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

Unlike species of thin-fleshed Psilocybe
mushrooms that do not fruit until fall, Inocybe
aeruginascens frequently suffers from fly larvae
infestations, especially in older colonies. The
resulting lesions are injured areas that turn
greenish-blue. It must be noted, however, that of
all species introduced here, Inocybe
aeruginascens is most easily misidentified by
laypersons, as it is of the same genus as the
potentially lethal species that produce
muscarine.
Drewitz's speculation that Inocybe
aeruginascens contains psilocybin was supported
by results from my own investigations in 1984.
Extracts of more than 100 mushrooms collected
in Hungary and Germany from 1967 to 1990
were examined. Quantitative analyses revealed
that the fruiting bodies contained a fairly
constant amount of psilocybin each, as well as
some baeocystin. These results were first
reported in February, 1985. Later that year, the
presence of psilocybin in Inocybe aeruginascens
was confirmed by research teams from the
former West Berlin, Regensburg (Germany) and
Switzerland. Known cases of intoxication
seemed to indicate that the fruiting bodies
contained small amounts of muscarine. But
among all the samples that were tested - at all
stages of development and from widely different
collections - not one specimen contained even
trace amounts of muscarine.
In collaboration with colleagues from
Czechoslovakia, we were able to confirm that
the average alkaloid content does not vary much,
a finding based on analyses of extracts from
several mushrooms. Moreover, the alkaloid
content of fruiting bodies stored for prolonged
periods declined only slightly over time:
TABLE 6
Psilocybin Content of Inocybe aeruginascens
from Various Locations (% of Dried Samples)
Location Year Found Year Analyzed Psilocvbin
Potsda 1984 1984 0.38
Potsda 1983 1984 0.34
Potsda 1982 1984 0.33
Berlin 1975 1985 0.11
Hungar 1967 1985 0.22
Psilocybin levels in Inocybe aeruginascens
are comparable to those found in Psilocybe
mexicana Heim. Moreover, Inocybe aeruginascens
contain traces amounts of psilocin at most.
Baeocystin, on the other hand, is accumulated at
levels comparable to those of psilocybin. The
alkaloid content of the Inocybe species differs from
those found in the Psilocybe species, which contain
three to five times more psilocybin than
baeocystin. The variation of alkaloid content
across different samples of fruiting bodies is
illustrated in Table 7, which shows the results from
analyses of mushrooms collected at a location in
Caputh near Potsdam on June 8, 1986 (see Figures
32 and 34).
TABLE 7
Psilocybin and Baeocystin Content in Single
Inocybe aeruginascens Fruiting Bodies (%
of Dry Weight)
Mushroom
1
Dry Weight (mg)
0.110
Psilocvbin
0.43
Baeocvstin
0.15
2
3
0.118
0.220
0.26
0.23
0.24
0.22
4 0.221 0.50 0.25
5 0.298 0.16 0.20
In addition, it should be noted that results
from these analyses of mushroom extracts
indicated the presence of a previously unknown
alkaloid, which I have named aeruginascin. The
molecular structure of this substance must be
similar to those of psilocybin and baeocystin. It is
a compound that is soluble only in polar solvents,
such as water, methanol and acetic acid. The levels
of concentration of aeruginascin found in the
fruiting bodies is comparable to those of the other
two alkaloids. The compound is characteristic of
the Inocybe species, so that the analytical results of
mushrooms extracts using thin-layer
chromatography constitute a kind of fingerprint
identification of Inocybe aeruginascens.
Of course, there is the question whether
this substance contributes to the psychoactive
effects of Inocybe aeruginascens. It is remarkable
that all cases of involuntary intoxication