to honor University of Washington Professor Daniel Stuntz; according to Professor Michael Beug he never forgave the authors (Guzmán and Ott)! And so it goes with Psilocybe. Although written as a primer on the topic, there is still much more to know about the genus Psilocybe. For more on the science, lore, history, and legality of this group, see other articles in this issue of FUNGI. Those wanting to learn more also should seek out copies of Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World: An Identification Guide (Stamets, 1996) and Psilocybe Mushrooms & Their Allies (Stamets, 1978).

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What seems like love May be rot taking root. Lipstick on a pig.

-for Enesto Cardenal

Yo ando siempre cantando Make me god of flowers & shrooms. Strong man. Story man.

Is that an argument against Risk? Have you not been Whirled, diced & consumed

The asphalt’s alive with dead Oil. I try to walk the edges. Keep distance to heart

By the unexpected razz-a-ma-tazz? The turquoise blue waterfalls Of Havasupai?

And let the head dance On its own, playing tricks Joking with friends & strangers

When I was young, I rode my bike, whistling and making up songs, willy-nilly.

I trust. Not strangers in the bluegreen bouncelight. TV ghosts musing on whose beer’s better.

Lyrics to charm the jacaranda. Tame the passionflower Twined around my porch.

Or what car totem tie to buy. Cabezos Hablandos preguntun, “Think their wars as smart as ours?”

It’s time to make love again. Not war. To celebrate being So gratefully about-to-be-dead

Makeup’s their best mask For deception. Posing as peace Can be a pounce in waiting.

alive & living. So make me andar siempre cantando

Some can pretend anything Except what’s true. Still most of us can smell truth.

Let me find the goddess in me. The multiverse of flowers & shrooms

art goodtimes

union of street poets

vincent st. john local

colorado plateau

aztlán kuksu brigade (ret.) san francisco 19apr15001[v33109]

mushroom use to have remained sacred rituals of the types he found among the Mazatecs in Huautla de Jemenez. That was not to be. As for what is? One recent trend in Indonesia is to serve magic mushrooms as a weak-strength, sweetened fruit shake – weak enough so that even tourists who have had a beer or two can still handle them. Many Bali tourists do wander the streets with a beer in hand, so lowering the mushroom dose to compensate is sensible. There isn’t all that much magic in most such shakes, and no one seems to be passing out or overdosing. For socializing, a mushroom shake there seems fine. And just a small dose (hopefully without alcohol) is maybe a good idea for first-timers. A few of the many places where magic mushrooms are currently legal (or tolerated) and sold: the Netherlands: Amsterdam (sclerotia only); Mexico: Huautla de Jimenez, San Jose del Pacifico, and Palenque; Guatamala: Panajachel; Jamaica: Negril; Indonesia: Parangtritus (Java), Kuta (Bali), Lake Toba and Medan (Sumatra), and Gili Trawangan (Lombok); Thailand: Koh Phangan; Laos: Vang Vieng; India: Kodaikanal (Tamilnadu), Old Manali (Himachal Pradesh), and Idiki district (Karela). I’ll expand on just one of those: Kuta in Bali. Kuta in Bali, Indonesia Twenty hours on Eva Air from Los Angeles, along with a four-hour layover in Taipai, gets you to the island of Bali in Indonesia – a popular tourist Mecca for sunning, swimming, scuba diving, plus arts, crafts, temples, and ceremonies. To most Balinese, it is the home of the gods. Just a couple of miles from the Bali airport is the city of Kuta, with its long white sandy beach (not so clean during the rainy season

when the rivers spew rubbish, but beautiful in the dry season). Balinese know and tolerate magic mushrooms, but that’s as far as it goes concerning drugs. Drugs such as pot, hashish, methamphetamine, ecstasy, etc., are widely despised by the locals and authorities. Possession or use of any of those in Bali can put one in jail for a long while, or worse. So why this tolerance for mushrooms? The Balinese-Hindu religion is full of gods, demons, magic, and community duty. The spiritual magic of the mushroom sort of fits in – those others just don’t. There’s little or no commercial magic mushroom growing in Bali. Magics are collected from cow fields about a week after a rain. Motorcyclists head out early in the morning, collect for three or four hours, then head back to Kuta to sell to the mushroom shops. Should you wish to join in the collecting, check with shop workers such as Kadek at Warung Midnight. The magics of Bali are mostly Copelandia cyanescens. In them, the weight percent of active ingredients (psilocybin and initial metabolite, psilocin) can vary by a factor of 3 or so. Hence, the shop-recommended amount can be rather too much or too little. Avoiding overdose on moderate strength or strongish trips, therefore, demands taking a portion, waiting, then evaluating yourself. Smaller mushrooms are more potent, so if dividing to share, you divide the small and large separately. There were more than 20 shops and bars in Kuta, as of January 2011, selling magic mushroom packets, omelets, or shakes. Some of the more popular lie along Jl. (Jalan or Street) Benesari 1 as you walk in towards the beach from Jl. Legian. Others lie nearby on Jl. Benesari 2, parallel to Legian. Four or five older shops are in the alley 40 feet south of Bemo Corner that connects Jl. Buni San with Jl. Raya Kuta. Currently, Kuta is the only town in Bali

