Dung bald spot. In the kingdom of harmful mushrooms

Mushroom collectors do not always know that some inedible and poisonous mushrooms Quite often they eat food not at all with the goal of getting enough.
Even in ancient times, shamans and sorcerers used certain types of wild mushrooms to obtain the effect of intoxication, accompanied by visions and hallucinations.
The hallucinogenic mushroom excites the imagination - and not only the fly agaric, endowed with psychotropic substances. Mushroom toxins can affect a variety of organs of the human body; both the ancient Mayans and the inhabitants of the Central Russian Plain possessed this knowledge.
The shamans of bad tribes and Indian healers knew well that after eating a fly agaric or some tiger row, a person can cry or laugh for two hours straight, be unconscious or in the grip of hallucinations.

Unlike deadly poisonous mushrooms, hallucinogenic mushrooms do not affect the body so much, it will take effort to get significant poisoning, but the badness of these mushrooms lies in something else.
Causing addiction and gradually leading to the degradation of consciousness, these mushrooms doom a person to a longer agony, the return from which is no less difficult than treating the most severe poisoning.

Hallucinogenic mushrooms include those mushrooms that cause delusional visions, or hallucinations, in humans. Among hallucinogenic mushrooms there are both poisonous and non-poisonous. Poisonous species include those containing the substances muscarine, bufotenine and some others. These are, first of all, red fly agaric, panther fly agaric and porphyry fly agaric, some fibers and talkers. Hallucinogenic species that do not pose a threat to human health include mushrooms containing psilocin and psilocybin. These are species from the genus Psilocybe and, to a lesser extent, Panaeolus. The hallucinogens of these mushrooms do not belong to drugs in the narrow sense of the word, since the so-called “addiction” is not observed to them. The first signs of the effects of psilocin and psilocybin appear after 30-60 minutes. Pleasant visual and auditory hallucinations begin, lasting about two hours.

I love collecting, cooking and eating mushrooms, treating friends and telling stories about mushroom pickers and forest wanderings.
I wish you luck" quiet hunt"and bon appetit!

The inconspicuous, inconspicuous appearance of this mushroom is deceptive: in fact, dung bald, like its other fellow mushrooms with hallucinogenic properties, can cause very serious pathological changes in the personality of a person who has been using it for a long time.

Dung bald, or in Latin Stropharia merdaria and Psilocybe merdaria, is a mushroom of the genus Psilocybe. It looks like this:

• The mushroom cap is small, from 1 to 4 cm in diameter, bell-shaped, hemispherical in at a young age, with remnants of the shell hanging down at the edges and prostrate in old mushrooms, with a smooth, soft cuticle, pale ocher or yellowish brown in dry weather, when high humidity becomes brown or brown-purple in color;
• the plates are widely spaced, fused, initially pale, then brownish-black in color;
• spores are smooth, ellipsoid, purple-black in color;
• The mushroom stalk is 2-4 cm long, 1-3 mm in diameter, with a fine-fibrous texture, light yellow, with a spindle-shaped base.

Psilocybe merdaria is inedible: it is a representative of hallucinogenic mushrooms containing psychoactive substances from the tryptamine group.

Distribution and fruiting period

The mushroom is extremely widespread; it can be found on almost all continents. As typical saprophytes, Psilocybe merdaria mushrooms develop due to the decomposition of organic residues and settle mainly on fertilized soils of gardens and vegetable gardens. But favorite place The habitat of mushrooms is rotted manure, which is why they got their name - bald manure. Mushrooms appear in late summer, growing in small groups or singly. In conditions warm autumn The fruiting period of Psilocybe merdaria lasts almost until October.

