Amanita muscaria

Showing three stages as the mushroom

expands

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Fungi

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Family: Amanitaceae

Genus: Amanita

Species: A. muscaria

Binomial name

Amanita muscaria(L.) Lam. (1783)

Amanita muscariaMycological characteristics

gills on hymenium

cap is flat

or convex

hymenium is free

stipe has a ring and volva

spore print is white

Amanita muscariaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or flyamanita, is a mushroom and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus,one of many in the genus Amanita. Native throughout the temperateand boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, Amanita muscariahas been unintentionally introduced to many countries in theSouthern Hemisphere, generally as a symbiont with pine and birchplantations, and is now a true cosmopolitan species. It associates withvarious deciduous and coniferous trees.

The quintessential toadstool, it is a large white-gilled, white-spotted,usually red mushroom, one of the most recognisable and widelyencountered in popular culture. Several subspecies with differing capcolour have been recognised, including the brown regalis (oftenconsidered a separate species), the yellow-orange flavivolvata,guessowii, formosa, and the pinkish persicina. Genetic studiespublished in 2006 and 2008 show several sharply delineated cladesthat may represent separate species.

Although classified as poisonous, reports of human deaths resultingfrom its ingestion are extremely rare. After parboiling—whichweakens its toxicity and breaks down the mushroom's psychoactivesubstances—it is eaten in parts of Europe, Asia, and North America.Amanita muscaria is noted for its hallucinogenic properties, with itsmain psychoactive constituent being the compound muscimol. Themushroom was used as an intoxicant and entheogen by the peoples ofSiberia, and has a religious significance in these cultures. There hasbeen much speculation on possible traditional use of this mushroomas an intoxicant in other places such as the Middle East, Eurasia,North America, and Scandinavia.

Contents1 Taxonomy and naming

1.1 Classification2 Description3 Distribution and habitat4 Toxicity

4.1 Pharmacology4.2 Symptoms4.3 Treatment

5 Psychoactive use5.1 Siberia5.2 Other reports of entheogenic use5.3 Vikings

6 In Religion

ecology is mycorrhizal

edibility: poisonous

or psychoactive

Showing the partial veil under the capdropping away to form a ring aroundthe stipe

6.1 Soma6.2 Christianity

7 Culinary use8 Cultural depictions

8.1 Literature8.2 Christmas decorations and Santa Claus

9 See also10 References11 Further reading12 External links

Taxonomy and namingThe name of the mushroom in many European languages is thought to be derived from its use as aninsecticide when sprinkled in milk. This practice has been recorded from Germanic- and Slavic-speakingparts of Europe, as well as the Vosges region and pockets elsewhere in France, and Romania.[1] AlbertusMagnus was the first to record it in his work De vegetabilibus some time before 1256,[2] commentingvocatur fungus muscarum, eo quod in lacte pulverizatus interficit muscas, "it is called the fly mushroombecause it is powdered in milk to kill flies."[3]

The 16th-century Flemish botanist Carolus Clusius traced thepractice of sprinkling it into milk to Frankfurt in Germany,[4] whileCarl Linnaeus, the "father of taxonomy", reported it from Småland insouthern Sweden, where he had lived as a child.[5] He described it involume two of his Species Plantarum in 1753, giving it the nameAgaricus muscarius,[6] the specific epithet deriving from Latin muscameaning "fly".[7] It gained its current name in 1783, when placed inthe genus Amanita by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, a name sanctioned in1821 by the "father of mycology", Swedish naturalist Elias MagnusFries. The starting date for all the mycota had been set by generalagreement as January 1, 1821, the date of Fries's work, and so the fullname was then Amanita muscaria (L.:Fr.) Hook. The 1987 edition ofthe International Code of Botanical Nomenclature changed the ruleson the starting date and primary work for names of fungi, and namescan now be considered valid as far back as May 1, 1753, the date ofpublication of Linnaeus's work.[8] Hence, Linnaeus and Lamarck arenow taken as the namers of Amanita muscaria (L.) Lam..