that has mushroom shops and bars. Even if you are enough of an expert to pick your own mushrooms, your patronage would be greatly appreciated in supporting the local economy. Several of Kuta’s newer mushroom bars also serve alcohol. But no need to mix them. Just a few with a beer might be no problem. Too much of either, though, can make for a drunken overdose. Nor are mushrooms suitable as an out-to-thebars party drug. If one intends to hit the bars, clubs or nightlife, it’s best to skip the mushrooms. One Australian lady told me of a pub crawl that her group did, with mushrooms as a starter, that got all six of them retching. Stamets recommends being out in nature for magic mushrooms (Stamets, 1996). In Kuta, some do them at about 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon, then walk up the beach. With or without mushrooms, that can be one of the nicest walks in Bali. With them, one may get to know and appreciate nature better than ever before. With a glorious sunset, some moon, clouds, stars, and dancing cosmic fractals, the experience can be most awesome and spiritual. Should there be a Hindu ceremony or gamelan group along the way, that too may live in your memory forever. Some do their mushrooms just sitting at tables in mushroom bars. Most all of Kuta’s mushroom bars, though, face streets that are busy with motorcycle traffic. The on-and-off roar of motorcycles tends to considerably decrease the magic of the experience, hence some prefer doing their mushrooms on Gili Trawangan – a two hour boat ride from Kuta. There, motorcycles are prohibited and quiet reigns. Bali is unique – a mostly Hindu society in which most all are strongly bonded to temple, village, traditional values, and daily duties to ancestors, demons, spirits, and gods. Balinese navigate all that quite well

Kadek collecting Copelandia cyanescens.

and are known for their sense of fun and joy. It is a place in which you can learn a lot about their culture, and your own. On the street, beach, or most anywhere, locals bombard tourists with questions. Where going? Where come from? Where stay? Such is quickly picked up by us who infect others. Thus, it’s a most friendly place – one that you might care to return to often. Warnings: (1) Do not swim in the sea at night, or while on mushrooms day or night. (2) In the daytime, swim only between the red flags, where lifeguards are on duty. Strong undertows are common. (3) If you are doing one of those assisted, up-the-beach walks, it’s best not to bring your camera, wallet, purse, passport, or valuables – just a towel to sit on, a copy of your passport information page, and a small amount of cash. Concluding Remarks • Anyone interested in magic mushrooms should know well the dangers

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– and especially how to avoid overdose. For a Bali slant on that, plus some coverage on a few other places where legal or tolerated, see shroomswherelegal.com. • Mycological societies everywhere should honestly inform as to the dangers, and responsible use, of magic mushrooms. People do travel, and many try magics overseas, so not educating is not good. If in a mycological society, push for education. At mushroom fairs, some sort of handouts should be available – at least to the interested. And, in the book area, at least some conservative viewpoint books like: Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World by Paul Stamets, The Wondrous Mushroom by R. Gordon Wasson, and Shroom: A Cultural History Of The Magic Mushroom by Andy Letcher. • If lots more of us would simply choose to vacation where magic mushrooms (or magic sclerotia) are legal, safety concerns could be better pushed, and the experience made safer. With lots more visiting those special places, our government might even take note of what attracts us there – and ease up a bit on punitive punishment here. • If at a mushroom shop or bar abroad and warnings aren’t posted regarding responsible use, push for that. People buying by the bag particularly need to know how to avoid overdose. So it’s the bag shops that most need prompting. • Danger with magic mushrooms lies mostly with strong trips – where amount, portion size, waiting, self-evaluating, and place all become really important. Some guidance and protection for those intending strong-dose use, especially for first timers, would not be a bad idea. The Mazatecs of Huautla de Jemenez do their mushroom Valadas in safe, supervised locations. Ayahuasca* users do likewise (Adelaars, 1998). One wonders why that sort of option is not offered in Bali, Amsterdam, and everywhere else. Such could have prevented that French girl’s death in Amsterdam, and many deaths and accidents elsewhere. Do request and push for such if visiting abroad. • Studies suggest that psilocybin can benefit many in a variety of ways (Griffiths, 2008; Jerome, 2007). Psilocybin mushrooms do act similarly. In certain settings, they stimulate profound spiritual experiences (for clues as to the cause of that and other effects see Ramachandran, 2011). In others, they seem to provide insights into nature and life. They