Psychotropic effect

The toxic properties of the mushroom Psilocybe merdaria are due to the content of alkaloids and other substances in the tissues of the mushrooms. chemical compounds, causing disturbances in the activity of the nervous system. With the intentional or accidental use of hallucinogenic mushrooms, symptoms similar to the consequences of taking the psychedelic LSD appear within 15-20 minutes:

• euphoria appears, sometimes excitement;
• the environment appears brightly colored;
• bouts of causeless joy are observed;
• there are disturbances in coordination of movements and balance;
• visual hallucinations occur, manifested in color visions, “kaleidoscopes”;
• auditory perception sharply intensifies;
• there is a violation of the sense of integrity of one’s own body;
• The mood changes from laughter to bouts of horror.

The psilocybin syndrome observed during poisoning with hallucinogenic mushrooms can develop in two vectors - positive and negative. It depends on the personality type and type, general physical condition, life factors.

The positive development of the syndrome is expressed in a feeling of causeless happiness, experienced bliss. With negative development, rage and unmotivated aggression may appear, including that directed against oneself, up to and including suicidal attempts. If poisoning with hallucinogenic mushrooms occurs in children, in addition to mental disorders, a state of dizziness is noted, elevated temperature, gastrointestinal disorders. In especially severe cases, coma may occur.

Despite the lack of data on physiological dependence on hallucinogenic mushrooms, their use still poses a danger. Long time the experienced psilocybin syndrome leads to the destruction of the electrical insulating sheath nerve cells, as a result of which they cease to perceive signals. In turn, this leads to disturbances in thought processes, the development of autoimmune diseases and other pathologies.

For a very real reason possible harm, which can result from the consumption of psilocybin mushrooms, dung bald mushrooms, like other psychotropic mushrooms, are prohibited for cultivation and collection in a number of countries, including Russia.

“Is nature cruel to its children?”

Harmful mushrooms are divided into poisonous, poisonous-hallucinogenic and predominantly hallucinogenic:

Ⅰ POISONOUS

Deadly poisonous species:

Galerina marginata, poisonous cap, pine russula (galerina marginata) - the flesh of the stem is brownish, the cap is yellowish, with a powdery odor.

Umbrellas (Lepiota ) - strongly and inexplicably poisonous. Silverfish (Lepiota cristata) - pulp thin, white, when broken and reddened when touched, with an unpleasant taste and a pungent rare odor.

Poisonous entoloma (Rhodophyllus sinuatus) - the flesh is white, thick, dense. Does not change color when broken. The taste is described as indistinct or unpleasant; the smell is mealy or rancid. Eating large amounts of mushrooms can result in death.

Morel(Gyromitra)- Raw stitches contain gyromitrins - strong toxins, often with fatal. By the nature of its effect on the body, gyromitrin resembles the toadstool toxin.

Orange-red web spider (Cortinarius orellanus) - pulp yellowish or brownish, with a rare odor, tasteless. Contains poisonous substance orellanin, which causes pathological changes in the kidneys. Signs of poisoning appear 3-14 days after ingesting the mushroom and can be fatal.

Beautiful web spider (Cortinarius speciosissimus) - pulp orange-ochre, tasteless, with or without a rare odor. Its effect on the body is the same as the orange-red cobweb.

Stitch, paddle (Helvella) - All representatives of the genus contain the toxin gyromitrin in their fruiting bodies, which causes fatal poisoning.

Fungi of this genus are saprophytes on the soil; they develop abundantly in the spring. Gyromitrin has now been found in the common line and the giant line (Gyromitra gigas), as well as in the apothecia of some Helvel.

Poisonous and poisonous:

Satanic mushroom ( boletus satanas) — in its raw form, the mushroom is highly poisonous. They say that even a piece of pulp weighing no more than 1 gram can cause severe upset of the digestive system.

Tiger rower (Iricholoma pardinum), dark and sulfur yellow (Tricholoma sulphureum) - pulp whitish, grayish under the skin of the cap, taste and smell of flour. After eating, 1.5-4 hours later it causes gastrointestinal upset and vomiting.

Sulphur-yellow honey fungus (Hypholoma fasciculare) - pulp light yellow or whitish, very bitter, with unpleasant smell. When consumed after 1-6 hours, nausea, vomiting, sweating appear, and the person loses consciousness.