The English mycologist John Ramsbottom reported that Amanitamuscaria was used for getting rid of bugs in England and Sweden, and bug agaric was an old alternate namefor the species.[3] French mycologist Pierre Bulliard reported having tried without success to replicate its fly-killing properties in his work Histoire des plantes vénéneuses et suspectes de la France (1784), andproposed a new binomial name Agaricus pseudo-aurantiacus because of this.[9] One compound isolatedfrom the fungus is 1,3-diolein ( 1,3-Di(cis-9-octadecenoyl)glycerol), which attracts insects.[10] It has beenhypothesised that the flies intentionally seek out the fly agaric for its intoxicating properties.[11] Analternative derivation proposes that the term fly- refers not to insects as such but rather the delirium resulting

Amanita muscaria var.formosa sensu Thiers,southern Oregon Coast

from consumption of the fungus. This is based on the medieval belief that flies could enter a person's headand cause mental illness.[12] Several regional names appear to be linked with this connotation, meaning the"mad" or "fool's" version of the highly regarded edible mushroom Amanita caesarea. Hence there is oriolfoll "mad oriol" in Catalan, mujolo folo from Toulouse, concourlo fouolo from the Aveyron department inSouthern France, ovolo matto from Trentino in Italy. A local dialect name in Fribourg in Switzerland is tsapide diablhou, which translates as "Devil's hat".[13]

Classification

Amanita muscaria is the type species of the genus. By extension, it is alsothe type species of Amanita subgenus Amanita, as well as section Amanitawithin this subgenus. Amanita subgenus Amanita includes all Amanita withinamyloid spores. Amanita section Amanita includes the species which havevery patchy universal veil remnants, including a volva that is reduced to aseries of concentric rings and the veil remnants on the cap to a series ofpatches or warts. Most species in this group also have a bulbous base.[14][15]

Amanita section Amanita consists of A. muscaria and its close relatives,including A. pantherina (the panther cap), A. gemmata, A. farinosa, andA. xanthocephala.[16] Modern fungal taxonomists have classified Amanitamuscaria and its allies this way based on gross morphology and sporeinamyloidy. Two recent molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed thisclassification as natural.[17][18]

Amanita muscaria varies considerably in its morphology, and manyauthorities recognise several subspecies or varieties within the species. InThe Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy, German mycologist Rolf Singer listedthree subspecies, though without description: A. muscaria ssp. muscaria, A. muscaria ssp. americana, andA. muscaria ssp. flavivolvata.[14]

Contemporary authorities recognise up to seven varieties:

var. muscaria, the typical red-and-white spotted variety. Some authorities, such as Rodham Tulloss,only use this name for Eurasian and western Alaskan populations.[15][19]

var. flavivolvata is red, with yellow to yellowish-white warts. It is found from southern Alaska downthrough the Rocky Mountains, through Central America, all the way to Andean Colombia. RodhamTulloss uses this name to describe all "typical" A. muscaria from indigenous New Worldpopulations.[15][20]

var. alba, an uncommon fungus, has a white to a silvery white cap that has white warts but is similar tothe usual form of mushroom.[15][21]

var. formosa, has a yellow to orange-yellow cap with yellowish warts and stem (which may be tan).Some authorities (cf. Jenkins) use the name for all A. muscaria which fit this description worldwide,others (cf. Tulloss) restrict its use to Eurasian populations.[15][22]

var. guessowii has a yellow to orange cap, with the centre more orange or perhaps even reddishorange. It is found most commonly in northeastern North America, from Newfoundland and Quebecsouth all the way to the state of Tennessee. Some authorities (cf. Jenkins) treat these populations asA. muscaria var. formosa, while others (cf. Tulloss) recognise them as a distinct variety.[15][22]

var. persicina is pinkish to orangish, sometimes called "melon"-coloured, with poorly formed, or attimes absent remnants of universal veil on the stem and vassal bulb; it is known from the southeastern

Amanita muscaria var. guessowii hasa yellow to orange cap surface, withthe centre of the cap more orange orperhaps even reddish orange.