intensify feelings, stimulate imagination, focus attention, alter perception, and tweak the erotic. Medicinally, they uplift terminal cancer patients and cure cluster headaches. They can both inspire and enhance art and music. Mazatecs use them for probing problems, illnesses, and worries. Indonesian villagers, when sitting around with friends, occasionally pass a few around to stimulate conversation and camaraderie. Others might throw a party where the mushrooms interact in different ways – uplifting, meditative, spiritual, or celebratory. Which is the proper use? Perhaps any use, where legal, is proper so long as the participants are well informed and use them respectfully and responsibly. References Adelaars, A. 1998. “Psychedelic rituals in the Netherlands,” Year-book for Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness 6-7, pp. 355-340, available at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~nota/. For a comprehensive description of three Christian Ayahuasca sects, see Labate B. and MacRae E. (eds.) 2010. Ayahuasca, Ritual and Religion in Brazil, Equinox, London SW3 5SR. Boire, R. 2002. Sacred Mushrooms and the Law. Davis: Spectral Mindustries. Gartz, J. 1996. Magic Mushrooms Around the World. Los Angeles: LIS Publications. Griffiths, R.R., W.A. Richards, M.W. Johnson, U. D. McCann, and R. Jesse. 2008. Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later. Journal of Psychopharmacology 22(6): 621632. Posted at https://www.erowid.org/ references/texts/show/7339docid6508 Jerome, L. 2007. Psilocybin: Investigator’s Brochure. www.maps.org/ research/psilo/psilo_ib.pdf Ramachandran, V.S. 2011. The TellTail Brain. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, pp. 275-283. Stamets, P. 1996. Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, pp. 34-45. Wasson, R.G. 1980. The Wondrous Mushroom: Mycolatry in Mesoamerica. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. ––––––––––– *Ayahuasca is a vine and leaves extract, used as sacrament by several Christian sects in Brazil, that’s similar in effect to magic mushrooms, but vomit inducing.

by J. Ginns1 and Lawrence Millman2 1

1970 Sutherland Road, Penticton, BC V2A 8T8 Canada, e-mail : [email protected] 2 P.O, Box 381582, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA

Abstract Radulomyces copelandii is reported for the first time from the Western Hemisphere. DNA sequence data places this fungus in a clade with the type species of Radulomyces. Its sudden appearance in Massachusetts is discussed. Key words: Basidiomycota, fungi, Radulomyces copelandii, woodrotting fungi Introduction In mid-November 2009, one of us (LM) found a quite remarkable hydnaceous fungus on a large red maple (Acer rubrum) log at Bradley Palmer State Park in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

The fruiting body was resupinate (flat on the log’s surface and lacking a pileus), and its white to pale luteous spines were both densely crowded and unusually long (8 to 12mm). Individual fruit bodies of several decimeters in length grew out of the cracks and interstices in the log’s bark, presumably using this feature of the substrate for both moisture and insulation. Having never encountered such a fungus before, LM collected a sample specimen and brought it home to identify. Finding no match for it either macroscopically or microscopically he sent the sample to JG, who, after a lot of searching and head scratching, concluded the beautiful, spiny fungus had the scientific name Radulomyces copelandii (Pat.) Hjortstam & Spooner. A surprising conclusion because this

fungus previously had been found only in Asia. From January 2010 to March 2010, LM found fruitings of R. copelandii on northern red oak (Quercus rubra), white oak (Q. alba), and beech (Fagus grandifolia) in four eastern Massachusetts localities: in Concord, near Walden Pond; in Lincoln, near Mt. Misery and near the commuter rail tracks; and in Sharon, at Moose Hill Audubon Sanctuary. He figured that the reason the Asian Beauty had not been collected earlier was that it fruited in the winter, a time when very few mycologists venture into the field. He suspected that the species was quite cold tolerant, as he’d found it in freezing or subfreezing temperatures with snow on the ground. Also, each time he’d brought home a sample for microscopic study, he’d found FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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it eagerly sporulating. This caused him to wonder whether R. copelandii possessed some kind of unusual glyco-protein or some other chemical that allows it to turn carbohydrates into sugars with extreme alacrity. None of the admittedly sparse literature on the species at Harvard University’s Farlow Herbarium provided any mention of its chemicals, unusual or not. But this paper concerns a mysterious Asian Beauty, not simply an Asian Beauty with a preference for cold weather, so here the story gets more complicated. During the fall of 2010, LM found R. copelandii on almost every collecting trip he made in eastern Massachusetts, including — most recently — at Fresh Pond in Cambridge. As before, it was fruiting on a large hardwood log, in the cracks and interstices of the bark. Thus it would appear that the species doesn’t fruit only in the winter, and likewise that it has found a very comfortable niche as a saprobe in eastern Massachusetts. To date, LM has not found R. copelandii beyond a 35 mile radius of Boston, but he suspects that will change in the not too distant future. Materials and methods The description is based upon LM’s collection on bark on the side and lower surface of Acer rubrum log, BradleyPalmer State Park, Ipswich, MA, USA, November 13, 2009, determined by J. Ginns 11837 (CFMR, FH). Several other collections have been deposited in the Farlow Herbarium (FH). The abbreviation for the herbaria where the specimen is preserved follow Thiers (2010). The standard mounting media for examination of specimens of the Polyporaceae and allied groups were used, i.e., Melzer’s iodine, 2% potassium hydroxide (KOH), and cotton blue in lactic acid. The formulae for these can be found in Kirk et al. (2001).

