Aug 25, 2026 04:19 PM
(This post was last modified: Aug 25, 2026 04:21 PM by C C.)
https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/tiny...e-mushroom
EXCERPT: All of the patients claimed to see little people or animals moving around. “They saw them on their clothes when they were dressing and saw them on their dishes when eating,” researchers wrote in a 1991 paper.
“The hallucinations were even more vivid when their eyes were closed,” and the worst affected “felt that the mountains or buildings surrounding them were pressing down upon them.”
It wasn’t until 2015, however, that the mushroom behind the outbreak was formally named and described. Researchers purchased a sample from a street market in Yunnan, then sequenced its DNA. They confirmed that L. asiatica was new to science and is more closely related to the common porcini mushroom (Boletus edulis) than it is to any known ‘magic’ mushroom species.
Subsequent studies have so far failed to identify the psychoactive ingredient that causes people to experience such strange, yet consistent, visions, but studies have been performed on mice. When rodents are given extracts of L. asiatica, they too become hyperactive, then slump into a daze. If they saw Lilliputians, the mice declined to say.
Today, L. asiatica can be found on the menu of many Yunnanese restaurants, where its umami flavour is appreciated and a system has been developed to prepare and serve it safely... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPT: All of the patients claimed to see little people or animals moving around. “They saw them on their clothes when they were dressing and saw them on their dishes when eating,” researchers wrote in a 1991 paper.
“The hallucinations were even more vivid when their eyes were closed,” and the worst affected “felt that the mountains or buildings surrounding them were pressing down upon them.”
It wasn’t until 2015, however, that the mushroom behind the outbreak was formally named and described. Researchers purchased a sample from a street market in Yunnan, then sequenced its DNA. They confirmed that L. asiatica was new to science and is more closely related to the common porcini mushroom (Boletus edulis) than it is to any known ‘magic’ mushroom species.
Subsequent studies have so far failed to identify the psychoactive ingredient that causes people to experience such strange, yet consistent, visions, but studies have been performed on mice. When rodents are given extracts of L. asiatica, they too become hyperactive, then slump into a daze. If they saw Lilliputians, the mice declined to say.
Today, L. asiatica can be found on the menu of many Yunnanese restaurants, where its umami flavour is appreciated and a system has been developed to prepare and serve it safely... (MORE - missing details)