Cross section of fruiting body,showing pigment under skin and freegills

coastal areas of the United States, and was described in 1977.[15][23] Recent DNA sequencing suggeststhis may be a separate species which may require naming.var. regalis, from Scandinavia and Alaska.[24] is liver-brown and has yellow warts. It appears to bedistinctive, and some authorities (cf. Tulloss) treat it as a separate species, while others (cf. Jenkins)treat it as a variety of the A. muscaria.[15][25]

A 2006 molecular phylogenetic study of different regionalpopulations of A. muscaria by mycologist József Geml andcolleagues found three distinct clades within this speciesrepresenting, roughly, Eurasian, Eurasian "subalpine", and NorthAmerican populations. Specimens belonging to all three clades havebeen found in Alaska; this has led to the hypothesis that this was thecentre of diversification for this species. The study also looked atfour named varieties of the species: var. alba, var. flavivolvata, var.formosa (including var. guessowii), and var. regalis from both areas.All four varieties were found within both the Eurasian and NorthAmerican clades, evidence that these morphological forms arepolymorphisms rather than distinct subspecies or varieties.[26]

Further molecular study by Geml and colleagues published in 2008show that these three genetic groups, plus a fourth associated withoak–hickory–pine forest in the southeastern United States and two more on Santa Cruz Island in California,are delineated from each other enough genetically to be considered separate species; thus A. muscaria as itstands currently is evidently a species complex.[27] The complex also includes at least three other closelyrelated taxa that are currently regarded as species:[19] A. breckonii is a buff-capped mushroom associatedwith conifers from the Pacific Northwest,[28] and the brown-capped A. gioiosa and A. heterochroma from theMediterranean Basin and from Sardinia respectively. Both of these last two are found with Eucalyptus andCistus trees, and it is unclear whether they are native or introduced from Australia.[29][30]

DescriptionA large, conspicuous mushroom, Amanita muscaria is generallycommon and numerous where it grows, and is often found in groupswith basidiocarps in all stages of development. Fly agaric fruitingbodies emerge from the soil looking like white eggs. After emergingfrom the ground, the cap is covered with numerous small white toyellow pyramid-shaped warts. These are remnants of the universalveil, a membrane that encloses the entire mushroom when it is stillvery young. Dissecting the mushroom at this stage will reveal acharacteristic yellowish layer of skin under the veil; this is helpful inidentification. As the fungus grows, the red colour appears throughthe broken veil and the warts become less prominent; they do notchange in size, but are reduced relative to the expanding skin area.The cap changes from globose to hemispherical, and finally to plate-like and flat in mature specimens.[31] Fully grown, the bright red cap is usually around 8–20 cm (3–8 in) indiameter, although larger specimens have been found. The red colour may fade after rain and in oldermushrooms.

A. muscaria in a Pinus radiataplantation, near Mount Field NationalPark, Tasmania

The free gills are white, as is the spore print. The oval spores measure 9–13 by 6.5–9 μm; they do not turnblue with the application of iodine.[32] The stipe is white, 5–20 cm high (2–8 in) by 1–2 cm (0.4–0.8 in)wide, and has the slightly brittle, fibrous texture typical of many large mushrooms. At the base is a bulb thatbears universal veil remnants in the form of two to four distinct rings or ruffs. Between the basal universalveil remnants and gills are remnants of the partial veil (which covers the gills during development) in theform of a white ring. It can be quite wide and flaccid with age. There is generally no associated smell otherthan a mild earthiness.[33][34]

Although very distinctive in appearance, the fly agaric has been mistaken for other yellow to red mushroomspecies in the Americas, such as Armillaria cf. mellea and the edible Amanita basii—a Mexican speciessimilar to A. caesarea of Europe. Poison control centres in the U.S. and Canada have become aware thatamarill (Spanish for 'yellow') is a common name for the A. caesarea-like species in Mexico.[22] Amanitacaesarea can be distinguished by its entirely orange to red cap which lacks the numerous white warty spotsof the fly agaric. Furthermore, the stem, gills and ring of A. caesarea are bright yellow, not white.[35] Thevolva is a distinct white bag, not broken into scales.[36] In Australia, the introduced fly agaric may beconfused with the native vermilion grisette (Amanita xanthocephala), which grows in association witheucalypts. The latter species generally lacks the white warts of A. muscaria and bears no ring.[37]