fine, acute tip, i.e., not pilose, penicillate or fimbriate. The space between spines snow white, smooth, glabrous. Small spines extend to within 0.5 mm of the margin. Margin white, appressed, dense, typically 0.5 mm wide but in areas up to 2 mm wide, the extreme edge finely fimbriate. Context white, < 1 mm thick, dense, fibrous to horny. Microscopic features Context hyphae 2-4 μm diameter with a large proportion being 4 μm, with a clamp connection at each septum, hyphae where loosely arranged distinct and separate easily, where densely packed they are interwoven, more frequently branched and interlocked. The context surface between spines sterile, composed of a loose palisade of clavate cells up to 8 μm diameter. Tramal hyphae predominantely 2-3 μm diameter, distinct (i.e., not agglutinated), septa infrequent with a clamp connection at each septum, typically 45-180 μm between clamp connections. Tramal hyphae in KOH – phloxine reagent remaining hyaline (i.e., lacking cytoplasm), in cotton blue reagent after 24 h pale blue (i.e., weakly cyanophilous). Hyphae at base of spines closely packed and interwoven, walls of some 1 μm thick. Microbinding hyphae lacking. Subhymenium narrow near the spine tip, thickening to nearly 40 μm near the base of the spines, hyphae densely arranged, interwoven, frequently branched, some segments contorted and resembling jigsaw puzzle pieces. Spine tips acute, sterile, hyphae agglutinated.

Hyphidia scattered in the hymenium, 2-3 μm diameter, some projecting to 10 μm, simple, filiform, slightly wavy, the apex obtusely rounded, walls hyaline and thin. Basidia 29-35 x 6-7 μm, clavate, slenderly clavate or cylindrical with a constricted stem-like base, slender, contents in KOH of numerous, globose, 1-2 μm diameter oil drops, sterigmata four, 4-6 μm long. Basidiospores (6.0-) 6.4 - 7.0 (-7.2) x 5.4 - 6.2 (-6.6) μm (n = 21), subglobose, adaxial surface slightly flattened, wall smooth, ca. 0.4 μm thick, hyaline, neither amyloid nor dextrinoid in Melzer’s reagent, in cotton blue after 24 h most pale blue (i.e., weakly cyanophilous), whereas collapsed or fractured spores bluing within a few minutes, apiculus distinct, relatively large, broadly acute, contents in KOH slightly refractive due to one large, globose oil drop or numerous droplets. Habit and distribution The Massachusetts fruiting bodies were growing in the cracks and interstices of the bark of hardwood logs of Acer, Fagus and Quercus species. This fungus was previously known from China, Japan, Korea, Phillipines, Sri Lanka (Maekawa 1993: 93-95, Nakasone 2001:170-171), Malaysia (Hjortstam et al. 1990), and Russia: Far East: Sakhalin and Ussurian regions (Nikolaeva 1961: 98-100 as Radulum licentii) where it fruited on logs and decaying branches (presumably on the ground) of Abies, Betula, Castanea, Castanopsis, Prunus, Quercus and unidentified broad-leaved species.

Macroscopic features (Fig. 1) Fruiting bodies resupinate for up to ~30 cm, with spines white to pale lutelous, densely crowded, 8 to 12 mm long, odor lacking. When dry density of the spines varies from adjacent spines touching to 2 mm between spines. Spines up to 10 mm long, slender, straight, round in cross section, gradually narrowing to a

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Figure 1. Radulomyces copelandii fruiting body. From Ginns 11837. Photo by Tom Murray.

Results It surprised us that a fungus known only from Asia would be found not just once but several times in eastern North America. We sought confirmation that our Asian Beauty was R. copelandii by asking Dr. Karen Nakasone, who has studied species in this and allied genera, for her opinion. She confirmed our identification, adding that this was the first collection of R. copelandii in the Western Hemisphere. Most readers will not have heard of Radulomyces but just over 20 species have been placed in the genus. And studies (Nakasone, 2001; Stalpers, 1998) have discussed the circumscription of this genus and whether R. copelandii might be better placed in another genus. To determine which species were closely related to R. copelandii part of 11837 was sent to Drs. Ellen and KarlHenrik Larsson who sequenced the full nuclear ribosomal ITS region and ca 1500 basepairs of the adjacent end of the LSY region. Their results showed R. copelandii to be in a well defined clade with R. confluens (Fr.:Fr.) M.P. Christ. (type species of the genus), R. molaris (Fr.) M.P. Christ., and R. rickii (Bres.) M.P. Christ.” This species is generally included in a group called Crusts. Identification of many Crusts requires the examination of their microscopic features (such as basidiospores, cystidia, and hyphae). And that was how we named the collections R. copelandii. However, it is relatively easy to identify R. copelandii without reference to a microscope because of its long spines and large, pale luteous fruiting bodies. The most obvious question is: how did the Asian Beauty reach eastern Massachusetts? LM’s initial collection (not to mention five subsequent collections and “sightings”) came from Bradley Palmer State Park, part of the former 10,000 acre estate of a wealthy attorney named Bradley Palmer (1864-1948). An avid gardener and horticulturist, Mr. Palmer imported many plants from Scotland because he thought the Scottish climate was similar to New England’s. On at least one occasion, he brought in plants from Asia – a whole freight car of azaleas, rhododendrons, and laurel. Could the mycelium of R. copelandii have somehow hitched a ride with these acid-

