Psilocybe aztecorum

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Psilocybe aztecorum
In Nevado de Toluca, Mexico
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Hymenogastraceae
Genus: Psilocybe
Species:
P. aztecorum
Binomial name
Psilocybe aztecorum
R.Heim (1957)
Synonyms[1]
Psilocybe aztecorum
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Gills on hymenium
Cap is convex or campanulate
Hymenium is adnate or adnexed
saprotrophic
Edibility is psychoactive

Psilocybe aztecorum is a species of

rhizomorphs, a characteristic uncommon amongst Psilocybe
species.

The species was first reported by French mycologist

cystidia
.

Taxonomy and nomenclature

The species was first mentioned by French mycologist

Mazatec people, thereby introducing psilocybin mushrooms to Western popular culture.[4]

In 1978, Mexican mycologist and Psilocybe specialist

synonym of P. aztecorum var. bonetii;[8] this putative synonymy, however, is confirmed by neither MycoBank nor Index Fungorum.[9][10] Guzmán called the main variety P. aztecorum var. aztecorum; for this reason, the species authority is often cited as "P. aztecorum var. aztecorum R. Heim emend. Guzmán".[11][12]

Psilocybe aztecorum is the

classified in section Aztecorum are P. baeocystis and P. quebecensis.[1]

The

Aztec peoples of central Mexico, who used this mushroom in traditional ceremonies long before the Spanish came to America. The variety P. aztecorum var. bonneti is named after Dr. Federico Bonet (died 1980), emeritus professor of the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, who assisted Guzmán with his doctoral studies.[1] The popular names of P. aztecorum are niños or niñitos (children or little children), or in the Nahuatl language apipiltzin[1] which means niños del agua ("children of the water"), alluding to their habitat along ravines.[13]

Description

The gills have an adnate or adnexed attachment to the stem, sometimes with whitish edges.

The cap is convex to bell-shaped, sometimes developing a broad umbo before expanding and flattening in age; it reaches a diameter of 1.5–2 cm (0.6–0.8 in). In maturity, the cap eventually forms a central depression, and, in some old specimens, opens into the hollow stem. The cap surface is slimy to the touch, and has translucent striations along the margin when moist. The cap is strongly hygrophanous, meaning that it will change color depending on its level of hydration. The color ranges from yellowish brown to golden yellow in young button forms to brownish gray in age, with greenish-gray tints on the margin. The color later changes to whitish from the center to the margin, finally remaining completely white; dried specimens are straw-colored to pale brownish. In contrast to most psilocybin mushrooms, the cap of P. aztecorum does not have a strong bluing reaction upon injury—only the margin stains slightly green-blue.[1]

A young specimen with prominent rhizomorphs at the stem base, a silky-fibrillose stem surface, and a cobweb-like partial veil covering the gills

The

rhizomorphs. Young mushrooms have a white cobweb-like partial veil that does not last long before it disappears, although it sometimes remains as a non-permanent ring on the upper part of the stem. The flesh is whitish to yellowish or reddish yellow in the cap, or reddish brown in the stem, and shows little or no bluing reaction to injury. Like most of the bluing Psilocybe mushrooms, the odor and taste of P. aztecorum is slightly farinaceous (similar to freshly ground flour) in fresh specimens; dried specimens have a more intense odor. A drop of dilute potassium hydroxide (KOH) stains the cap, stem, and flesh reddish brown; sometimes, the stem does not stain or stains slightly yellowish red. The spore print is blackish violet.[1]

Microscopic characteristics

The spores are elongated-ellipsoid in face view, roughly terete (more or less cylindrical but usually tapering at both ends), slightly inequilateral or asymmetrical in side view—the so-called "mango" form. They typically have dimensions of 12–14 by 6.6–7.7 by 6–7.5 μm, although some spores have irregular shapes and are strongly elongated, up to 23 μm. Spores are thick-walled (generally between 1–1.5 μm), dark yellowish brown, and have a broad germ pore. The variety bonetii has smaller spores measuring 10–13 by 6–7.5 by 6–7 μm.[1]

The

cystidia on the edge of a gill) are abundant, forming a sterile band on the gill edge. They are hyaline, fusoid-ampullaceous (with a shape ranging from a spindle to a swollen bottle), with dimensions of 20–45 by 5–8.2 μm, and have a filamentous neck measuring 6–11 by 1.6–2.5 μm. The pleurocystidia (cystidia on the gill face) are scattered, similar to the cheilocystidia in form and size, hyaline, and some have bifurcated or branched necks.[1]

Microscopy
Cheilocystidia and spores; small divisions are 1 μm Basidia Cap cuticle Spores

The subhymenium (a layer of cells immediately below the

cap cuticle) is made of a thin gelatinous layer of hyaline or brownish hyphae measuring 1.5–2.5 μm in diameter. The hypodermium (the cuticle tissue layer under the epicutis) is hyaline, and has elongated to roughly spherical hyphae that are 10–18 μm in diameter. Clamp connections are present in the hyphae of P. aztecorum.[1]

Similar species

Similar Psilocybe species include P. baeocystis (left) and P. pelliculosa (right).

phylogeny of the species comprising section Aztecorum is not known with certainty, Guzmán has suggested that P. aztecorum was the ancestor of P. baeocystis in northwestern North America and of P. quebecensis in northeastern North America.[19]