Distribution and habitatAmanita muscaria is a cosmopolitan mushroom, native to conifer anddeciduous woodlands throughout the temperate and boreal regions ofthe Northern Hemisphere,[26] including higher elevations of warmerlatitudes in regions such as Hindu Kush, the Mediterranean and alsoCentral America. A recent molecular study proposes that it had anancestral origin in the Siberian–Beringian region in the Tertiaryperiod, before radiating outwards across Asia, Europe and NorthAmerica.[26] The season for fruiting varies in different climates:fruiting occurs in summer and autumn across most of North America,but later in autumn and early winter on the Pacific coast. This speciesis often found in similar locations to Boletus edulis, and may appearin fairy rings.[38] Conveyed with pine seedlings, it has been widely

transported into the southern hemisphere, including Australia,[39] New Zealand,[40] South Africa[41] andSouth America, where it can be found in the southern Brazilian states of Paraná[26] and Rio Grande doSul.[42]

Ectomycorrhizal, Amanita muscaria forms symbiotic relationships with many trees, including pine, spruce,fir, birch, and cedar. Commonly seen under introduced trees,[43] A. muscaria is the fungal equivalent of aweed in New Zealand, Tasmania and Victoria, forming new associations with southern beech(Nothofagus).[44] The species is also invading a rainforest in Australia, where it may be displacing the nativespecies.[43] It appears to be spreading northwards, with recent reports placing it near Port Macquarie on theNew South Wales north coast.[45] It was recorded under silver birch (Betula pendula) in Manjimup, WesternAustralia in 2010.[46] Although it has apparently not spread to eucalypts in Australia, it has been recordedassociating with them in Portugal.[47]

Mature. The white spots maywash off with heavy rainfall

Muscimol, the principal psychoactiveconstituent of A. muscaria

ToxicityAmanita muscaria poisoning has occurred in young children and in peoplewho ingested the mushrooms for a hallucinogenic experience.[12][48][49]

Occasionally it has been ingested in error, because immature button formsresemble puffballs.[50] The white spots sometimes wash away during heavyrain and the mushrooms then may appear to be the edible A. caesarea.[51]

Amanita muscaria contains several biologically active agents, at least one ofwhich, muscimol, is known to be psychoactive. Ibotenic acid, a neurotoxin,serves as a prodrug to muscimol, with approximately 10–20% converting tomuscimol after ingestion. An active dose in adults is approximately 6 mgmuscimol or 30 to 60 mg ibotenic acid;[52][53] this is typically about theamount found in one cap of Amanita muscaria.[54] The amount and ratio ofchemical compounds per mushroom varies widely from region to region andseason to season, which can further confuse the issue. Spring and summermushrooms have been reported to contain up to 10 times more ibotenic acidand muscimol than autumn fruitings.[48]

A fatal dose has been calculated as 15 caps.[55] Deaths from this fungus A. muscaria have been reported inhistorical journal articles and newspaper reports,[56][57][58] but with modern medical treatment, fatalpoisoning from ingesting this mushroom is extremely rare.[59] Many older books list Amanita muscaria as"deadly", but this is an error that implies the mushroom is more toxic than it is.[60] The North AmericanMycological Association has stated there were no reliably documented fatalities from eating this mushroomduring the 20th century.[61] The vast majority (90% or more) of mushroom poisoning deaths are from eatingthe greenish to yellowish "death cap", (A. phalloides) or perhaps even one of the several white Amanitaspecies which are known as destroying angels.[62]

The active constituents of this species are water-soluble, and boiling and then discarding the cooking waterat least partly detoxifies A. muscaria.[63] Drying may increase potency, as the process facilitates theconversion of ibotenic acid to the more potent muscimol.[64] According to some sources, once detoxified, themushroom becomes edible.[65][66]

Pharmacology

Muscarine, discovered in 1869,[67] was long thought to be the activehallucinogenic agent in A. muscaria. Muscarine binds withmuscarinic acetylcholine receptors leading to the excitation ofneurons bearing these receptors. The levels of muscarine in Amanitamuscaria are minute when compared with other poisonous fungi[68]

such as Inocybe erubescens, the small white Clitocybe species C.dealbata and C. rivulosa. The level of muscarine in A. muscaria istoo low to play a role in the symptoms of poisoning.[69]