loving members of the heath family? Perhaps, but almost a hundred years separates this putative introduction from LM’s discovery of a fruiting body. Radulomyces copelandii would not appear to be a slow-working pathogen like Grifola frondosa or Laetiporus sulphureus, so it would not require nearly such a lengthy time to complete its cycle. A related question: assuming the Asian Beauty didn’t arrive via the enterprise of Mr. Palmer, when did it arrive? A thorough search of the literature on hydnaceous species at Harvard’s Farlow Herbarium turned up no reference to any earlier North American collection or, indeed, any description of a species that might have been R. copelandii in an earlier taxonomic guise. Nor did a search of the inventories from amateur and regional forays turn up an even remotely similar species. Of course, such searches don’t prove that R. copelandii hadn’t fruited before 2009, especially if fruitings typically occurred in the winter, a time when mycologists seldom go foraging. Yet 25+ collections and/or sightings from the late summer through the fall of 2010 indicates that the species also fruits during the so-called mushroom season, when it would be hard to overlook. It might be argued that the Asian Beauty has a stubborn or desultory mycelium, one that produces a fruiting body only once in a great while. Certainly, this is true of some species mistakenly listed as rare. However, a mycelium in a deteriorating woody substrate has a life expectancy of no more than thirty or so years, or roughly as long as that substrate can provide it with nutrients. The absence of any collection in the last thirty years would seem to indicate that R. copelandii is a relatively recent arrival in eastern Massachusetts. Exactly how recent is probably impossible to ascertain at this point. Another question: might the fact that the Asian Beauty has established a seemingly comfortable niche in eastern Massachusetts have negative consequences? As a saprobe, it might be replacing or at least nudging aside native polypores as well as corticioid species. Such species, in addition to being wood recyclers, would have a complex network of relationship with organisms like birds, insects, microbes, and other fungi. If the

Asian Beauty was interfering with these relationships, it might be described as an invasive. Or if not an invasive, at least a takeover species, a fact evidenced by the dramatically increased number of fruitings of 2010. We consider this paper by its very nature to be inconclusive. In writing it, we hope: to alert both mycologists and the public to a significant new species in eastern Massachusetts; to inspire further studies of this species’ range and preferred habitats; and to encourage an investigation into whether the effect of R. copelandii on local ecosystems is good, bad, or indifferent. Acknowledgments Karen Nakasone, Madison, WI confirmed our identification of 11837. Ellen Larsson, Göteborg and K-H. Larsson, Oslo sequenced 11837 and interpreted the results. D. H. Pfister, Cambridge, MA discussed the possible explanations for the recent appearance of R. copelandii in the Boston area. Kathie Hodge, Ithaca, NY and Leif Ryvarden, Oslo contributed insightful comments. Literature Cited Hjortstam, K., B.M. Spooner, and S.G. Oldridge. 1990. Some Aphyllophorales and Heterobasidiomycetes from Sabah, Malaysia. Kew Bulletin 45: 303–322. Kirk, P.M., P.F. Cannon, J.C. David, and J.A. Stalpers. 2001. Ainsworth & Bisby’s Dictionary of the Fungi. 9th ed. Wallingford: CAB International. 655 pp. Maekawa, N. 1993. Taxonomic study of Japanese Corticiaceae (Aphyllophorales) I.. Reports of the Tottori Mycological Institute 31: 1–149. Nakasone, K.K. 2001. Taxonomy of the genus Radulodon. Harvard Papers in Botany 6 (1): 163–177. Nikolaeva, T.L. 1961. Ezhovikovye griby. Cryptogamous Plants of the USSR VI. Fungi 2. Akademiya Nauk SSSR. [1977 English translation titled Hydnaceae fungi. 578 pp.] Stalpers, J. A. 1998. On the genera Sarcodontia, Radulodon and Pseudolagarobasidium. Folia Cryptogamica Estonica 33: 133–138. Thiers, B. [continuously updated]. Index Herbariorum: A global directory of public herbaria and associated staff. New York Botanical Garden’s Virtual Herbarium. http://sweetgum.nybg. org/ih/ FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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The Wild Epicure Amanita Vineuse1 Terrine