Habitat and distribution

P. aztecorum fruits in high-elevation meadows and open woodlands.

A

Hartweg's pine (Pinus hartwegii) in addition to grasses such as Festuca tolucensis and Muhlenbergia quadridentata, and the herbaceous plant Alchemilla procumbens, at elevations of 3,200–4,000 m (10,500–13,100 ft).[20] Heim found the type specimens at an altitude of 3,500 m (11,500 ft) in an alpine pine forest.[3] P. aztecorum fruits from August to October.[1]

Psilocybe aztecorum is known only from the high mountains of central Mexico, such as

loss of its natural habitat.[20]

Entheogenic use

Xochipilli
have been interpreted as P. aztecorum

Psilocybe aztecorum contains the

psychoactive compound psilocybin. In 1958, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann reported a relatively low concentration of 0.02% psilocybin, but this analysis was performed on two-year-old specimens.[1] Jonathan Ott and Guzmán indicated the presence of psilocybin in the variety bonartii.[21] In terms of psychoactive potency, Paul Stamets rates P. aztecorum as "moderately to highly active".[11]

The statue of the

Xochipilli, a 16th-century stone effigy unearthed on the side of the volcano Popocatépetl, depicts a single figure seated cross-legged upon a temple-like base; his body is covered in carvings of sacred and psychoactive organisms. Circular patterns on his kneecaps, right forearm, and headdress have been interpreted by R. Gordon Wasson as stylized fruit bodies of Psilocybe aztecorum. Wasson says that the convex shape and incurved margins depicted in these images show the mushroom caps just before maturity.[22][23] P. aztecorum is, in addition to P. caerulescens, one of two mushrooms thought to be the species described by 16th-century Spanish chronicler Bernardino de Sahagún as the teonanácatl. The word teonanácatl (Nahuatl pronunciation: [teoːnaˈnakat͡ɬ]) has been variously translated as "sacred or divine mushroom" or as "flesh of the gods".[13][24][25] These mushrooms, considered holy sacraments by the Aztecs, were consumed during spiritual and divinatory rituals to induce hallucinatory visions.[1][11][26]

Psilocybe aztecorum is still used ceremonially by the

Nahua people in the Popocatépetl region,[12][28] although this usage is gradually diminishing.[1] Traditional folk healers, or curanderos, maintain familiarity with psychoactive mushrooms (and other mind-altering plants used in ceremonial rituals), and diagnose illnesses by having the client ingest the mushrooms. One Mixe curandero initiation ritual involves ingestion of mushrooms following a period of "abstinence from talking, sexual intercourse, and all foods except nuts for three days, whereupon the individual goes up to a mountain, subsists on nothing but a little honey, and prays to God for the power to heal."[29]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Guzmán (1983), pp. 323–6.
  2. ^ Heim R. (1956). "Les champignons divinatoires recueillis par Mme. V. P. Wasson et M. R. G. Wasson au cours de leurs missions de 1954 et 1955 dans le pays mije, mazateque, zapoteque et nahua du Mexique méridional et central" [The divinatory mushrooms collected by Mrs. V. P. Wasson and R. G. Wasson during their missions in 1954 and 1955 in the Mazatec, Zapotec, and Nahua areas of southern and central Mexico]. Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences (in French). 242: 1389–95.
  3. ^ a b Heim R. (1957). "Notes préliminaires sur les agarics hallucinogènes du Mexique" [Preliminary notes on the hallucination-producing Agarics of Mexico]. Revue de Mycologie (in French). 22 (1): 58–79.
  4. ISSN 0024-3019
    .
  5. ^
    PMID 566852
    .
  6. ISSN 0365-1932
    .
  7. ^ Guzmán G. (1995). "Supplement to the monograph of the genus Psilocybe". Bibliotheca Mycologica. 159: 91–141.
  8. ^ a b Guzmán G, Allen JW, Gartz J (2000). "A worldwide geographical distribution of the neurotropic fungi, an analysis and discussion" (PDF). Annali del Museo Civico di Rovereto: Sezione Archeologia, Storia, Scienze Naturali. 14: 189–280.
  9. ^ "Psilocybe natarajanii Guzmán 1995". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  10. ^ "Record details: Psilocybe natarajanii Guzmán, Biblthca Mycol. 159: 109 (1995)". Index Fungorum. CAB International. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  11. ^ a b c Stamets (1996), pp. 92–3.
  12. ^
    S2CID 22085876
    .
  13. ^
    JSTOR 3756196
    .
  14. ^
    JSTOR 3793262
    .
  15. ISBN 978-3-7682-1344-8
    .
  16. ^ Beug M. (2011). "The Genus Psilocybe in North America" (PDF). Fungi Magazine. 4 (3): 6–17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-31.
  17. ^ Stamets (1996), p. 134.
  18. ^ Guzmán (1983), p. 327.
  19. ^ Guzmán (1983), p. 331.
  20. ^
    S2CID 39166363
    .
  21. PMID 957919
    .
  22. doi:10.1080/02791072.1974.10471987
    .
  23. JSTOR 1587370
    .
  24. ^ Hofmann A. (1971). "Teonanácatl and Ololiuqui, two ancient magic drugs of Mexico". Bulletin on Narcotics. 23 (1): 3–14.
  25. ^ Knauth LG. (1962). "The teonanacatl in pre-conquest accounts and today" (PDF). Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl. 5: 263–75.
  26. ^ Stamets (1996), pp. 11–2.
  27. ^ Stamets (1996), p. 110.
  28. PMID 21148986
    .
  29. ^ Lipp (1998), pp. 150–1.

Cited texts

External links

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