Ibotenic acid, a prodrug to muscimolfound in A. muscaria

The major toxins involved in A. muscaria poisoning are muscimol(3-hydroxy-5-aminomethyl-1-isoxazole, an unsaturated cyclichydroxamic acid) and the related amino acid ibotenic acid. Muscimolis the product of the decarboxylation (usually by drying) of ibotenicacid. Muscimol and ibotenic acid were discovered in the mid-20thcentury.[70][71] Researchers in England,[72] Japan,[73] andSwitzerland[71] showed that the effects produced were due mainly toibotenic acid and muscimol, not muscarine.[10][70] These toxins arenot distributed uniformly in the mushroom. Most are detected in thecap of the fruit, a moderate amount in the base, with the smallestamount in the stalk.[74][75] Quite rapidly, between 20 and 90 minutesafter ingestion, a substantial fraction of ibotenic acid is excretedunmetabolised in the urine of the consumer. Almost no muscimol isexcreted when pure ibotenic acid is eaten, but muscimol is detectable in the urine after eating A. muscaria,which contains both ibotenic acid and muscimol.[53]

Ibotenic acid and muscimol are structurally related to each other and to two major neurotransmitters of thecentral nervous system: glutamic acid and GABA respectively. Ibotenic acid and muscimol act like theseneurotransmitters, muscimol being a potent GABAA agonist, while ibotenic acid is an agonist of NMDA

glutamate receptors and certain metabotropic glutamate receptors[76] which are involved in the control ofneuronal activity. It is these interactions which are thought to cause the psychoactive effects found inintoxication. Muscimol is the agent responsible for the majority of the psychoactivity.[12][54]

Muscazone is another compound that has more recently been isolated from European specimens of the flyagaric. It is a product of the breakdown of ibotenic acid by ultra-violet radiation.[77] Muscazone is of minorpharmacological activity compared with the other agents.[12] Amanita muscaria and related species areknown as effective bioaccumulators of vanadium; some species concentrate vanadium to levels of up to 400times those typically found in plants.[78] Vanadium is present in fruit-bodies as an organometallic compoundcalled amavadine.[78] The biological importance of the accumulation process is unknown.[79]

Symptoms

Fly agarics are known for the unpredictability of their effects. Depending on habitat and the amount ingestedper body weight, effects can range from nausea and twitching to drowsiness, cholinergic crisis-like effects(low blood pressure, sweating and salivation), auditory and visual distortions, mood changes, euphoria,relaxation, ataxia, and loss of equilibrium.[48][49][54][57]

In cases of serious poisoning the mushroom causes delirium, somewhat similar in effect to anticholinergicpoisoning (such as that caused by Datura stramonium), characterised by bouts of marked agitation withconfusion, hallucinations, and irritability followed by periods of central nervous system depression. Seizuresand coma may also occur in severe poisonings.[49][54] Symptoms typically appear after around 30 to 90minutes and peak within three hours, but certain effects can last for several days.[51][53] In the majority ofcases recovery is complete within 12 to 24 hours.[63] The effect is highly variable between individuals, with

similar doses potentially causing quite different reactions.[48][53][80] Some people suffering intoxication haveexhibited headaches up to ten hours afterwards.[53] Retrograde amnesia and somnolence can result followingrecovery.[54]

Treatment

Medical attention should be sought in cases of suspected poisoning. If the delay between ingestion andtreatment is less than four hours, activated charcoal is given. Gastric lavage can be considered if the patientpresents within one hour of ingestion.[81] Inducing vomiting with syrup of ipecac is no longer recommendedin any poisoning situations.[82]

There is no antidote, and supportive care is the mainstay of further treatment for intoxication. Thoughsometimes referred to as a deliriant and while muscarine was first isolated from A. muscaria and as such isits namesake, muscimol does not have action, either as an agonist or antagonist, at the muscarinicacetylcholine receptor site, and therefore atropine or physostigmine as an antidote is not recommended.[83] Ifa patient is delirious or agitated, this can usually be treated by reassurance and, if necessary, physicalrestraints. A benzodiazepine such as diazepam or lorazepam can be used to control combativeness, agitation,muscular overactivity, and seizures.[48] Only small doses should be used, as they may worsen the respiratorydepressant effects of muscimol.[84] Recurrent vomiting is rare, but if present may lead to fluid andelectrolyte imbalances; intravenous rehydration or electrolyte replacement may be required.[54][85] Seriouscases may develop loss of consciousness or coma, and may need intubation and artificial ventilation.[49][86]

