The Beautiful, Mysterious Magic Mushroom Gets It Time To Shine

Magic Mushroom

Magic Mushroom

Mushrooms are having a moment. Cultural depictions of fungi are all around us if you begin to pay close attention: from Seana Gavin’s psychedelic mushroom collages that debuted at Somerset House last year; to the bestselling book by the mycologist Merlin Sheldrake titled Entangled Life; the world is beginning to see that there’s a whole new world of discovery for fungus than meets the eye. Many trials and studies into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin, which is derived from “magic” mushrooms, are even returning to modern medicine. That’s a big deal and deserves to be recognized. 

We’ve been experiencing a very wet early summer so far, the local mushrooms are flourishing as well. Fungi-spotting reports are looking very promising as we approach mid-summer. In all honesty, we’re experiencing growth all around and this gets me excited.

I’ve been waiting decades to see this, so we should definitely be enjoying this new mycocentric perspective. Fungi have been neglected for a long time, completely  ignored by medical community and global conservation efforts (fungal networks are just now mapping). It gets a bad wrap, disdained by fungi phobes who fear they’re all poisonous, truth be told, they were taught little in school, little in science. There are myriad reasons to pay closer attention. Wandering into the world of fungi is mind-altering, and endlessly enchanting. And this big brand new world is  available just outside your door.

Mushroom are the fruiting bodies – the spore-producing reproductive organs – of underground and subterranean fungal networks that break down soil nutrients and span great distances. They’re also very abundant in the mild temperature areas of the United States. Mushroom-spotting is easy to pick up on. Unlike watching animals just to see one or two,  you usually get to see mushrooms in groups. 

You never know what you’re going to see, this “chance” to find something rare  makes mushroom-spotting very enjoyable; you never know exactly what you’ll see. Conditions have to be perfect to spot the amazing puhpowee, the beautiful Potawatomi word for the force that causes mushrooms to push up from the earth overnight. Each pops up at different intervals in the season, like an improvised fungal symphony. Their ephemerality makes the moment of discovery even sweeter.

Mushroom aren’t limited to stalks and caps. There are many different shapes and forms. Pestles and antlers, berets and crusts, hooves and fingers, cups and nests are just a few examples. Umbrellas, funnels, parasols; troops and tufts are some of the names given to these formations. The cracking-brittle pattern on a stinkhorn’s cap; the slimy, slippery surface of a parrot waxcap; the shaggy hair of an inkcap, oozing away; and the umbonate tips that resemble tiny nipples are all examples.

And if you want plenty of colors, they’ll touch many ends of the rainbow.  There’s scarlet, saffron, ochre, candyfloss pink, turquoise, violet. They even have poetic names to share Candlesnuff, witch’s butter, earthstar, lemon disco, sulphur knight, destroying angel. They even have weird names and shapes, one of my favorites is the albino penis envy mushroom. Can you guess what the mushroom looks like? Think about it.

CNN released an article just a few days ago, discussing Shrooms, Alice, tweezes, mushies, hongos, pizza toppings, magic mushrooms — everyday lingo for psychedelic mushrooms seems to grow with each generation. Yet leading mycologist Paul Stamets believes it’s time for fans of psilocybin mushrooms to leave such childish slang behind.

Mycologist Paul Stamets touts the benefits of mushrooms for brain health.

“Let’s be adults about this. These are no longer ‘shrooms.’ These are no longer party drugs for young people,” Stamets told CNN. “Psilocybin mushrooms are non addictive, life-changing substances.” In fact, small clinical trials that have shown that one or two doses of psilocybin, given in a therapeutic setting, can make dramatic and long-lasting changes in people suffering from treatment-resistant major depressive disorder, which typically does not respond to traditional antidepressants. Source: clincialtrials dot gov

It’s great to see more and more mycologist speaking out, getting recognition for the countless hours of study and research. It’s long overdue. Even better, based on this research, the US Food and Drug Administration has described psilocybin as a breakthrough medicine, “which is phenomenal,” Stamets said.

Psilocybin, which the intestines convert into psilocin, a chemical with psychoactive properties, is also showing promise in combating cluster headaches, anxiety, anorexia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and various forms of substance abuse according to the report.

While the research and studies field is exploding in growth, I still invite you to get out in the woods and go search for mushrooms. 

Our family enjoys taking the children hunting. It’s always a great time to be out in the woods. With all the technological gadgets the kids have, you see fewer children outside. By dint of their height, and clear-minded observational powers, children can spot all sorts of things invisible to the adult eye. Watching puffballs explode into clouds of spores, collecting fungus specimens to make spore prints, or simply attempting to identify a mushroom at the time may enhance one’s interest.

Here in the United States, we have an amazing diversity of fungi but also barriers that stand in the way of people foraging or simply observing mushrooms, as is popular in France, Germany and other European countries. Laws of trespass and disconnection from nature have led to ecophobia and “fungus blindness”, as Sheldrake puts it, that have separated us from our fungal relatives.

All of us can benefit from the mushrooms and fungi. They’re good for your health, others are making life-changing medicines, we’re just now starting to see the growing benefits.

As we learn more about how fungal networks communicate and influence wider ecosystems, such as the Eden Shrooms, fungi may have important lessons for the planetary crisis. The sheer gumption and brio of mushrooms may help us imagine new futures and possibilities. Mushrooms represent transformation, the fundamental reality of ecological interconnectedness, collaboration and interspecies entanglement.

Fungi bind carbon in the organic compounds they create. They are strong enough to break through paving stones. Their method goes undetected and unseen until, oh look, there it is. Fungi may be seen as a way of looking at the world differently.

It would be remiss to write about mushrooms without paying tribute to Roger Phillips, the much-loved author and godfather of foraging. He recently passed and played a big role in my life. For many, his books are the definitive guides to other species in our living world and his presence on Instagram in his final years was a source of knowledge, passion and wonder.

For those starting out, a guide by Phillips is a good place to begin. Your local nature organization or nature trust may run fungi-finding or foraging walks. 

The Mycological Society of America was founded in 1932 and other societies hold events and talks. The MSA meets each year, usually in July and August. Their meetings typically include an exciting few days of posters and presentations, plus a fungus foray, council meetings, and their infamous Auction/Social. They also meet jointly with allied societies to promote cross-talk. If you haven’t took the time to check them out, I’d highly recommend you do.

When you’re out, don’t forget to look down – on dead wood, around tree stumps and trunks – and up – for bracket or bracket-like fungi such as Chicken of the Woods. A loupe or hand lens can give a closer perspective particularly for resupinate fungi, which look like spills of paint on bark. You will come to love rain, because it will bring a bonanza of mushrooms. Your knees will get muddy from examining the bottom of hedgerows and ditches.

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