(Amanita rubescens Paté) by Albert J. Casciero

A

manita rubescens, commonly known as the Blusher, has a special allure for me because it is the first wild mushroom I became acquainted with and ate almost at the same time. It is the one responsible for me becoming interested in mycology, (read “mycophagy”), and I am thrilled when I meet it again and again during my forays. Luckily, this happens often during my walks in the eastern United States since it is common under oaks, conifers, and broad leaved trees, either solitary or in groups. I usually find 40 or 50 of them on my house grounds. Another advantage for me is that not many of my friends like to pick them for their own use and so my own collection grows rapidly by donations. Its moniker obeys to the reddish, reddish-pink coloring that develops, mostly, at the bulbous base of the stipe, and on areas where some creature has injured it, especially as it grows old. It grows enshrouded in a universal veil that leaves grayish-brown “warts” attached to the surface of the cap. Those warts, as well as the often found grains of sand, soil, pine needles that stick to the cap as it grows and pushes up through the ground, require careful cleaning by wiping with slightly damp tissue. Amanita rubescens normally has a rather large skirt-like ring. It is very important to identify species carefully, particularly Amanitas. Amanita

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brunnescens, often mentioned as a poisonous look alike, has a bulbous base, but it is cleft in vertical wedges, befitting its common name, the Cleft-footed Amanita. It also has an odor redolent of potatoes, while my friend has no recognizable smell. The coloring of the cap is also different, tending to be brown, grayish-brown, olive-brown. The coloring is hard to describe since individual visual perception varies as does the mushroom depending on physical conditions: dry versus humid, after a rain, in the shade or under strong sun, age, etc. Learn to recognize the species with the assistance of a good guide with faithful color pictures and, better yet, an expert mycologist. After that, I think you will agree that, contrary to what many writers indicate, the Blusher has a distinct and satisfying taste.

For the terrine 1 1/2 lbs A. rubescens caps, broken or sliced in pieces (stipes are too hard and fibrous) 1 small shallot, minced leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme, leaves from 1 sprig of Nepitella2 or 2 Mint leaves chopped 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind 3 cups white bread without crust, torn in small pieces 2 or 3 Tbsp of milk 3 eggs 1/4 cup pine nuts 1/4 cup dry vermouth 1/4 tsp Piment d’Espelette (or ground pepper to taste) Salt to taste Unsalted butter and plain bread crumbs for dusting the terrine Melt 4 Tbsp of butter on a large frying pan, and when hot, sauté the minced shallots for about a minute until soft and add the A. rubescens. Turn the mushrooms gently to avoid mashing

them completely—they are very delicate and break easily. Having a few larger pieces will enhance the texture and look of the terrine, although it won’t affect the taste. Continue sautéing for about eight minutes, add the dry vermouth, mix well and remove from fire and let the mixture cool completely. Roast the pine nuts for about 4 minutes on a hot oven on a metal tray, or on a dry pan on the stove top, until the nuts are dry, but stop before they brown. In a large bowl, place the bread pieces, and wet them with the milk a bit at the time as necessary. Depending on the bread, you may need less or more milk. The bread should be lightly moist but not wet—it should make a fluffy mass but NOT dough! Mix with the cold A. rubescens. Whip the eggs and add to the mushroom/bread mixture along with the herbs, spice and salt and mixed well, gently. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Heat the oven to about 325 degrees. Place in the middle shelf, a baking pan with high sides filled with water that would come half way up the sides of the terrine. Butter generously the inside of a rectangular cast iron terrine mold and coat well with the bread crumbs, shaking off excess crumbs. Place the mushroom mixture in the terrine, stump on a firm surface to dislodge possible air pockets, cover with the terrine lid, and bake for about 35-40 minutes until the top springs back when pressed with a finger or, if

pierced with a skewer, it comes out clean. Refrigerate for at least a day for the flavors to meld and the paté to settle. For the sauce 1/2 cup Greek style yogurt 1/4 cup crème fraiche 1-2 tsp Dijon mustard 1 Tbsp cornichons, chopped fine 1/2Tbsp capers, chopped fine Mix the yogurt, crème fraîche, mustard, cornichons and capers and serve this sauce at room temperature to accompany the slices of the A. rubescens paté, garnished with additional cornichons and, perhaps, a side of mixed greens salad. A crusty French baguette and a good bottle of red wine from Chinon, or if you prefer, a white Bordeaux, will complement this dish well. Bon Appetite! (Endnotes) 1 I prefer the French colloquial name for this dish, because it loosely means “vinous,” “of wine,” or “wine colored.” Roland Sabatier, in his beautiful and accurate drawings of mushrooms with zoomorphic attributes, includes a clever representation of an endearing pair of Amanita rubescens leaving a cabaret in a “happy estate.” Sabatier, Roland et Becker, Georges, Le Gratin des Champignons, Glénat, France, 1986. 2 Nepitella (Calamintha nepeta) is the “herba da funghi,” (herb for fungi), for Tuscans. It is a small, very aromatic, mint that grows wild and abundantly throughout Italy.

