Magic Truffles

Psilocybe cubensis is a species of psychedelic mushroom whose principal active compounds are psilocybin and psilocin. Commonly called shrooms, magic mushrooms, golden tops, cubes, or gold caps, it belongs to the Hymenogastraceae family of fungi and was previously known as Stropharia cubensis.Psilocybe mushroom. The hallucinogenic ingredient of this mushroom, as in others of this genus, is psilocybin or psilocin. Somewhat surprisingly, however, this mushroom was not the first and most commonly used hallucinogen. Judging from the many illustrations of sacred mushrooms in ancient Mesoamerican art, some dating back to Olmec times, that distinction may go to the Amanita muscaria, or “fly agaric” mushroom of European folklore (Borhegyi de, 2013). The Psilocybe and Amanitamushrooms, along with the equally well known peyote cactus, are only part of a large pharmacopeia of hallucinogens used in Mesoamerica. These include Datura inoxia and other species of the genus Solandra; a potent species of tobacco called piciétl (Nicotiana rustica); and the seeds from two morning glories, the white flowered Turbina corymbosa, and the blue or violet flowered Ipomoea violacea, whose active principles are closely allied to synthetic LSD-25. Their psychedelic seeds were considered sacred to the point of divinity (Evans and Webster, 2010). There is mixed evidence for the use of highly poisonous toad toxin. In the mid-seventeenth century the English Dominican friar, Thomas Gage, reported that the Pokoman Maya of Guatemala steeped toads and tobacco in the fermentation of their ritual drink (Sharer, 1983). Whether this mixture was hallucinogenic rather than fatal is, however, a matter of some dispute