POISONOUS AND HALLUCINOGENIC MUSHROOMS
by Michael W. Beug Email: beugm@evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA
Slide 34.
The Amanita gemmata-like mushroom shown here integrades
with Amanita pantherina. In studying the amino acid composition
of the mushroom found in the Pacific Northwest, I and others before me
have observed that the browner the cap, the higher the levels of muscimol
and ibotenic acid. However, in the Colorado Rockies they find a generally
small but extremely potent creamy-white to pure white variety with indistinct
warts, so cap color is not always a reliable guide to toxicity. The toxins
are structurally similar to g -aminobutyric
acid (GABA) and appear to bind competitively with GABA receptors in the
brain leading to disordered neurotransmission. Ironically, it is not illegal
to posses mushrooms containing muscimol and ibotenic acid, even though
the compounds are significantly more dangerous than psilocybin and psilocin.
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