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

CHAPTER 3.3
PANAEOLUS SUBBALTEATUS - MYCOLOGY AND MYTHS ABOUT THE
PANAEOLUS MUSHROOMS
Stories about involuntary intoxications
with the dark-spread dung-inhabiting
mushrooms (genus Panaeolus) in various
regions of the world have been in circulation
since at least the early 19th century. In 1816,
an impoverished man collected mushrooms in
London's Hyde Park which he thought to be
edible white mushrooms ("champignons ",
Agaricus bisporus). Soon after ingesting these
mushrooms, his field of vision darkened and he
saw fog while feeling lightheaded and dizzy.
Trembling, he sank into his chair. He
felt all his strength draining from his body and
he grew oblivious to his surroundings and no
longer knew where he was. Some time
later, the feelings of dizziness subsided, and his
heart rate slowed down until he was finally able
to fall asleep.
The symptoms were later attributed to
"Agaricus campanulatus Linnaeus ", which the
man had mistaken for champignons. The same
species had been responsible for a similar case
of intoxication that happened about a year
earlier. Both accounts are highly reminiscent of
the 1799 intoxication with Psilocybe
semilanceata from St. James Green Park (see p.
15). This would seem to be quite logical, as
there are psilocybin-producing mushrooms
even among the genus Panaeolus. However,
the question which of the 15 European species
actually produce the psychoactive substance is
an issue that remains the subject of
considerable scientific controversy. Even
though I cannot offer any decisive or final
evidence towards the resolution of this
problem, there are some fairly conclusive
results from modern biochemical analyses (see
Table 4 below) of mushrooms that were clearly
identified or obtained from herbariums, where
certain species were known to have been
deposited. Specifically, many American
species within the genus Panaeolus do not
appear to be the same as European species with
the same name.
At this point, I would like to present
some historic cases of Panaeolus intoxications.
A typical hallucinogenic experience blamed on the
accidental ingestion of Panaeolus papilionaceus
(Bull.:Fr.) Quel. occurred in Maine, USA, in 1914.
Below is an abridged version of the
description of effects by a Mr. W.:
On July 10, 1914, 1 gathered a good mess
of the mushrooms (Panaeolus papilionaceus) and
had them cooked for dinner. .... They were all eaten
by Mrs. Y. and myself. Peculiar symptoms were
perceived in a very short time.... A little later,
objects took on peculiar bright colors. A field of
redtop grass seemed to be in horizontal stripes of
bright red and green, and a peculiar green haze
spread itself over all the landscape... Soon both of
us became very hilarious, with an irresistible
impulse to laugh and joke immoderately, and almost
hysterically at times.... I then had a very
disagreeable illusion. Innumerable human faces, of
all sorts and sizes, but all hideous, seemed to fill the
room and to extend off in multitudes to interminable
distances, while many were close to me on all sides.
They were all grimacing rapidly and horribly and
undergoing contortions, all the time growing more
and more hideous. Some were upside down. The
faces appeared in all sorts of bright and even
intensive colors - so intense that 1 could only liken
them to flames of fire, in red, purple, green and
yellow colors, like fireworks.... The entire
experience lasted about six hours. No ill effects
followed. There was no headache, nor any
disturbance of the digestion.
During the winter of 1915, a species of
Panaeolus spontaneously appeared in a mushroom
greenhouse in New York. These fruiting bodies
were accidentally eaten together with the
champignons that were cultivated there. This error
led to cases of intoxications so remarkable that
Murrill described the mushroom as Panaeolus
venenosus. Some time passed before it was
discovered that this species had previously been
described as Agaricus