Hemodialysis can remove the toxins, although this intervention is generally considered unnecessary.[63] Withmodern medical treatment the prognosis is typically good following supportive treatment.[59][63]

Psychoactive useUnlike psilocybin mushrooms, the effects of A. muscaria have generally been considered undesirable forrecreational use. The effects of intoxication can be variously described as depressant, sedative-hypnotic,dissociative, and deliriant; paradoxical effects may occur. Perceptual phenomena such as macropsia andmicropsia may occur, which may have been the inspiration for the effect of mushroom-consumption inLewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.[87] Additionally, A. muscaria cannot be commerciallycultivated, due to its mycorrhizal relationship with the roots of pine trees. However, following the outlawingof psilocybin mushrooms in the United Kingdom in 2006, the sale of the still legal A. muscaria beganincreasing.[88]

Professor Marija Gimbutas, a renowned Lithuanian historian, reported to R. Gordon Wasson on the use ofthis mushroom in Lithuania. In remote areas of Lithuania Amanita muscaria has been consumed at weddingfeasts, in which mushrooms were mixed with vodka. The professor also reported that the Lithuanians used toexport A. muscaria to the Lapps in the Far North for use in shamanic rituals. The Lithuanian festivities arethe only report that Wasson received of ingestion of fly agaric for religious use in Eastern Europe.[89]

Siberia

Amanita muscaria was widely used as an entheogen by many of the indigenous peoples of Siberia. Its usewas known among almost all of the Uralic-speaking peoples of western Siberia and the Paleosiberian-speaking peoples of the Russian Far East. There are only isolated reports of A. muscaria use among the

Tungusic and Turkic peoples of central Siberia and it is believed that on the whole entheogenic use ofA. muscaria was not practised by these peoples.[90] In western Siberia, the use of A. muscaria was restrictedto shamans, who used it as an alternative method of achieving a trance state. (Normally, Siberian shamansachieve trance by prolonged drumming and dancing.) In eastern Siberia, A. muscaria was used by bothshamans and laypeople alike, and was used recreationally as well as religiously.[90] In eastern Siberia, theshaman would take the mushrooms, and others would drink his urine.[91] This urine, still containingpsychoactive elements, may be more potent than the A. muscaria mushrooms with fewer negative effectssuch as sweating and twitching, suggesting that the initial user may act as a screening filter for othercomponents in the mushroom.[92]

The Koryak of eastern Siberia have a story about the fly agaric (wapaq) which enabled Big Raven to carry awhale to its home. In the story, the deity Vahiyinin ("Existence") spat onto earth, and his spittle became thewapaq, and his saliva becomes the warts. After experiencing the power of the wapaq, Raven was soexhilarated that he told it to grow forever on earth so his children, the people, could learn from it.[93] Amongthe Koryaks, one report said that the poor would consume the urine of the wealthy, who could afford to buythe mushrooms.[94]

Other reports of entheogenic use

The Finnish historian T. I. Itkonen mentions that A. muscaria was once used among the Sami people:sorcerers in Inari would consume fly agarics with seven spots.[95] In 1979, Said Gholam Mochtar andHartmut Geerken published an article in which they claim to have discovered a tradition of medicinal andrecreational use of this mushroom among a Parachi-speaking group in Afghanistan.[96] There are alsounconfirmed reports of religious use of A. muscaria among two Subarctic Native American tribes. Ojibwaethnobotanist Keewaydinoquay Peschel reported its use among her people, where it was known as themiskwedo.[97][98] This information was enthusiastically received by Wasson, although evidence from othersources was lacking.[99] There is also one account of a Euro-American who claims to have been initiatedinto traditional Tlicho use of Amanita muscaria.[100]

Vikings

The notion that Vikings used A. muscaria to produce their berserker rages was first suggested by theSwedish professor Samuel Ödmann in 1784.[101] Ödmann based his theories on reports about the use of flyagaric among Siberian shamans. The notion has become widespread since the 19th century, but nocontemporary sources mention this use or anything similar in their description of berserkers. Muscimol isgenerally a mild relaxant, but it can create a range of different reactions within a group of people.[102] It ispossible that it could make a person angry, or cause them to be "very jolly or sad, jump about, dance, sing orgive way to great fright".[102]

In Religion

Soma

See also: Botanical identity of Soma-Haoma

Mosaic of red mushrooms,found in the ChristianBasilica of Aquileia innorthern Italy, dating tobefore 330 AD.