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ast year’s special issue featuring morels featured a number of mini-reviews of books about them. Because that seemed popular with readers, we decided to try it again for this Psilocybe issue. As you might expect, compared to morels, fewer books have been written on Psilocybes, with most focusing on the blue-staining “magic mushrooms.” For these reviews, we selected works aimed primarily at identification, rather than the use and cultural significance of these mushrooms. Of the nine books included here, seven appear to be readily available based on internet searches in early June 2011, although in some cases not particularly cheaply. They fall into four categories: 1970’s vintage slender guidebooks (the first six titles), a color field guide, a technical monograph, and a legal primer. If you’re looking for a useful resource for identifying psilocybin mushrooms, Stamets’s 1996 guide is the clear choice. A Key to the American Psilocybin Mushroom Leonard Enos, 1971 revised edition (Softcover, 81 pp.) Church of the One Sermon, A Youniverse Production Original price $5.00(?) Currently available, $10-$125 (median $32) A rather poorly produced little guide, not well organized, with considerable misinformation. The mycological information seems to have been taken from the literature with little hint that the author had much personal expertise or experience with mushrooms other than “shrooms,” and a

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substantial portion of the book is devoted to Subud (an international spiritual movement that began in Indonesia in the 1920s), which has little or nothing to do with mushrooms, psilocybin or otherwise. Illustrated with not-too-bad colored drawings that were produced from black-and-white photos. Despite the title, there is no key. Of little use for identification purposes. Field Guide to the Psilocybin Mushroom: Species Common to North America F.C. Ghouled, 1972 (Softcover, 16 pp.) Guidance Publications Chapel Hill, NC Original price $1.45 Currently available, $16-$65 (median $36) Ostensibly a guide to Psilocybe cubensis, Panaeolus subbalteatus, and Psilocybe caerulescens that can be used with “no chance for error.” Contains descriptions and a smattering of other information, far too much of it lacking in detail, of questionable validity, or just plain wrong. For instance, Amanita muscaria is referred to as Mexico’s “magic mushroom” and is said to be “sometimes found in woodland areas of the U.S. South.” The illustrations consist of a few poor-quality color and black-and-white photos. Of virtually no use for identification purposes. Magic Mushrooms: A Guide to 12 Hallucinogenic Species of the Pacific Northwest Everett Kardell and Robyn Stitely 1975 (Softcover, 33 pp.) Santiam Publishers Eugene, OR Original price $3.00(?) Currently available, $10 (only one copy

listed in our internet search) Another cheaply produced little pamphlet by mycologically less-than-knowledgeable magic mushroomers. It appears to have been printed by a mimeograph-type process directly from a typed manuscript. Typos abound and two pages are blank in my copy. Mostly consists of descriptions of the 12 species, not all of which typically contain psilocybin and psilocin. The descriptions are accompanied by poor-quality line-drawings, many of which were copied from the paintings in the Enos book. Of little use for identification purposes.

Sun Magic Publishing Seattle, WA Original price $5.95 Currently available, $12-$60 (median $20) A wide-ranging little book, more professionally produced than some of the others of this period. It has more detailed information on cultivation than the other books, supported with black-and-white photos. The identification section comprises less than half of the book. It covers (briefly) about a dozen species of Psilocybe, a few Panaeolus species, and a collection of poisonous mushrooms, only one of which (Galerina autumnalis = G. marginata) could be considered a look-alike for the psilocybin mushrooms. A number of mostly poor to mediocre black-and-white and color photos accompany the descriptions. Perhaps of some use for identification purposes, but better options are available.

Hallucinogenic and Poisonous Mushroom Field Guide Gary P. Menser 1977 / ISBN 0-915904-28-4 (Softcover, 141 pp.) And/Or Press Berkeley, CA Original price $5.95 Currently available, $1-$76 (median $13.50) Menser’s book is the first that could be considered reasonably reliable. It is well organized and includes a key to both hallucinogenic and poisonous species, good descriptions, and generally accurate line drawings of the species. Although some of the information is now dated, and there are occasional mistakes, Menser clearly had a great deal more general mycological knowledge and experience than the authors of most of the books of this generation. Still a useful volume, especially when used in conjunction with more comprehensive recent field guides.

Psilocybe Mushrooms & their Allies Paul Stamets 1978 / ISBN 0-930180-03-8 (Softcover, 160 pp.) Homestead Book Co. Seattle, WA Original price $9.95 Currently available, $21-$430 (median $35) This is clearly the best of the 1970s magic mushroom books. It provides sound advice (such as emphasizing the need to learn about all mushrooms to provide a broad context), keys, good descriptions, and, for the most part, decent color photos of a broader range of species than is included in the other books from this period. For instance, the Preface cautions that “None of the professed ‘field guides’ on psilocybian mushrooms acknowledged the importance of studying Psilocybe in relation to all fleshy fungi. Rather they boldly suggested an amateur should go into the field and try to find hallucinogenic mushrooms given only isolated descriptions of a few species. This narrow approach to mushroom identification is dangerously inadequate.” Still useful for identification, but Stamets’s more recent book (below) is more comprehensive and up-to-date, has better photos, and appears to be available for a bit less on the used-book market.

