The Amanita muscaria mushroom, also known as fly-agaric has been variously described as a poison, a gateway to mental clarity and a religious sacrament.
Few would disagree that the appearance of the Amanita muscaria mushroom is dramatic and very colorful.
Although their facade is distinctive, with their bright red and yellow colors with white spots on the caps, it must be noted that within the Amanita genus are the Amanita virosa, known as Destroying Angel and Amanita phalloides, called the Death Cap, and it has been stated that more than 90 percent of deaths caused by mushroom poisoning are caused by Amanita species.
To make matters worse, the so-called good Aminitas look very similar to the more deadly ones.
The name muscaria derives from musca, the Latin word for a fly.
It is commonly believed that this was because the mushroom was used as a fly-killing insecticide, although it has recently been argued that there is no valid evidence to support the idea that fly agaric mushrooms were ever used for this purpose.
A more likely explanation is that ingestion of the mushroom caused a delirium similar to mental illness.
During the Middle Ages it was believed that mental illness was caused by flies entering a person's head.
In the book "Plants of the Gods" authors Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hoffman wrote, "The use of hallucinogenic plants has been a part of human experience for many millennia, yet modern Western societies have only recently become aware of the significance that these plants have had in shaping the history of primitive and even of enhanced cultures.
In fact, the past twenty years have witnessed a vertiginous growth in interest in the use and possible value of hallucinogens in our own modern, industrialized, and urbanized society.
" Contemporary users describe its effects as including a dreamy intoxicated sensation, great mental clarity, uniquely different from the effects of such hallucinogens as LSD, mescaline and psilocybin.
Alterations of the senses include visual, hearing and tasting sensations.
Side effects are often listed as including nausea, vomiting, loss of balance, profuse salivation and sweating, chills and convulsions.
Unlike the effects of alcohol, it is said not to leave a hangover effect afterwards.
It should not be surprising that, because mushrooms are a natural, rather than a manufactured psychoactive, its described effects span quite a wide range.
These effects take from thirty to sixty minutes to commence, and the experience lasts from three or four to ten or more hours.
In conclusion it should be noted that the amanita muscaria mushroom is listed by U.
S.
Food and Drug Administration as a poison.
It is not uncommon for people who sell Amanita muscaria mushrooms to refer to them as poisonous non-consumables.
The author of this article does encourage, recommend nor endorse their being eaten, smoked or ingested in any way.
Few would disagree that the appearance of the Amanita muscaria mushroom is dramatic and very colorful.
Although their facade is distinctive, with their bright red and yellow colors with white spots on the caps, it must be noted that within the Amanita genus are the Amanita virosa, known as Destroying Angel and Amanita phalloides, called the Death Cap, and it has been stated that more than 90 percent of deaths caused by mushroom poisoning are caused by Amanita species.
To make matters worse, the so-called good Aminitas look very similar to the more deadly ones.
The name muscaria derives from musca, the Latin word for a fly.
It is commonly believed that this was because the mushroom was used as a fly-killing insecticide, although it has recently been argued that there is no valid evidence to support the idea that fly agaric mushrooms were ever used for this purpose.
A more likely explanation is that ingestion of the mushroom caused a delirium similar to mental illness.
During the Middle Ages it was believed that mental illness was caused by flies entering a person's head.
In the book "Plants of the Gods" authors Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hoffman wrote, "The use of hallucinogenic plants has been a part of human experience for many millennia, yet modern Western societies have only recently become aware of the significance that these plants have had in shaping the history of primitive and even of enhanced cultures.
In fact, the past twenty years have witnessed a vertiginous growth in interest in the use and possible value of hallucinogens in our own modern, industrialized, and urbanized society.
" Contemporary users describe its effects as including a dreamy intoxicated sensation, great mental clarity, uniquely different from the effects of such hallucinogens as LSD, mescaline and psilocybin.
Alterations of the senses include visual, hearing and tasting sensations.
Side effects are often listed as including nausea, vomiting, loss of balance, profuse salivation and sweating, chills and convulsions.
Unlike the effects of alcohol, it is said not to leave a hangover effect afterwards.
It should not be surprising that, because mushrooms are a natural, rather than a manufactured psychoactive, its described effects span quite a wide range.
These effects take from thirty to sixty minutes to commence, and the experience lasts from three or four to ten or more hours.
In conclusion it should be noted that the amanita muscaria mushroom is listed by U.
S.
Food and Drug Administration as a poison.
It is not uncommon for people who sell Amanita muscaria mushrooms to refer to them as poisonous non-consumables.
The author of this article does encourage, recommend nor endorse their being eaten, smoked or ingested in any way.