In 1968, R. Gordon Wasson proposed that A. muscaria was the Soma talked about in the Rig Veda ofIndia,[103] a claim which received widespread publicity and popular support at the time.[104] He noted thatdescriptions of Soma omitted any description of roots, stems or seeds, which suggested a mushroom,[105]

and used the adjective hári "dazzling" or "flaming" which the author interprets as meaning red.[106] One linedescribed men urinating Soma; this recalled the practice of recycling urine in Siberia. Soma is mentioned ascoming "from the mountains", which Wasson interpreted as the mushroom having been brought in with theAryan invaders from the north.[107] Indian scholars Santosh Kumar Dash and Sachinanda Padhy pointed outthat both eating of mushrooms and drinking of urine were proscribed, using as a source the Manusmṛti.[108]

In 1971, Vedic scholar John Brough from Cambridge University rejected Wasson's theory and noted that thelanguage was too vague to determine a description of Soma.[109] In his 1976 survey, Hallucinogens andCulture, anthropologist Peter T. Furst evaluated the evidence for and against the identification of the flyagaric mushroom as the Vedic Soma, concluding cautiously in its favour.[110]

Christianity

Philologist, archeologist, and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar John Marco Allegropostulated that early Christian theology was derived from a fertility cultrevolving around the entheogenic consumption of A. muscaria in his 1970book The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross,[111] but his theory has found littlesupport by scholars outside the field of ethnomycology. The book was roundlydiscredited by academics and theologians, including Sir Godfrey Driver,Emeritus Professor of Semitic Philology at Oxford University, and HenryChadwick, the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford.[112] Christian author John C.King wrote a detailed rebuttal of Allegro's theory in the 1970 book A ChristianView of the Mushroom Myth; he notes that neither fly agarics nor their hosttrees are found in the Middle East, even though cedars and pines are foundthere, and highlights the tenuous nature of the links between biblical andSumerian names coined by Allegro. He concludes that if the theory was true,the use of the mushroom must have been "the best kept secret in the world" asit was so well concealed for two thousand years.[113][114]

Recent studies of Allegro's work have given new supporting linguistic evidence and led to calls for histheories to be re-evaluated by the mainstream.[115]

Culinary useThe toxins in A. muscaria are water-soluble. When sliced thinly, or finely diced and boiled in plentiful wateruntil thoroughly cooked, it seems to be detoxified.[65] Although its consumption as a food has never beenwidespread,[116] the consumption of detoxified A. muscaria has been practised in some parts of Europe(notably by Russian settlers in Siberia) since at least the 19th century, and likely earlier. The Germanphysician and naturalist Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff wrote the earliest published account on how todetoxify this mushroom in 1823. In the late 19th century, the French physician Félix Archimède Pouchet wasa populariser and advocate of A. muscaria consumption, comparing it to manioc, an important food source intropical South America that must be detoxified before consumption.[65]

Moritz von Schwind's 1851painting of Rübezahl featuresfly agarics.[119]

Use of this mushroom as a food source also seems to have existed in North America. A classic description ofthis use of A. muscaria by an African-American mushroom seller in Washington, D.C., in the late 19thcentury is described by American botanist Frederick Vernon Coville. In this case, the mushroom, afterparboiling, and soaking in vinegar, is made into a mushroom sauce for steak.[117] It is also consumed as afood in parts of Japan. The most well-known current use as an edible mushroom is in Nagano Prefecture,Japan. There, it is primarily salted and pickled.[118]

A 2008 paper by food historian William Rubel and mycologist David Arora gives a history of consumptionof A. muscaria as a food and describes detoxification methods. They advocate that Amanita muscaria bedescribed in field guides as an edible mushroom, though accompanied by a description on how to detoxify it.The authors state that the widespread descriptions in field guides of this mushroom as poisonous is areflection of cultural bias, as several other popular edible species, notably morels, are toxic unless properlycooked.[65]

