Gymnopilus junonius

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Gymnopilus junonius
Gymnopilus junonius
Gymnopilus junonius
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Cortinariaceae
Genus: Gymnopilus
Binomial name
Gymnopilus junonius
(Fries) P.D. Orton
Synonyms

Agaricus spectabilis
Gymnopilus spectabilis
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Gymnopilus junonius
mycological characteristics:
 
gills on hymenium
 

cap is convex
 

hymenium is adnate
 

stipe has a ring
 

ecology is saprotrophic
 
 

edibility: psychoactive or inedible

Gymnopilus junonius, also known as Gymnopilus spectabilis, Laughing gym or Laughing Jim, is a large and very widely distributed hallucinogenic mushroom which grows in dense clusters on dead hardwoods and conifers. It has a rusty orange spore print, a bitter taste, stains red with KOH and turns green when cooked in a pan.

Gymnopilus junonius includes subspecies which contain the hallucinogen psilocybin. Specimens found in the eastern US or Japan is more likely to contain psilocybin than similar mushrooms found in the western part of the US or Europe. [1] In Japan this mushroom is called waraitake, which translates to "laughing mushroom". This mushroom is often mistaken for Gymnopilus ventricosus, which contains no psilocybin.

This mushroom contains bis-noryangonin and hispidine, which are structurally related to alpha-pyrones found in kava. [1]

Contents

[edit] Description

The cap ranges from 7 to 42 cm across, is convex, and is bright orange, orangish brown, or reddish brown with a dry scaly surface. The flesh is yellow and the gills are adnate to subdecurrent. The stem is 25-265 mm long, .8 to 9 mm thick, dusted with rusty orange spores and often narrowing near the base.

[edit] Range

This mushroom grows just about everywhere that decaying wood can be found. It has been reported from Australia, Azores, Brazil, Canada (Alberta, Nova Scotia, Ontario), China, Fiji, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Maderia, New Zealand, North Africa, Peru, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, United States (Arizona, Alabama, California, Idaho, New Jersey, Ohio, Vermont), and Uruguay. [2]

Gymnopilus junonius

Gymnopilus junonius

Gymnopilus junonius

Gymnopilus junonius

Gymnopilus junonius

Gymnopilus junonius

Gymnopilus junonius

Gymnopilus junonius

[edit] References

  1. ^ G. M. Hatfield, L. R. Brady (1969). Occurrence of bis-noryangonin in Gymnopilus spectabilis. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 58 (10): 1298–1299. doi:10.1002/jps.2600581039. 
  2. ^ Gastón Guzmán, John W. Allen & Jochen Gartz, A Worldwide Geographical Distribution of the Neurotropic Fungi, An Analysis and Discussion, Ann. Mus. civ. Rovereto Sez.: Arch., St., Sc. nat. Vol. 14 (1998) 189-280 2000
  • C.J. Alexopolous, Charles W. Mims, M. Blackwell et al., Introductory Mycology, 4th ed. (John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken NJ, 2004) ISBN 0-471-52229-5

[edit] External links


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Psychedelic mushrooms

Amanita muscaria • Amanita pantherina • Conocybe cyanopus • Conocybe smithii • Gymnopilus aeruginosus • Gymnopilus luteofolius • Gymnopilus purpuratus • Gymnopilus spectabilis • Inocybe aeruginascens • Inocybe corydalina var. corydalina • Inocybe tricolor • Panaeolus subbalteatus • Panaeolus tropicalis • Pluteus salicinus • Psilocybe • Psilocybe atlantis • Psilocybe aucklandii • Psilocybe australiana • Psilocybe azurescens • Psilocybe baeocystis • Psilocybe bohemica • Psilocybe caerulipes • Psilocybe cubensis • Psilocybe cyanescens • Psilocybe guilartensis • Psilocybe mexicana • Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata • Psilocybe semilanceata • Psilocybe subaeruginascens • Psilocybe subaeruginosa • Psilocybe tampanensis • Psilocybe villarrealiae• Psilocybe weilii• Psilocybe zapotecorum