Psychedelia.dk

Helt slut er det nu ikke....
Jeg fandt 327 stk på 2 timer på én sydsjællandsk fåremark (den sædvanlige). Desværre var jeg kommet for sent afsted, så jeg nåede ikke at få indsamlet fra en anden mark, der ligger lidt derfra, før det blev mørkt.

Hilsen Fanny

Har selv lagt mærke til den forholdsvis markante fremtoning af mørkeblå i roden af svampestilken efter plukning. Er der nogle, der kan fortælle om det er gældende for de fleste svampe eller er det en enestående karakteristik for SN ?

Ja, men du kan ikke sige at alle svampe der bliver blå ved plukning indeholder psilocybin.
Feks har undertegnede været i skoven og plukke Karl Johan i weekenden og de bliver blå på undersiden ved berøring...

CHAPTER 5
THE BLUING PHENOMENON AND METOL
TESTING: REALITY VS. WISHFUL THINKING

As previously discussed in Chapters 3.1
and 3.7, the bluing reaction is characteristic
of species that produce psilocybin. Still, for
unknown reasons, some species or samples
belonging to a genus that usually turns blue
may not always change color, regardless of
psilocybin content. Among the species that I
have examined, Psilocybe bohemica
displayed the most impressive bluing
reaction. The caps of this species stain very
quickly in reaction to pressure. Other species,
such as Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Sing.
have stems that develop very intensely blue
stains, while their caps do not exhibit the
bluing reaction. By contrast, Psilocybe
semilanceata, Conocybe cyanopus and
Inocybe aeruginascens are species whose
stems develop only slight stains m reaction to
pressure and only after a relatively long time
period has elapsed. With
respect to time delay and intensity of the
bluing reaction, Gymnopilus purpuratus is a
species that falls in between these two
extremes.

A Rich Color Spectrum

The colors range from green to a deep
blue. Psilocybe cubensis is a species in
which the latter color may also take on a
blackish-blue hue. 'The mechanisms
underlying the color reactions in these
mushrooms has not yet been studied. I have
already mentioned Cooke's speculation from
the early years of the 20th century about the
significance of the bluing reaction in
Psilocybe Smilanceata (see p. 16). In the
1950s, it was Singer and Smith who
emphasized that discolorations observed in
the psychotropic Psilocybe and Panaeolus
species must somehow be linked directly or
indirectly to the mushrooms' active
ingredients. Eventually, in 1958, A.
Hofmann and his collaborators reported the
successful isolation of these ingredients.
They were the first to observe that pure
psilocin grows unstable when exposed to
oxidizing agents such
as air and that solutions of psilocin turn bluishgreen
in an alkaline range.
These results provided proof that the
bluing reaction resulted from a mushroom
ingredient's breakdown by oxidation. From 1960
on, Blaschko, Levine and Bocks, as well as
Horita and Weber performed in-vitro studies of
the biochemical reactions of psilocybin and
psilocin. They concurred that only psilocin can be
oxidized into a product of bluish-green color. The
phosphate group prevents direct oxidation of this
alkaloid (see Figure 19, p. 27). However, the
typical bluing phenomenon does occur when this
protective group is removed by enzymes, such as
various phosphatases, which are very common in
human as well as in mushroom tissue. I also
observed the bluing reaction following removal
of the phosphate group from baeocystin.
Observations from in-vitro experiments explain
why Psilocybe bohemica displays a strong
bluing reaction, despite the fact that levels of
psilocin in this mushroom are low or nonexistent:
Apparently, the enzymatic removal of
the phosphate group from the psilocybin
molecule occurs quite quickly. This is how
psilocin is formed in reaction to injuries to the
fruiting bodies. Immediately afterwards, psilocin
continues to break down and disappears
completely, while a number of blue-colored
substances are created. In addition, some
enzymes were discovered which accelerate the
breakdown of psilocin. Cytochrome oxidases and
laccases are examples of such enzymes. The
latter has also been found in the mycelia of
Psilocybe cubensis. Most likely, the enzymes are
also formed in those mushrooms that display
bluish discolorations in reaction to metol testing.
Trace amounts of Iron" ions accelerate the bluing
reaction as well. The structure of the blue-colored
compounds has not yet been investigated.
Apparently, they are quite unstable and involve a
type of chemical bond known as chinones. Many
pigments are known to have this basic structure.
Figure 40 - Psilocybe cubensis fruiting bodies whose
growth was accelerated with plant hormones.
Figure 41 - Mycelial culture of Psilocybe cubensis on
malt extract (3 % solution).

