Amanita muscaria.

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 21:25:17 -0100
Sender: HERB.TREARNPC.EGE.EDU.TR
From: Henriette Kress <HeK.HETTA.PP.FI>
Subject: Re: _which_ mushroom? - Let's go for Amanita then.

Paul Iannone wrote:
>Kombucha, naturally, is the 'species' in question, though I sometimes wish <Amanita phalloides> were.

OK, so let's get down to the medicinal properties of fly agaric - Amanita muscaria. This is purely ethnobotanical (ethnofungical?), straight from the wildest woods of Finland: tincture it fresh in 40% alcohol (2 weeks) (the active compounds are water soluble; a higher % alcohol would likely make the tincture weaker -Henriette), use _externally_ on muscular and nerve aches, in _small_ doses. Topical for eg. sciatica ("ischias").

Be careful in what you do with these toxic mushrooms.

I only heard of this at the end of last year so I'll only get to try it out come autumn. I'll let you know how it works.

(It's very effective, externally, for sciatica. Generally one person gets relief, tells somebody else, and so on, until the whole village has tried it. -Henriette)

From: Dale Kemery <DalePK.AOL.COM>

>OK, so let's get down to the medicinal properties of Amanita muscaria. This is purely ethnobotanical (ethnofungical?), straight from the wildest woods of Finland:

Ethnomycological?

Amanita muscaria is not native just to Finland. It grows in many parts of the world and is the consciousness-altering substance of choice among Siberians. It also is connected to religious practices in meso-America and has been historically suspected to grow in the Indus Valley (Pakistan and northern India). Further, some tribes of Native Americans (notably the Ojibway) are now thought to have used it in shamanic rituals.

The active compounds are ibotenic acid and muscimol. Ott ("Phamacotheon") traces it linguistically to 4000-6000 BC and says it "has been used by humankind longer than any other [pscyhoactive] plant." It is the "typical" mushroom illustrated in children's books including "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

While on a foray for chantarelle mushrooms in Illinois last summer, a friend and I found a single fly agaric mushroom (of which A. muscaria is one) that appeared to be A. muscaria in the identification books. We did *not* eat it! Note that fly agarics as a family are said to be responsible for poisoning more people in the world than any other mushroom.