Lect 15: Amanita muscaria - Its Role in Religion, and as a Psychoactive Mushroom


Introduction

It can be seen in the pictures below (Figs 1-2) that Amanita muscaria (L.:Fr.) Hook. is a very attractive mushroom. Hikers of wooded forests will likely recognize the mushroom as one that they have seen regularly. It is native to temperate and boreal regions in the northern hemisphere. However, it has a cosmopolitan distribution because it has been introduced throughout the world because it forms symbiotic relationships with the roots of both hardwood and conifer trees. The mycorrhizal relationship is an obligate one and enhances the growth of the trees in which relationships have formed. A. muscaria is a large mushroom, with a cap that can be up to 8" in diameter when fully expanded and can be readily identified because of its distinct and beautiful red cap that is covered in white warts. The underside of the cap, the gills, where the spores are born, are white. The stalk is also white, 5-8" long, 1-1.5" wide, with a collar (annulus). The swollen base of the stalk, the volva. Early in its development, the young mushroom is entirely enclosed in a universal veil, as seen in the left, ovate shape in Fig. 1. As the stalk elongates, it pushes through the top of the universal veil and the unexpanded cap of the mushroom now begins to appear. As the mushroom continues to mature, the stalk will continue to elongate and the cap will expand. It is during the expansion of the cap that the universal veil that is covering the cap will break apart, leaving parts of it over the entire surface of the cap that forms the characteristics warts on the cap of the mushroom. The remainder of the universal veil is what forms the volva at the base of the stalk. The annulus forms from a partial veil that covers the gills when the cap of the mushroom is young and not yet expanded. Once the cap begins to expand, the partial veil detaches from the cap's circumference and its remnant is the annulus of the mushroom.