Facts About Magic Mushrooms
When you’re considering the weird, wonderful world of fungi you can’t help but be blown away by these utterly unique organisms. Mushrooms come in thousands of varieties, they have hundreds of beneficial properties that can benefit humankind, and they have existed on this planet for hundreds of millions, if not billions of years! These kinds of numbers are mind-blowing, so it’s no wonder that so many people turn to medicinal and magical mushrooms to improve their health and quality of life.
Fungi have had a long time to develop many magical abilities, such as a propensity for healing, supporting our major organs, providing a bevvy of antioxidants and even sending us on life-changing psychedelic trips. Over the span of their existence, fungi have adapted to almost every environment on Earth – capable of living in places with both little-to-no water and flood-plains, and extreme climates such as in deserts or even frozen tundras. Magic mushrooms in particular have captured our imaginations with their powers to transform people’s health, personality and help them find meaning and new perspectives about the world around them. If you’ve never tried magic mushrooms, you might assume that they’re quite scary or risky but this is a common misconception about psychotropic mushrooms. Just ask the growing number of shroomers that are microdosing with psilocybin and they’ll tell you: psychedelics don’t have to be intense, in fact they can be a part of your everyday life.
There are so many ways to incorporate magic mushrooms into your daily routine, and limitless possibilities for psilocybin to enhance your cognition, your health and your mood. There are so many fascinating features to these kinds of magic fungi, but let’s focus on the top seven mind-bending facts about magic mushrooms.
1. THEY’VE BEEN AROUND FOR A LONG TIME
Magic mushrooms – meaning any species of fungi that contains the psychoactive compounds psilocybin or psilocin – are a distinctly captivating branch of the mushroom kingdom. There are roughly 180-200 species of fungi that contain psilocybin, which might not sound like a lot at first but when you look back at how long they’ve been around you might be stunned by their impact on human evolution. Since the dawn of time, humankind has turned to psychedelic mushrooms and other psychoactive substances such as cacti and cannabis. Psychedelic plants and organisms have played a major role in our spirituality, culture and medicine for thousands of years. In fact, some evidence suggests that magic mushrooms were consumed by early humans and may have impacted our neurological evolution thanks to the mind-altering properties of psilocybin. The aptly named “Stoned Ape Theory” is a fascinating approach to the impact of these equally fascinating fungi, and we definitely recommend that readers check out our other blog about Fun & Odd Facts About Magic Mushrooms.
Hallucinogenic mushrooms can be found all over the world, but they are most pointedly associated with certain regions, such as: Western coastal regions of North America (Canada, USA, Mexico); throughout the subcontinent of Mexico, Brazil, and various parts of South America; Northeastern countries of Europe (mountainous regions); and across the plateaus and temperate climates of Asia (including Eurasia, such as Russia). Wherever you find magic mushrooms, if you look back through the history of the region’s peoples, you’ll likely see the influences of psilocybin. For example, many indigenous peoples of North & South America have been shown to cultivate and consume psychedelic mushrooms for many centuries. These practices typically involved religious, ceremonial, or spiritual guidance but there are some theories that these cultural practices might have also included introspection or self-improvement.
Ancient peoples understood the wealth of benefits from responsible consumption of magic mushrooms, so it is only natural that we follow in their footsteps as we continue to search for meaning and significance in our lives.
2. THEY GROW ALMOST EVERYWHERE
If you’re ever out hiking in mountainous terrain, strolling through marshlands or basking in the natural beauty of the forests, you’ll likely come across a multitude of mushroom species. Wild mushroom picking, shroom tourism and guided farm-to-table experiences are becoming all the rage as more and more people are getting wise to the healthy benefits of fungi. It’s not hard to find mushrooms wherever you live because they are very capable of flourishing in many different climates.
