there are look-alikes. the blue spores are a good sigh though. if i Had a better description i could tell you if they were good. there are some poisonous look alikes though so watch out!. and did you find them or buy them?
read this.
___The mushroom identifier - David Pegler %26amp; Brian Spooner___
Poisonous Fungi
Some species affect the central nervous system causing hallucinations and
sometimes leading to coma. In the case of muscimol poisoning, also caused
by the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) and by others such as The Panther
(A. pantherina), the symptoms consist mainly of drowsiness but can be more
serious. Some of the Psiocybe species, on the other hand, cause visual
hallucinations within 20 minutes of ingestion. Such mushrooms are sometimes
deliberately ingested for recreational purposesalthough the legality of such
actions varies between countries.
Psilocybe Semilanceata (Stropharia (Strophariaceae)) - Liberty Cap.
A well-known species, owing to its reputation as a "magic mushroom"
Cap: 3/8-5/8 in(1-1.5cm) in diameter, narrowly conical with a central,
pointed projection, not expandinhg, pale yellowish brown, drying
to almost white, smooth, sticky, with a darker striated margin.
Gills: adnate, grey-brown to blackish brown, broad and crowded.
Stem: 2-3 X 1/8 in (5-8X0.2-03 cm), slender, cylindrical, paler than the
cap and often bruising bluish green towards the base.
Flesh: thin, firm.
Spore deposit: purplish black.
Habitat: very common, solitary or in very large numbers, in open grassland.
Edibility: toxic, causing psychotropic poisoning, and consequently has been
used as a hallucinogen.
Season: Autumn
Similar species: There are numerous species of Psilocybe, and many are small
and similar in appearance. The Bluing Psilocybe (P. cyanescens)
lacks a point on the cap, while P. fimetaria grows on dung; both
poisonous.
Amanita Muscaria (Amanita (Amanitaceae)) - Fly Agaric.
Perhaps the best-known wild mushroom, having a large, scarlet cap with small
white scales, and a membranous ring on the stem.
Cap: 2-9 in (5-25 cm) in diameter, strongly rounded the expanding to flat
and platelike, moist and shiny, with concentric rings of small white
scales which may become washed away by the rain.
Gills: free, white to pale yellow, broad and rounded.
Stem: 4-9 X 3/8-1 in (10-25 X 1-2.5 cm), tall, cylindrical with as swollen
base.
Flesh: thick, white, yellowish under cap cuticle.
Spore deposit: white.
Habitat: in small groups, under pine or birch.
Edibility: poisonous, containing both sweat-inducing and mild hallucinogenic
poisons, which can cause delerium and coma.
Season: Autumn
Similar species: The variety regalis is yellowish brown with yellow scales,
and in North America, the variety formosa is orange-yellow; both
poisonous.
__The Encyclopedia of Mushrooms - Colin Dickinson %26amp; John Lucas__
Mushroom Poisoning - The nerve poisons.
Apart from the cell poisons, the most dangerous species are those which
contain substances that affect the nervous system. Strictly speaking the
hallucinogenic species also affect the nervous system, but the disturbances
in this case are usually restricted to sensory distortion. Mushrooms
containing nerve poisons can cause more serious symptoms such as convulsions,
irregular breathing and, in severe cases, death through heart failure. Two
types of toxin have been implicated in this type of poisoning - muscarine
and ibotenic acid.
Hallucinogenic mushrooms.
The principal toxins in Amanita muscaria have now been identified as ibotenic
acid, and the closely related compound, muscimol. The Panther Cap (A.
pantherina) causes similar symptoms, also attributed to these poisons but
while this latter species is rightly regarded as dangerous, the status of
Fly Agaric as a deadly mushroom has been questioned. It has traditionally
been used as a ritual halluginogen in certain cultures and attitudes to this
mushroom would appear to be more to do with cultural background than with any
scientific assessment of it's toxicity.
Psilocybe semilanceata - Liberty Caps.
This small fungus was given the name Liberty Caps because the shape of its
cap is like that adopted as the symbol of the first French Republic. It
contains the hallucinatory drug psilocybin, and may have been tried by those
seeking new drug experiences. In a recent English court case it was judged
not to be an offence to possess the fruiting bodies of this species.
Cap: pale clay colour, becoming yellowish-olive or dingy brown. 0.5-1cm in
diameter, up to 2cm high. Acutely conical, often with a sharp point, never
exapnding. Margin inrolled at first, slightly striate. Cutcle slimy,
peeling in wet weather. Flesh membranous, white.
