Psilocybe mexicana

COMMON NAMES Mushroom of the Cods Teonanacatl or God s Flesh Nize (Mazatec Name) and Pajaritos (Spanish Name). 

GREEK ROOT Psilocybe comes from the Greek psilos or bald head. The species name mexicana denotes the country in which this mushroom grows. 

NATURAL HABITAT Solitary to numerous in grassy areas, horse pastures and meadows al- 

Mycelial Types Slightly rhizomorphic to finely linear off-white to tan in color, sometimes with multicolored zones. 

Spawn Media Annual rye grass seed or rye grain. 

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Teonancatl Psilocybe mexicana Mushroom Psilocybin Eaten Hallucinogenic Aztecs, modern Native Americans Mexico, Central America... 

Magic mushrooms belong to the genus Psilocybe, and include Psilocybe mexicana and hougshagenii, traditionally considered to be most important, and also Stropharia cubensis and Panaeolus sphinctrinus. These contain psilocybine and psilocine which mimic the action of serotonin. The Mazatec shaman, Maria Sabina, described the effects of the mushrooms as follows This is a world beyond ours, a world that is far away, nearby and invisible. And this is where God lives, where the dead live, the spirits and the saints, a world where... 

Psilocybin Psilocybe mexicana hallucinogen/traditional psilocybin/alkal. 

Psilocybin can be found in over 100 species of mushrooms in Mexico, Central America, and northwestern and southeastern parts of the United States. Some of the common mushroom varieties are Psilocybe mexicana, Psilocybe cubensis, Psilocybe azure-scens, and Psilocybe cyanescen. Street names include Alice, magic mushrooms, purple passion, sh rooms, and siUy putty. 

They obtained the teonanactl plant from Mexicans whose trust they had won over enough to allow them to participate in a sacred mushroom ceremony. Roger Herr identified the teonanactl mushroom as Psilocybe Mexicana, and he asked Hofmann to do the biochemical analysis. Unable to establish a bioassay for the extracts he made from the mushrooms, Hofmann took the psilocin and psilocybin extracts himself and reported vivid subjective experiences that were similar to those of LSD. LSD, psilocin, and psilocybin were all similar to serotonin in their molecular structure. 

Powerful hallucinogen Psilocin. Isolated in trace amounts from fungus Psilocybe mexicana. Phosphate derivative, psilocybin... 

Psilocybin, a chemically similar naturally occurring molecule, is much less potent than LSD but likely shares aspects of its actions on serotonin neurons once the body converts it into psilocin. Our ancestors probably discovered its source, Psilocybe Mexicana, P. semilanceata, an P. cyanescens, by accident when foraging for edible mushrooms. One can only imagine how unexpected the experience must have been for the first person who inadvertently prepared one of these mushrooms for consumption, bringing new meaning to the phrase dinner and a show. ... 

PSILOCYBE MUSHROOMS -- Psilocybe mexicana. Family Agaricaceae (Agaric family). 

Heim sent Sandoz 100 grams of dried Psilocybe mexicana that he had grown in cultures. The research team there first tested this on dogs, trying to establish what would be a reliable dose. The results were uncertain and almost depleted the mushroom supply. Hofmann ingested 2.4 grams himself to see if cultivation had ruined its psychoactivity. 

Psilocybe mexicana mushrooms (pictured here as cultivated in the Sandoz labs) provided the material from which Albert Hofmann and his colleagues isolated psilocybin and psilocin. These mushrooms are rather small—up to 8 cm., about three inches, tall—and contain mainly psilocybin as their psychedelic agent. 

Albert Hofmann s view has been that the "medium oral dose for psilocybin is 4-8 mg., which "elicits the same symptoms as the consumption of about 2 g of dried Psilocybe mexicana fungus. When Sandoz first distributed psilocybin, the pills contained 2 gm. each it recommended four to five of these in conjunction with "psycholytic psychotherapy. 

Albert Hofmann provides two examples. The first occurred after swallowing thirty-two dried specimens of Psilocybe mexicana to see if Heim s cultivation from Mexican sources produced mushrooms that were still psychoactive the second appears as "an experiment with psilocybin in the spring of 1962 in his autobiography (pp. 162-168). Hofmann seems to be one of those people "exquisitely sensitive to psychedelic effects as with his first self-ingestion of LSD, these trips came on overwhelmingly. The first experiment involved a medium dose by native standards (2.4 gm.) ... 

Psilocybe mexicana (Teonanacatl, Mexican sacred mushroom), Psilocybe spp. (magic mushrooms)... 

An indole alkaloid obtained from the mushroom Psilocybe mexicana (Agaricaceae). 

The main indole alkaloid present in the mushroom Psilocybe mexicana (Agaricaceae). Psilocybin is also present in the mushrooms Stropharia cubensis and Conocybe spp. 

Pseudoephedrine, 944 Pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, 944 Pseudoephedrine sulphate, 944 Pseudomorphine, 791, 945 Pseudonorephedrine, 437 Psicoperidol, 1045 Psicronizer, 818 Psilocin, 946 Psilocybe mexicana, 946 Psilocybin, 946 Psoradrate, 567, 1058 Psorin, 567, 965... 

Psilocybin and psilocin were identified as the primary psychoactive components of Psilocybe mushrooms by the renowned Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in 1958. Hofmann isolated and identified the compounds from samples of Psilocybe mexicana mushrooms collected in Mexico. To identify the compounds that produced the effects on consciousness, he and several of his coworkers ingested fractions obtained from the paper chromatographic separation of the fungal extracts (Hofmann et al. 1958, 1959). 

Hofmann, A., R. Heim, A. Brack, and H. Kobel. 1958. Psilocybin, ein psychotroper Wirkstoff aus dem mexikanischen Rauschpilz Psilocybe mexicana— Heim. Experientia 14 107-9. 

Gnirss, F. 1959. Untersuchungen mit Psilocybin, einem phantastikum aus dem amerikanischen Rauschpilz Psilocybe mexicana. Schweizer Archiv fur Neurologic und Psychiatric 84 346—48. 

Psilocybin levels in Inocybe aeruginascem are comparable to those found in Psilocybe mexicana Heim. Moreover, Inocybe aeruginascem 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 live times more psilocybin than baeocystin. The variation of alkaloid content across different samples of fmiting 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). 

Such differences in response to attempted cultivation were also observed by R. Heim with various strains of Psilocybe mexicana Heim. As early as 1956, he took spore sprints from a number of fruiting bodies in Mexico. Later on, in Paris, he was able to germinate the spores and isolate mycelial cultures of five different species. In collaboration with R. Cailleux, Heim... 

Figure 57 - A letter from the "Central Bureau of Substance Abuse" in the former East Germany, detailing some legal restrictions on psychoactive plants. At the time (1983), Psilocybe mexicana was not a controlled substance and no restrictions applied to its use.

Figure 64 - Laboratory culture of Psilocybe mexicana Heim. 

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