There are approximately 225 species of psilocybin mushrooms known to science. Of these 225, about 50 are native to Mexico, 20+ can be found throughout the United States & Canada, 18 varieties thrive across Australia & the Pacific Islands, with 16 species of psychedelic mushrooms common throughout Europe and another 15 are resident across Asia. Magic mushrooms aren’t uniform or consistent in their appearance, so if you’re ever seeking out your own handful of wild mushrooms you have to be extremely careful. Getting training from fungi experts is crucial to your health & safety – there are many mushrooms out there that are toxic, poisonous or even fatal to humans and animals, so you have to be absolutely sure of your shrooms before you get into mushroom hunting or cultivating your own.
There are many species of fungi that contain psilocybin, but which ones are the weakest and which strains are the most potent? Check out our blog on the top 10 most potent species of magic mushrooms if you’re interested in finding the most powerful shrooms there are.
3. THERE ARE A LOT OF DIFFERENT KINDS
We mentioned that there are around 220 known species of psilocybin mushrooms, but there are thousands upon thousands of species of fungi. Of the currently accepted species of psychedelic fungi, almost no two are alike – they have distinct colors, shapes, habitats, flavors and psychoactive effects that makes each mushroom experience unique. Magic mushrooms can grow in cascades up the length of trees, cluster together in swampy hollows, fan-out like veins across rocky surfaces, and they can drape over the decaying remains of other plants in tentacle-like tendrils. Mushrooms are technically not plants, but organisms – another common misconception about these otherworldly organisms that most people aren’t aware of.
Not only do they grow differently and look very unique, trippy shrooms can have a lot of different effects. The most popular strains of psilocybin mushrooms might vary per country, but we’ve written a helpful blog on the top 5 magic mushrooms for beginners. What are some of the favorites? Golden Teacher mushrooms have a distinct golden-brown cap and wavy texture that will catch anyone’s eye. B+ magic mushrooms are a classic, small-brown cap mushrooms that grow all over the world. Amanita muscaria has a very memorable red cap with white spots – the iconic mushroom look that many people associate with magic mushrooms. In fact, it is the Amanita muscaria species and its distinctive red-and-white appearance that leads us to our next mind-bending fact about magic mushrooms: Santa Claus & his psychedelic origins.
4. THEY’RE RESPONSIBLE FOR SANTA CLAUS… YES, JOLLY OLD ST. NICK!
We previously wrote about this bizarre origin story, but we feel it is so mind-bending that it’s worth mentioning again. In Eurasia (Russia, Eastern European & Western Asian countries) there are a lot of legends telling similar tales of red-capped mushrooms that were consumed by shamans many years ago. In the earliest tellings of these folklores, these shamans would cultivate and consume Amanita muscaria (the distinctly red-and-white capped mushrooms native to the area). Shamans would dress like the mushrooms themselves – red and white – and during the winter solstice (mid-late December) they would travel to nearby villages, giving out dried, red-capped magic mushrooms as “the gift of happiness”. Because the extreme snowfall of the regions would often block the doors & windows of the villagers’ homes, the shamans would have to climb onto the roofs and drop the mushroom gifts down the chimneys in order to deliver their joyful gifts.
What’s more, this species and several others are known to be a favorite treat of a certain festive species of deer – reindeer to be precise. Reindeer are a common sight among the Northernmost places of Europe & Asia, and they are known to snack on these kinds of magic mushrooms (although we can only guess as to their true intentions). Even more weird is the fact that these Amanita muscarias can be found growing underneath trees – such as the large pines and conifers that we associate with Xmas trees! As you can see, the Santa Claus connections to these particular magic mushrooms are too obvious to ignore. Xmas might be a religious holiday associated with Christianity, but jolly old St. Nick is more of a member of the psychedelic realm than he is any particular religion.
5. THEY’RE THE LARGEST (AND OLDEST) KNOWN ORGANISM ON EARTH!
This awesome fact might not only blow your mind, but you’ll find yourself reanalyzing everything you thought you knew about life on planet earth. The “Honey Mushroom” of Oregon, otherwise known as Armillaria ostoyae, has an absolutely titanic colony that has been growing for thousands of years across hundreds of thousands of square meters. Yes, you heard right, THOUSANDS. This giant supercolony found in the Malheur National Forest park is roughly 2,420 years old, and it has spread to encompass an estimated area of 2,200 acres! Although this massive mushroom colony is not one amalgamation of fungi, it is all connected and considered to be the same organism. Therefore, it easily outweighs the other largest organism that we know of – the blue whale – by a lot. This unfathomable honey mushroom colony is 5.7 kilometers across at its widest point (about 1600 National Football League fields combined!), and it has been measured about 2-3 meters into the ground at its deepest root points.
