Jochen Gartz - Magic Mushrooms Around the ... - preterhuman.net

appeared to have decreased, indicating an
increasing familiarity with psychoactive
mushrooms species in the tourists's countries of
origin.
Similar stories about mushroom
specialties exclusively prepared for tourists have
also been reported from Sumatra, Java and The
Philippines.
Those mushroom species described
above are based on samples collected from
islands; thus, it is quite logical to expect finding
those same species growing on the Asian
mainland as well. Soon after Earle published his
description of Stropharia (Psilocybe) cubensis in
a 1906 edition of a Cuban agriculture journal,
Patouillard proposed the species name
Naematoloma caerulescens for his own samples
of the same species, which were collected in
Tonkin (Vietnam) in 1907. In Thailand and
Cambodia, Heim found fruiting bodies of the
species Psilocybe cubensis, providing the first
sample from outside of Mexico used by Hofmann
and his collaborators to confirm the presence of
psilocybin in the fruiting bodies.
Such positive results inspired the
proposal that psychoactive Psilocybe and related
species thrive on all continents, a hypothesis that
has been fully confirmed.
Other mushroom species from the genus
Panaeolus have been found in mainland Asia as
well. For example, Ola'h's monograph describes
a bluing mushroom named Panaeolus
cambodginiensis Ola'h & Heim, a species - as its
name suggests - found only in Cambodia.
According to Ola'h, all of the species's fruiting
bodies contain psilocybin.
Monsoon Climate, Manure and
Water Buffaloes
In 1981, Schroeder reported the results
of his mycological field work conducted in Nepal
during 1978 and 1979, where his research efforts
established that mushrooms of the Psilocybe
species are wide-spread throughout the area.
Guzman proposed that these species can quite
possibly be classified as Psilocybe cubensis and
Psilocybe subcubensis Guzman. Macroscopically,
the latter species is very similar to the subtropical
Psilocybe cubensis species, but its spores are
comparatively smaller and its habitat limited to
tropical regions.
The mushrooms primarily grow in
valley areas with monsoon climate conditions,
at altitudes of about 3,000 ft. on substrates of
partially decomposed cow manure as well as on
water buffalo dung. While the species fruits all
year round, it does so most abundantly in May
and June, the rainy months that precede the
monsoon season.
Nepal is another country where no
evidence was found of any mushroom usage by
the indigenous population. Mycophilic Western
visitors, however, having discovered the
species, soon indulged in usage of the
mushrooms for hallucinatory purposes, a
practice that failed to draw much public
attention. It appears that a relatively large dose
was required to achieve the desired effects,
since several individuals consumed forty or
more of the fleshy mushrooms at a time.
"Soma": A Psilocybian Species
Within the context of discovering this
species, Schroeder and Guzman proposed a most
interesting hypothesis. They suggested that
"soma", the substance revered as a deity by the
mysterious, ancient Aryan civilization, who are
said to have developed a soma cult, did not, in
fact, refer to the fly agaric mushroom, as initially
proposed by Wasson. More likely, soma was the
name of a psychedelic Psilocybe species, based
on its spectacular psychotropic effects and the
mushroom's geographic distribution pattern.
An article authored by J.W. Allen and
M.D. Merlin concludes that currently Thailand is
the country with the largest consumption of
psychoactive mushrooms.
In several areas across Thailand, tourists
can find menus offering mushrooms prepared as
part of omelettes, soups, teas, pizzas or juices.
Allen specifically studied patterns of usage on
the two islands of Koh Samui and Koh Phangan.
Previously, sporadic reports from other
islands off the Thai coast contained descriptions
of similar practices there. In January 1990, Allen
also confirmed usage of the mushrooms in the
northern areas of Thailand.