Thin pig, dunka (Paxillus involutus) - pulp yellowish, soft, friable, without much smell or taste.

Red champignon (Agaricus xanthoderma) - pulp not very thick, white, yellowing when broken, unpleasant taste, smell of carbolic acid. The mushroom is poisonous, with an unknown nature of the poison. If consumed, it can cause poisoning, although not life-threatening. It differs from other champignons in its specific smell.

Ⅱ POISONOUS-HALLUCINOGENIC

Mushrooms , included in this group (mainly manita , Inocybe and сlitocybe), contain as active substances ibotenic acid, mucimol, muscazone and hyoscyamine, psilocin, psilocybin and muscarine. Effective dose for ibotenic acid: 70 mg for an adult (1 mg/kg), for muskimol 7.5 mg for an adult (1 mg/kg). Muscimol and ibotenic acid can cause neuronal death and destruction of brain tissue. Symptoms of poisoning by fly agarics (red, panther, royal, etc.) begin to appear after 0.5-4 hours. Impact on nervous system manifests itself in the form of psychomimetic symptoms, sometimes accompanied by hallucinations. As you fall asleep, your dreams may intensify. Many types of fiber contain significant amounts of muscarine, and 7 types also contain psilocybin. The risk of death in most species is very high.

Pale grebe (Amanita phalloides) - pulpwhite, thin, odorless and tasteless (What is most interesting is how information about taste was obtained). Signs of poisoning appear 8-12, sometimes 20-40 hours after eating.

Royal fly agaric ( Amanita regalis) - belongs to a number of hallucinogens.

White, spring fly agaric (Amanita verna), stinking fly agaric (Amanita virosa) - pulp white, with an unpleasant taste and odor. More poisonous than usual.

Red fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) - pulp white, yellowish under the skin, soft, odorless. Symptoms of poisoning appear within 20 minutes and are accompanied by hallucinations for up to 2 hours after eating (look, who hasn’t seen the old Mexican film “Mushroom Man”, that’s exactly what it’s about).

Panther fly agaric (Amanita pantherina) - pulp white, with an unpleasant odor, does not turn red when broken. Its symptoms resemble acute alcohol intoxication, which then turns into deep sleep, but can result in death.

Amanita toadstool (Amanita citrina) - pulp white, yellowish under the skin, unpleasant smell and taste, contains, among others, psychotropic substances of the tryptamine series - bufotenine, DMT and 5-MeO-DMT.

Gray, porphyry fly agaric (Amanita porphyria) - pulp white, with a pungent unpleasant odor. Weakly poisonous, but highly hallucinogenic, like the paganoid.

Patouillard plant (Inocybe patouillardii) - pulp first white, then reddish, with an alcoholic odor and unpleasant taste. There is 20 times more muscarine poison in it than in the red fly agaric. Affects the autonomic nervous system. Symptoms of poisoning appear 20-25 minutes after eating. Lethal dose fresh mushroom 10—80 g.

Waxy talker (Clitocybe serussata) - pulp white, dense, pleasant smell and taste. The signs of poisoning are the same as for Patouillard fiber poisoning.

Fiberglass torn (Inocybe lacera) - pulp The caps are white, the flesh of the stem is reddish, the smell is very weak, the taste is first sweetish, then bitter. Symptoms of poisoning, as when consuming Patouillard fibre.

Fiberwort (Inocybe fastigiata) - pulp white, with an unpleasant odor, tasteless. Symptoms of poisoning are the same as when consuming Patouillard fiber.

Fiberweed (Inocybe geophylla) - pulpwhite, with an unpleasant earthy odor and pungent taste. Signs of poisoning are similar to Patouillard fiber poisoning.

Ⅲ PRIMARILY HALLUCINOGENIC

To date, psilocybin has been found in some mushrooms from the genera Panaeolus, Stropharia, and Anellaria. Hallucinogenic mushrooms now include about 25 species, and 75% of them are representatives of the genus Psilocybe.