How to Identify and Grow Psilocybin Mushrooms: Field Guide, Indoor-Outdoor Cultivation Jule Stevens and Rich Gee 1977 (Softcover, 84 pp.)

Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World: An Identification Guide Paul Stamets 1996 / ISBN 0-89815-839-7 (Softcover, 229 pp.)

Ten Speed Press Berkeley, CA Original price $24.95 Currently available, $21-$124 (median $30) This is the most recent of the books about Psilocybes and their ilk, and the one that will be of most use to most mushroomhunters interested in identifying them. It is essentially a field guide. Up-front chapters include sound information on Psilocybes from a historical perspective, their ecology and distribution, a closer look at six common habitats, the dangers of mistaken identification, tips for great trips, and how to collect and identify psilocybin mushrooms. The main portion of the book covers the main psilocybin genera (Panaeolus and Psilocybe), the minor psilocybin genera (Conocybe, Gymnopilus, Inocybe, and Pluteus), and deadly lookalikes (in Galerina and Pholiotina). A single key to the genera of dark-spored agarics is included. The descriptions are good and include information on the potency of each species where it is known. The photos are in color and mostly of good to very good quality. There is much good advice such as “be cautious and not let your enthusiasm replace good judgment” when identifying mushrooms for possible consumption, and experience-based guidance for consuming them. However, there are a number of other statements that might not resonate with some readers. For instance, “The way these mushrooms have evolved in close association with humans suggests an innate intelligence on the part of the mushrooms.” If true, it seems we would have to ascribe the same innate intelligence to corn, wheat, rice, tomatoes, hamsters, starlings, bedbugs, athlete’s-foot fungus, and the myriad other organisms that prosper in association with humans and our modified environments. Regarding the discovery of a single mushroom thought to be of a previously undescribed species, Stamets suggests that “Perhaps, some would say, this mushroom has remained hidden only to call out to the chosen one who found it, so she could give it to me to clone.” Regardless of how you feel about such philosophical musings, this is the book to get if you want to identify psilocybin mushrooms. The Genus Psilocybe: A systematic revision of the known species, including the history, distribution, and chemistry

of the hallucinogenic species Volume 74, Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia Gastón Guzmán 1983 / ISBN 3-7682-5474-7 (Hardcover, 439 pp.) J. Cramer Vaduz, Germany Original price DM200 Currently not readily available. This is a typical professional monograph dealing with the genus as generally accepted during the latter half of the 1900s and early 2000s. It is lengthy, contains numerous keys and extensive descriptions, supported with good-quality line-drawings of fruiting bodies and microscopic features. It also includes a number of black-and-white and color photos that range in quality from fair to excellent. A good resource for someone equipped with a microscope if you can find a copy. Sacred Mushrooms & the Law, 2nd edition Richard Glen Boire 1997 / ISBN 1-890425-00-1 (Softcover, 69 pp.) spectral mindustries Davis, CA Original price $9.95 Currently available, $5-$75 The one exception to our focus on identification guides, this is a summary of the laws and other legal aspects of psilocybin, psilocin, and the mushrooms that contain them. However, from a practical viewpoint, such a guide seems hardly necessary if one considers that possession of psilocybin and psilocin is a crime throughout the U.S. Although apparently the laws have not been enforced to this extent, in many states, a home- or landowner could be prosecuted if psilocybin mushrooms were found on his/her property, regardless of whether she/he knew they were there and what they were. Boire makes much of the fact that the laws are written in terms of the active compounds, not the mushrooms that contain them. However, the cases he describes suggest that defendants arrested for possessing psilocybin mushrooms have had little or no success pursuing a defense strategy that makes use of that distinction. Of interest for those who want to understand the legal background associated with magic mushrooms. A 2002 edition is also available in about the same price range. -Steve Trudell FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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An entomophagous fungus Akanthomyces fruits from a moth in a grim scene caught on film by Danny Newman in Ecuador. We ran into Danny at the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair last year and he had plenty of weird things to show us. This was possibly the most striking.

68 FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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A

mong so many “active” species of Psilocybe how did one, P. cubensis, wind up being de rigeur for mushroom cultivators, enthusiastics, and myconauts the world over? As Michael Beug points out in this issue, it’s likely that luck had a lot to do with it. And probably ease of cultivation.

Inside Front Cover

2 11

While it is an “active” species, its potency is much lower (according to Beug, who’s done the chemical analysis) than several other species of the genus. Nevertheless, just as the evolutionary fates of several other crop plants that we humans rely on for our very existence (coffee, tobacco, rice, corn, potatoes, and tomatoes to name a few) are probably secure as long as humans walk the planet, so too might be Psilocbye cubensis.—B. Bunyard and J. Hutchins FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011

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