The Agaricales As Alkaloid Producers

Even though the blue discoloration does
not occur in ali mushroom species that produce
psilocybin and psilocin, we can say that,
conversely, all species of the order Agaricales
(gilled mushrooms) displaying this reaction are
capable of producing alkaloids. Historically,
this problem associated with the bluing reaction
did not particularly impress early mycologists,
because there were a number of boletes which
turned blue in reaction to pressure and were
thought to be among the most valued culinary
mushrooms. Indeed, the mushrooms' color
reaction is based on ingredients that are
physiologically inactive. The boletes also do
not display the kinds of spontaneous
discolorations with age that are frequently
noted in the psychotropic species.
As results of my own analyses have
shown, the alkaloid concentrations in Psilocybe
semilanceata and Panaeolus subbalteatus - whose
fruiting bodies showed a slight degree of
discoloration at most - are within the same
orders of magnitude as those found in
mushrooms that do not turn blue. Evidently, the
pigments involved have a high degree of
intensity; the tiny amounts that were produced
did not measurably contribute to the destruction
of the active ingredients. On the other hand, my
own experiments revealed that levels of
psilocin and psilocybin in very old and strongly
discolored fruiting bodies and mycelia of
Psilocybe cubensis were considerably lower in
comparison to younger specimens. In 1948,
Singer was the first to describe the
intensification of the bluing reaction, including
a change in color towards violet, in samples of
Psilocybe cubensis which had been moistened
with an aqueous solution of the photographic
reagent metol (p-methylaminophenol). Ten
years later he reported further examinations of
some psychotropic Psilocybe species whose
stems usually turned purple through contact
with this reagent. Since 1970, various
"field guides" intended to aid in the
identification of North American Psilocybes
have also described this reaction as specific to
the Psilocybe species. For practical purposes,
however, this guideline is all but useless. The
metol merely reacts with the laccase enzyme
(several structural types) contained in the
mushrooms and it is not a reagent able to
confirm
the presence of psilocybin and its derivatives.
Even the brown and white varieties of the
commercial champignon mushroom change colors
when exposed to a metol solution, just like many
other mushrooms do as well.

The Limitations of Reagents

The discovery and usage of different color
reagents as a means to differentiate certain species
or even genera has been attempted for quite some
time, with only moderate success, for the most
part. Melzer's Reagent is a well-known mixture
whose usage was propagated as a method for
identifying the Psilocybe species. For this purpose,
however, it turned out to be just as nonspecific and
worthless as metol.
G. Drewitz discovered that the application
of iron chloride to fruiting bodies of Inocybe
aeruginascens caused a deep blue discoloration,
while the muscarine-producing species of the same
genus did not change color. Iron chloride is a salt
that reacts with different phenoles to form
intensely blue molecules. The underlying
mechanism of this reaction is more realistic than
the others, because psilocin will also react as a
phenole. Independent of this color formation, mere
trace amounts of iron ions will suffice to
accelerate the oxidation of psilocin by air.
However, Inocybe aeruginascens is a
species that produces only trace amounts of
psilocin; therefore, it is very likely that the iron
salt reacts with other phenoles in this mushroom
species.
In summary, only those bluing reactions
that are spontaneous or caused by injuries provide
reliable clues as to the presence of psilocybin and
its derivatives in Agaricales. The presence of the
bluing phenomenon itself, however, reveals
nothing about the type and quantity of any specific
indole compound that may be present in gilled
mushrooms.