Synonyms - Nize (Mazatec), pajaritos (Spanish), Quahtlananacatl, Lol-lu"um, Nios, Nanacatl (Aztec), teyhuinti-nanacatl (Aztec “intoxicating mushrooms”), pajaritos (Spanish “birds”) , angelitos (Spanish: “angels”), piule de churis, chamaquillos (Spanish: “kids, little people”).

Their use in certain doses causes pseudohallucinations and a psychopathic state, which can be accompanied by euphoria, emotional uplift, or severe conditions, sometimes with a desire for suicide, depending on the mood. The lethal dose is about 14 g, which significantly exceeds the effective dose that causes hallucinations (1-14 mg). To get fatal Psilocybe semilanceolate poisoning, you need to eat approximately 4-5 buckets (10-12 liters) of raw mushrooms.

Scaly mushrooms ( Strophariaceae ):

San Isidro, Psilocybe Cuban ( Strophariacubensis) - the pulp is very thin, creamy or light yellow in color, the taste is absent or unpleasant, the smell is weak, grassy or moldy. Psilocybin and psilocin are in fairly large quantities, about 0.2 - 0.4% of the dry weight of the mushroom.

Pointed conical bald cap, Phrygian cap, liberty cap, merry cap ( Psilocybesemilanceata) - the pulp is very thin, creamy or light yellow in color, the taste is absent or unpleasant, the smell is weak, grassy or moldy.

Psilocybe mexicanis, Teonanacatl ( Psilocybe mexicana) - among the Aztecs it was considered a particularly sacred mushroom and was used during festivals, religious ceremonies and in healing rituals.

Montana (PsilocybeMontana) - moderate hallucinogenicity.

Stropharia blue-green, verdigris troischling ( Stropharia( Psilocybe) aeruginosa) - The flesh of the mushrooms is thin, soft in the cap, bluish, dense in the stem, yellowish, with a pungent odor. The mushroom Psilocybe aeruginosa is considered edible mushroom the fourth category, although it is classified as psychotropic, and in the USA - poisonous, is used both fresh and after boiling for 15 minutes, in second courses, salted and pickled.

Semicircular troischling ( Strophariasemiglobata) - the content of psychoactive substances in it is much less than in traditional “Freedom Caps”.

Dung bald spot ( Psilocybe( Stropharia) corpophilia), Stropharia(Psilocybe)merdaria - minor psychoactive effect.

Dung beetle ( Psilocybefoenisecii), (Panaeolus foenisecii)- contains psilocybin and psilocin, but less than Psilocybe semilanceata, some other tryptamine derivatives can sometimes be found, especially serotonin, but is not toxic.

Psilocybe cyanescens (azurescens) - recognized by a chestnut-brown, banded, wavy-edged cap that quickly fades to yellow-brown or dark yellow, and a bluish fruit body. The pulp tastes bitter. There is no smell or no smell. Collecting this mushroom from the wild is a potentially dangerous practice due to its toxic appearance and appearance by members of the genera Galerina, Conocybe and Inocybe. Hallucinogenicity ranges from moderate to very high.

Philosophers' Stone (Psilocybe tampanensis) - hallucinogenicity from moderate to very high. There are almost no visual hallucinations, but very interesting sensations and thoughts appear.

Horneman's stropharia (Stropharia hornemanii) - the flesh is light, dense, and tastes pleasant. May be dangerous.

Ink mushrooms (Coprinaceae):

Bell-bellied dung beetle (Panaeolus ( Copelandia) campanulatus)contains psilocybin and psilocin, although not in the same amount as Psilocybe. Mushrooms of the Panaeolus campanulatus species rarely contain pantherin and other poisons.

Sphinx dung beetle (Panaeolus sphinctrinus) - is often identified with Panaolus campanulatus, but it differs from the latter by the striped cap, which is always turned inward.

Sulfur heads (Hyphaloma), 0.5 - 0.6% psilocybin and psilocin + large number beosictin and norbeosictin. in dry substance, several times more quantity, common to Psylocibe semilanceata. A strong hallucinogen.