Suffice to say, this is an unimaginably large organism that defies the laws of nature (at least, as far as we understand them). This honey mushroom organism is making us rethink what we previously assumed about fungi and other living beings on our planet. Suffice to say, mushrooms are not only some of the longest living organisms on this world, but they have an almost alien ability to grow as large and vast as a city – maybe this is their planet, and we’re just living on it?!
6. THEY SHARE MORE DNA WITH HUMANS & ANIMALS THAN PLANTS!
This is the kind of statement that really makes people screw up their face in bewilderment and almost turn the computer screen off… don’t worry, we almost did when we first heard this “crazy theory” the first couple times as well! Nevertheless, it is becoming clearer and clearer with more research that humans and mushrooms are very close on the spectrum of genetic makeup. According to Dr. Paul Stamets – revered godfather of mushrooms and the world’s leading mycologist – fungal DNA shows up to 50% similarities to humans, and vice versa. It is Dr. Stamet’s assertion that we are in fact “fungal beings” (i.e. we evolved out of fungi in some form or another, and fungi have had a major impact on our evolutionary history). Not only do humans show relationships to fungi at the DNA-level, but so do many animals. It seems that many plants are distinct from mushroom DNA, but many land-bearing animals and humans exhibit a lot of genetic similarities to these one-of-a-kind organisms.
This could be one of the fundamental reasons behind the efficacy of medicinal mushrooms. According to mushroom drug facts, if we share a lot of genetic potential with mushrooms, and we can even be affected by the same kinds of viruses, it stands to reason that whenever mushrooms are able to overcome sickness, injury and negative health effects we can apply those same conditions to humans and expect similar results. A ton of research and study is being devoted to understanding these connections between humans and mushrooms more closely, but in the meantime we can be sure that a lot of the keys to human health will lie with our very-distant genetic ancestors, fungi.
7. THEY CAN IMPROVE YOUR MENTAL & PHYSICAL HEALTH
This final mind-blowing fact about magic mushrooms might be more aptly called “mind-boosting”. Mushrooms, both medicinal and psychedelic, have the potential to improve your mental health, treat many neurological conditions and even enhance your physical prowess on the field or at the rink. Psilocybin has been relied on by many people in the past for its balancing effects on personality disorders, mood swings, negative behaviors, substance abuse and other debilitating conditions associated with our mental health. Not only do magic mushrooms make a very effective treatment, but they can be taken as a daily supplement to increase creativity, improve cognition, and even help you retain & process information such as when you’re studying.
Trippy shrooms aren’t just for having psychedelic experiences anymore, because microdosing psilocybin has become one of the fastest growing trends in the world of mushrooms. The mushroom drug facts on microdosing are very positive, and a lot of business professionals, teachers, students, athletes and people who suffer from a variety of mental health ailments are turning to small, consistent doses of psilocybin to improve their well-being. Psilocybin microdosing has been shown to be an excellent remedy for depression, anxiety, stress, chronic headaches, insomnia and even PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). On top of being an alternative natural remedy for these serious ailments, psilocybin can improve your mood by balancing your serotonin levels, improve your mental alacrity and enhance your ability to empathize with others.
These transformative effects are just a few of the many mind-blowing benefits to psychotropic mushrooms. The more you learn about magic mushrooms, the more you begin to appreciate that hallucinogenic mushrooms aren’t just trippy shrooms, but they’re a life-changing, safe and natural remedy and health supplement. Change your perspectives, improve your mood and mental abilities, and enhance your connections to the world around you and to others by trusting in the natural powers of magic mushrooms.