Gills: finally purplish brown with white edges, adnate, narrow, crowded.
Stipe: slender, usually wavy, up to 7.5 cm long. Whitish at the top, pale
clay lower down. Smooth with remnants of viel in young specimins.
Flesh: pliant, tough.
Spores: purple-brown in mass, ellipsoid, smooth, with a germ pore, average
size 13.0 X 7.8 microns.
Habitat and distribution.
Grows gregariously, often in troops, among grass, in fields, pastures, heaths
and along roadsides where animals have grazed. Frequent to common in Europe
and North America, it also grows in Australia.
Occurrence: August to November.
Culinary properties: It is said to be poisonous when raw, even fatal is eaten
by children. Harmless when cooked.
__The Illustrated Book of Mushrooms and Fungi - Dr Mirko Svrcek__
Poisonous fungi and the symptoms of poisoning.
Psychotropic poisoning involves serious cases characterized by the irritation
of brain tissue. For a long time the intoxication caused by the Fly Agaric
was the only form of mushroom poisoning accompanied by psychic disturbances.
It was not before the 1950s that other so-called cult fungi, formally used in
religious ceremonies and rites, were identified; their ingestion leads to
different manifestations of psychic disturbance. Two types of psychotropic
poisoning are distinguished: psychotonic poisoning caused by the so-called
mycoatropine, and psychodysleptic poisoning caused by psilocybine.
In Europe, poisoning by mycoatropine is caused by three Amanita species.
Most common are cases of poisoning after eating the Panther Cap, less
frequent are those caused by the Fly Agaric, and practically unknown is
poisoning by A. regalis. The poisonous content principles of these amanitas
have not yet been exactly identified, and this is why the designation
'mycoatrophine poisoning', though inadequate, is still used nowadays.
The course of poisoning caused by all the three species is substantially the
same: nausea is experienced between half an hour and three hours after
consumption, accompanied by vomiting, headache, quickened heartbeat, and a
persistent dilation of pupils occasionally leading to vision disturbances.
Often the condition of the affected person resembles alchoholic intoxication:
the patient becomes talkative, shouts obscenities, sometimes laughs or weeps,
strikes himself and keeps on running to and fro. The states of excitement
may be dangerous for the sick person and must therefore be mitigated.
Subsequently the patient faints, recovers from time to time, hallucinates,
screams, defends himself against invisable danger, etc, but finally falls
into a profound sleep from which he usually awakens into a normal state,
without remembering his previous behaviour. This poisoning comes to it's
fortunate end on the second or third day. First aid consists in the
stimulation of vomiting and in taking the patient to hospital; he must be
given neither milk nor alchohol. The treatment starts with a stomach rinse,
the excitement is controlled by remidies of the cholpromazine type,
physostigmne (never atropine!) is administered as an antidote against
mycoatropine.
Psilocybine poisoning occurs after consuming some species of the genus
Psilocybe, or fungi belonging to related genera about which, nowadays,
abundant literature is available. These fungi are distributed mostly in
Mexico and in some Central American countries. They contain so-called
hallucinogenic substances thanks to which they had long been used in
religious rituals and were kept secret until the twentieth century. Their
research is due to the efforts of the American ethnographers Mr and Mrs
Wasson who succeeded in aquiring hallucunogenous fungi, which they studied
and identified with the help of mycologists. Chemical analysis of these
fungi were carried out, and it was even possible to cultivate some of them.
The effecttive substance was finally produced artificially, whereby its
experimental testing on volunteers and its application for therapeutic
purposes was made possible.
Fungi containing hallucinogenic substances generally produce small,
inconspicuous fruit bodies growing on dung or excrements. They belong to the
genera Psilocybe, Panaeolus, Panaelina and Stropharia. The amount of
effective substances in the fruit bodies is variable, particularly in the
European representatives of the mentioned genera whose effect is
substantially smaller in comparison with the Mexican species.
The psychic symptoms following the ingestion of halluginogenic fungi are
extremely varied. In some individuals they manifest themselves as euphoria,
in others as sight disorders and hallucinations; saometimes they assume the
form of the kaleidoscopic effect involving the duplication of objects in
inappropriate colours; still other persons, on the contrary, feel anxiety
and fear, suffer from terrifying delusions, and these states may lead to
delirium and suicide attempts. ThankAre psilocybe mushrooms the only mushrooms that turn blue, or leave a blue spore print?
For clarification, "blue spores" is an incorrect description. Psilocin mushrooms bruise blue, while dropping black-to-brown spores by leaving the caps of the mushroom on a flat surface. This is called spore printing.
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