(no subject)

[annathyst]

Heh.
The example of a fungus in this chart in my bio book is Amanita muscaria.

(note: Amanita muscaria is a mushroom that contains an extremely potent hallucinogen.)

Comments

[martin-e.livejournal.com]

Amanita muscaria is suspose to have had an incredible effect on human history. Especially religion. There's a ton of books I need to read up on this. Maybe I'd be more willing if I could find warez copies of those books so I can read them on my palm pilot in Math. :P

The Amanitas

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Members of the Amanita family include not only some of the most delicious and beautiful mushrooms in the world, but also the deadliest. Some 90% of mushroom-induced fatalities are caused by Amanitas. Part of the "problem" is that symptoms of poisoning often do not become apparent until the second day, at which point most of the damage (to the liver) has been done.

Information regarding the hallucinogenic properties of Amanita muscaria should be tempered by the fact that the wrong dose (i.e., too much) will kill you, and that natural variations among individual specimens are broad enough to make eating this fungus a pretty high-stakes way to attempt getting stoned.

The Amanita muscaria that grows in Siberia, I am told, is less lethal and more reliably hallucinogenic. One correspondent told me, however, that lethal doses are not uncommon there, either, and that subjects who do survive injestion prefer to save their urine (which contains excreted hallucinogen) and "recycle" it rather than risk eating a new fungus.

Keep in mind that there are old mushroom hunters and bold mushroom hunters. There are very few old, bold mushroom hunters.

Cheers...