Psatirella (Psathyrella) - the pulp is thin-fleshed, fragile, moderate in hallucinogenicity.

Gymnopil, fireweed ( Gymnopilus) - the pulp is whitish, yellow, or brown, with a bitter taste. A number of species have been found to contain a known hallucinogenic substance. In several more species, the presence of bis-noryangonin and hispidin, substances similar to the alpha-pyrones of the kava-kava plant (intoxicating pepper), was discovered.

Historical and medical information:

Among the Celts, their use was part of the national culture. The Scandinavians used such mushrooms to drive “berserker” warriors into a state of uncontrollable rage. In the Rig Veda, about a thousand hymns are dedicated to the sacred intoxicating drink “soma,” which, according to researchers (R. G. Wasson, 1968), was prepared from red fly agaric mushrooms. The ancient Indians believed that soma helps maintain health, prolongs life, and the person who drinks the drink merges with the deity. Chinese stone reliefs from the Han era contain images of a mythical hare living on the moon and pounding the elixir of immortality there. The hare holds in its paws a magic zhi mushroom, which has not yet been precisely identified.

In the early Christian and medieval churches of Tunisia and Western Europe frescoes depicting “mushroom trees” entwined with snakes were discovered, which indicates the presence of the cult of mushrooms in the early Christian traditions. Indian and Siberian shamans traditionally could not conduct rituals of communication with spirits without them. The Aztecs called these mushrooms “teonanacatl” - “body of god”, and only the chosen and initiated used it.

A dose of about 1 mg causes a state of intoxication in a person within 20 - 30 minutes after administration. A dose of up to 4 mg causes a state of detachment from reality, and at higher doses (up to 12 mg), profound changes in the psyche occur and hallucinations appear. Currently, this substance is synthesized abroad and used to treat certain mental illness. The effect of psilocybin on patients suffering from memory loss is very interesting. In almost 50% of patients, memories and revival appear, fearfulness and restraint disappear. Patients remember what they had forgotten and help doctors better understand the causes of the disease. However, the substance psilocybin becomes a very dangerous hallucinogenic drug if it is not used for medicinal purposes, without medical supervision.

Mushrooms containing psilocybin and/or psilocin are considered narcotic drugs.

The fresh or dried form is eaten raw or cooked in some way. Fresh or dried forms are added to omelettes, pancakes, and stews. They can also be infused, or sometimes the dried form of the mushroom is mixed with tobacco or cannabis and smoked in hand-rolled cigarettes or pipes.

The psychedelic effects of mushrooms are also called a trip. During the first hour of action, some people sometimes experience a “transition process,” the so-called “entrance,” during which the trip itself has not yet developed in full force, but moderate sensations are felt. side effects, such as discomfort in the stomach, cold and tremors, suffocation, blurred vision, along with this, the person is seized with ecstatic delight, the pupils dilate, the body shudders in convulsions, while sexual arousal increases, requiring discharge. Apparently, this explains the uncontrollable dancing of the shaman, accompanied by inarticulate cries, laughter and singing. Subjective sensations are formed by extraordinary heightened senses: perception is distorted, the world around us quickly moves and slips away, unexpected attacks of anger arise, abuse, curses, and sometimes sobs come from the lips. Excitement quickly gives way to depression and numbness. According to the stories of shamans, it is at this moment that they leave their bodies and are transported to heaven, temporarily abandoning themselves.

After the psychedelic effects have gradually subsided, the consequences of taking the drug appear within another 6-12 hours: “a special, incomparable state of acute perception and intuition,” but, at the same time, due to a decrease in the content of serotonin in the brain tissue , possible drowsiness, worsening mood, irritability.
When taking psilocin and psilocinin more than once every 10 days, the a certain addiction. To cause the same effect, the next day you need 1.5 - 2 times more mushrooms. There are many cases where regular users of hallucinogenic mushrooms became patients psychiatric hospital. Main danger when consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms, it consists of consuming a poisonous variety.