An Ethnomycological Review of Psychoactive Agarics in Australia and New Zealand
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An Ethnomycological Review of Psychoactive Agarics in Australia and New Zealand John W. Allen*; Mark D.Merlin, Ph.D.** & Karl L.R. Jansen, M.D.*** Abstract - A comprehensive review is presented of the recreational and accidental ingestion of psychoactive mushroooms in Australia and New Zealand; 15 recognized species are con- sidered from Australia and eight from New Zealand. Common epithets. potency levels, and methods of ingestion are discussed. Legal aspects involving the use of these psychoactive fungi are noted. In addition. medical and psychoactive effects of these mushrooms and treatment for psilocybian mushroom poisoning are described. Numerous case reports, with commentary, are also presented. Keywords - Australia, mushroom poisoning. New Zealand, Panaeolus spp .•Psilocybe spp., psilocin. psilocybin. psychoactive agarics Mind-altering mushrooms of the P silocybe (Fr.) 1973), and Andrew Weil (e.g., 1980). Quelet and P anaeolus Quelet genera have been tradition- The present article reviews the history of accidental ally used in religious healing and curing ceremonies by na- and purposeful use of psychoactive agarics in Australia tive peoples in Mesoamerica for more than 3.000 years (e.g, and New Zealand, utilizing information gathered from re- Wasson 1980, 1957; Heim & Wasson 1958; Singer & ports in the scientific literature, news items appearing in Smith 1958; Wasson & Wasson 1957; Schultes 1940, the popular press, and personal communications with med- 1939). Today, the secular, recreational use of these psy- ical and law enforcement professionals in Australia and choactive fungi is widespread, especially in various regions New Zealand. The chemical compounds and mycological of the United States (Ott 1978; Weil 1977), Canada identification of the mind-altering mushrooms known to (Unsigned 1982a; Guzman etal.1976; Oakenbough 1975; have been ingested in Australia are also discussed. In ad- Commission of Inquiry Into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs dition, the legal aspects involving their use in Australia 1973), Mexico (Ott 1975; Unsigned 1970), Great Britain and New Zealand have been investigated and are de- (Younget al. 1982; Harries & Evans 1981), Europe (Stijve scribed. Finally, there is a description and analysis of the & Kuyer 1985), Scandinavia (Ohenoja et al. 1987), South medical and psychological results of both the accidental America (WeilI980, 1973; Pollock 1977-1978), Australia and deliberate ingestion of these psychoactive agarics in (Ha111973; McCarthy 1971), New Zealand (Jansen, Allen Australia and New Zealand during the past 50 years. & Merlin 1991; Jansen 1988.1982). Samoa (Cox 1981). and Thailand (Allen & Merlin 1990b). The modem non- NONTRADITIONAL RECREATIONAL USE traditional use of these psychoactive mushrooms has been stimulated by reports in newspapers and magazines, by Four agarics, Strop haria (Psilocybe) cubensis (Earle) word of mouth, and also by the scholarly and popular jour- Singer (see Figure 1) and/or P silocybe subcubenis nal publications of such authors as R. Gordon Wasson (e.g., Guzman, P. subaeruginosa Cleland (see Figure 2), and 1957). Timothy Leary (e.g., 1968), Jeremy Sanford (e.g., Copelandia cyanescens (Berk. & Br.) Singer (see Figure 3), all dung-inhabiting species containing the hallucino- ·Honolulu, Hawaii. genic substances psilocybin and psilocin, are the most •.*Department of General Science, University of Ha waii, Manoa common species of psychoactive mushrooms employed Campus, Oahu. Hawaii. for nontraditional purposes by individuals in Australia ···Beecham Centrefor AppliedNeurobiology,OxfordUniversity; Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, England. (Southcott 1974; Hall 1973). In New Zealand, the most Please address reprint requests to John W. Allen, P.O.Box 12053, commonly used species appear to be C. cyanescens and Honolulu, Hawaii 96828-1053. to a lesser degree P. semilanceata (Fr.:Secr.) Kummer Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 39 Vol.23(1), Jan=Mar 1991 Figure 1. Psilocybe cubensis (Earle)Singer: Gold Tops. (Photo by John Allen). Figure 2. Psilocybe subaeruginosa Cleland: Gold Caps. (Photo by R.V. Southcott). Allen, Merlin & Jansen Agarics of Australia and New Zealand Figure 3. Copelandia cyanescens (Berk. & Br.) Singer: Blue Meanies. (Photo by John Allen). (Jansen 1989). P. cubensis, the most popular of these habitats, must in the case of Australia, all belong to intro- species, is well known throughout much of the world duced species." It is believed to have been the South (Badham 1984). While some mycologists have placed this African dung beetle that actually spread the spores. Citing dung-inhabiting agaric in the genus Stropharia (FT.) Guzman (1983), Watling (1989) stated that "it must be re- Quelet, others have classified it in the gepus Psilocybe membered that fungi can change substrate preferences and (FT.)Quelet, For clarification, the authors of the present there are coprophilous fungi on kangaroo droppings." In article will refer to this species as P. cubensis. a personal communication to one of the present authors (Allen), Schultes (1988) indicated thatPsilocybe cubensis CATTLE AS A POSSIBLE could also occur in the manure of deer. DISPERSAL MECHANISM FOR The ingestion of naturally occurring fungi by cattle PSYCHOACTIVE DUNG FUNGI and other domesticated or wild ruminants in Australia (e.g., horses, sheep, pigs, goats, deer) has been noted (Cleland The first livestock to arrive in Australia were brought 1934). This appears to be common among grazing rumi- from the Cape of Good Hope in 1788, and included two nants, thereby providing a biological process for the dis- bulls and five cows along with other domesticated farm tribution, dispersal, and eventual germination of spores animals. By 1803, the government owned approximately within the stomach of the carrier, resulting in fruiting bod- 1,800 cattle, most of which were imported from the Cape, ies that then appear in fresh or partially decomposed ma- Calcutta, and the west coast of America (Unsigned 1973). nure. It was during this period that many of the psychoactive Cleland (1934), who recognized that animals had been agarics mentioned in the present article probably first ap- observed on occasion ingesting wild mushrooms, reported peared in Australia. According to Cleland (1934: 19), that "certain cattle had been seen to eat them with relish "fungi growing in cow or horse dung and confined to such and even to seek the mushrooms out." In Australia, certain Journal a/Psychoactive Drugs 41 Vol. 23(1), Ian=Mar 1991 Allen, Merlin & Jansen Agarics of Australia and New Zealand Figure 4. Psilocybe semilanceata (Fr.:Secr.) Kummer: Liberty Caps. (Photo by John Allen). genera belonging to the gasteromycetes and appearing and the 20- to 30-inch (500-750 mm) rainfall belt of after brush fires readily attract wallabies, bandicoots, and Queensland, New South Wales, and Northern Victoria gen- even rabbits, who vigorously consume the fungi they find. erally provides an adequate climatic environment for the Most snails and slugs as well as many species of deer are growth of psilocybian fungi, especially after heavy rains. known to have a fondness for naturally occurring fungi, Therefore, Margot and Watling (1981) speculated that "P. especially Amanita muscaria (L.:Fr.) Hooker. cubensis was introduced into Australia accidentally by The process by which dung fungi readily appear in early settlers along with their livestock." The same dis- fresh and/or partially decomposed manure occurs from the persal mechanism probably applies to C. cyanescens, ingestion of spores that appear on the surrounding vege- Panaeolus subbalteatus Berk. & Br., and several additional tation and from the actual consumption of fungi by cattle species known to occur in or around the dung of other ru- who consume them when grazing. Cleland (1934) sug- minants (Cleland 1934). This includes Psilocybe semi- gested that "it seems almost certain that the spores from lanceata (Fr.:Secr.) Kummer (see Figure 4) and such species, [which are] produced by the millions, become Panaeolinafoenisecii (pers.:Fr.) Maire; the latter is com- deposited on the surrounding vegetation and so get in- monly referred to as the Haymakers mushroom (Ola'h gested. They probably pass through the alimentary canal 1969). (In England, this species is referred to as the intact - it is quite likely that their germinating powers may Haymaker or Brown Hay Cap.) Margot and Watling also be increased during the passage - and so the dung is al- claimed that the "use of P. cubensis as a recreational drug ready seeded by the spores when it is passed. This would tends to confirm the belief that [some] farmers in early account more satisfactorily for the facility with which ma- times [may have] added one or two basidiomes [gill mush- nure develops a crop or fungi than by looking to chance rooms] to a meal to liven it up (and still do)." While cattle distribution of the spores by air after disposition of the ma- are raised in all Australian states and in the central low- nure." lands, individuals have been known to export these psy- More than half of Australia's beef cattle are situated choactive species to various areas in Australia from areas in the coastal areas of Queensland and New South Wales; Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 42 Yol. 23(1), Ian-Mar 1991 Allen, Merlin & Jansen Agarics of Australia and New Zealand where they were collected (Hall 1973; McCarthy 1971). color of the pileus of both P. cubensis and C. cyanescens, The reported locations for more than a dozen species which are hygrophanous (changing