Cultural depictionsThe red-and-white spotted toadstool is a common image in many aspects ofpopular culture.[32] Garden ornaments and children's picture books depictinggnomes and fairies, such as the Smurfs, often show fly agarics used as seats,or homes.[32][120] Fly agarics have been featured in paintings since theRenaissance,[121] albeit in a subtle manner. In the Victorian era they becamemore visible, becoming the main topic of some fairy paintings.[122] Two ofthe most famous uses of the mushroom are in the video game series SuperMario Bros. (specifically two of the power-up items and the platforms inseveral stages),[123] and the dancing mushroom sequence in the 1940 Disneyfilm Fantasia.[124]

Literature

An account of the journeys of Philip von Strahlenberg to Siberia and hisdescriptions of the use of the mukhomor there was published in English in1736. The drinking of urine of those who had consumed the mushroom wascommented on by Anglo-Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith in his widely read1762 novel, Citizen of the World.[127] The mushroom had been identified as

the fly agaric by this time.[128] Other authors recorded the distortions of the size of perceived objects whileintoxicated by the fungus, including naturalist Mordecai Cubitt Cooke in his books The Seven Sisters ofSleep and A Plain and Easy Account of British Fungi.[129] This observation is thought to have formed thebasis of the effects of eating the mushroom in the 1865 popular story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.[125]

A hallucinogenic "scarlet toadstool" from Lappland is featured as a plot element in Charles Kingsley's 1866novel Hereward the Wake based on the medieval figure of the same name.[130] Thomas Pynchon's 1973novel Gravity's Rainbow describes the fungus as a "relative of the poisonous Destroying Angel" and presentsa detailed description of a character preparing a cookie bake mixture from harvested Amanita muscaria.[131]

Fly agaric shamanism is also explored in the 2003 novel Thursbitch by Alan Garner.[132]

Christmas decorations and Santa Claus

Jose de Creeft's sculpture Alice inWonderland in Eastern Central Park,New York. Alice sits on a mushroom,inviting children to climb up and joinher. The mushroom in the sculpture isnot a faithfully reproduced Amanitamuscaria; the reference within LewisCarroll's original literary work uponwhich the sculpture is based is oftendiscussed.[125][126]

Fly agarics appear on Christmas cards and New Year cards fromaround the world as a symbol of good luck.[133] The ethnobotanistJonathan Ott has suggested that the idea of Santa Claus and traditionof hanging stockings over the fireplace is based centrally upon the flyagaric mushroom.[80] He argues that Santa Claus' suit, with its redand white colour scheme, is related to the mushroom. However, CivilWar cartoonist Thomas Nast first changed the color of Santa Claus'coat from tan to red, and it was popularized by early Coca-ColaChristmas ads.[134] Jonathan Ott also draws parallels with flyingreindeer: reindeer had been reported to consume the mushroom andprance around in an intoxicated manner afterwards.[135] Americanethnopharmacologist Scott Hajicek-Dobberstein, researching possiblelinks between religious myths and the red mushroom, notes, "If SantaClaus had but one eye [like Odin], or if magic urine had been a partof his legend, his connection to the Amanita muscaria would bemuch easier to believe."[136]

The connection was reported to a wider audience with an article inthe magazine of The Sunday Times in 1980,[137] and New Scientist in1986.[138] Historian Ronald Hutton has since disputed the connection;[139] he noted reindeer spirits did notappear in Siberian mythology, shamans did not travel by sleigh, nor did they wear red and white, or climbout of smoke holes in yurt roofs.[140]

See alsoList of Amanita species

References

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Further reading

External linksWebpages on Amanita species (http://www.amanitaceae.org/)by Tulloss and Yang ZhuliangMagic Mushrooms and Reindeer - Weird Nature. A short videoon the use of Amanita muscaria mushrooms by the Samipeople and their reindeer produced by the BBC. [1](http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/page/446.html)Amanita on erowid.org(https://www.erowid.org/plants/amanitas/)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amanita_muscaria&oldid=684613280"

Categories: Amanita Entheogens Fungi described in 1753 Fungi naturalized in AustraliaFungi of Asia Fungi of Europe Fungi of North America Fungi of South AmericaInvasive fungus species Oneirogens Poisonous fungi Psychoactive fungi

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