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

The Agaricales As Alkaloid Producers
Even though the blue discoloration does
not occur in ali mushroom species that produce
psilocybin and psilocin, we can say that,
conversely, all species of the order Agaricales
(gilled mushrooms) displaying this reaction are
capable of producing alkaloids. Historically,
this problem associated with the bluing reaction
did not particularly impress early mycologists,
because there were a number of boletes which
turned blue in reaction to pressure and were
thought to be among the most valued culinary
mushrooms. Indeed, the mushrooms' color
reaction is based on ingredients that are
physiologically inactive. The boletes also do
not display the kinds of spontaneous
discolorations with age that are frequently
noted in the psychotropic species.
As results of my own analyses have
shown, the alkaloid concentrations in Psilocybe
semilanceata and Panaeolus subbalteatus - whose
fruiting bodies showed a slight degree of
discoloration at most - are within the same
orders of magnitude as those found in
mushrooms that do not turn blue. Evidently, the
pigments involved have a high degree of
intensity; the tiny amounts that were produced
did not measurably contribute to the destruction
of the active ingredients. On the other hand, my
own experiments revealed that levels of
psilocin and psilocybin in very old and strongly
discolored fruiting bodies and mycelia of
Psilocybe cubensis were considerably lower in
comparison to younger specimens. In 1948,
Singer was the first to describe the
intensification of the bluing reaction, including
a change in color towards violet, in samples of
Psilocybe cubensis which had been moistened
with an aqueous solution of the photographic
reagent metol (p-methylaminophenol). Ten
years later he reported further examinations of
some psychotropic Psilocybe species whose
stems usually turned purple through contact
with this reagent. Since 1970, various
"field guides" intended to aid in the
identification of North American Psilocybes
have also described this reaction as specific to
the Psilocybe species. For practical purposes,
however, this guideline is all but useless. The
metol merely reacts with the laccase enzyme
(several structural types) contained in the
mushrooms and it is not a reagent able to
confirm
the presence of psilocybin and its derivatives.
Even the brown and white varieties of the
commercial champignon mushroom change colors
when exposed to a metol solution, just like many
other mushrooms do as well.
The Limitations of Reagents
The discovery and usage of different color
reagents as a means to differentiate certain species
or even genera has been attempted for quite some
time, with only moderate success, for the most
part. Melzer's Reagent is a well-known mixture
whose usage was propagated as a method for
identifying the Psilocybe species. For this purpose,
however, it turned out to be just as nonspecific and
worthless as metol.
G. Drewitz discovered that the application
of iron chloride to fruiting bodies of Inocybe
aeruginascens caused a deep blue discoloration,
while the muscarine-producing species of the same
genus did not change color. Iron chloride is a salt
that reacts with different phenoles to form
intensely blue molecules. The underlying
mechanism of this reaction is more realistic than
the others, because psilocin will also react as a
phenole. Independent of this color formation, mere
trace amounts of iron ions will suffice to
accelerate the oxidation of psilocin by air.
However, Inocybe aeruginascens is a
species that produces only trace amounts of
psilocin; therefore, it is very likely that the iron
salt reacts with other phenoles in this mushroom
species.
In summary, only those bluing reactions
that are spontaneous or caused by injuries provide
reliable clues as to the presence of psilocybin and
its derivatives in Agaricales. The presence of the
bluing phenomenon itself, however, reveals
nothing about the type and quantity of any specific
indole compound that may be present in gilled
mushrooms.