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Show HN: Magic Mushroom Map

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Re: Show HN: Magic Mushroom Map

#41

Post by sheepdestroyer »

pbaumel wrote: post #17
Freak_NL wrote: post #7

Isn't mushroom picking something that requires rather more than a modicum of research upfront before any layman should attempt to do so because of the existence of poisonous mushrooms? I mean, this feels eerily reminiscent of Google sending people up to the summit of Ben Nevis across dangerous terrain via a naive line connecting it to the geographically nearest car park. This website does not seem to give any warning…

You're absolutely right, nobody should eat any mushroom if they are at all uncertain about its identity. For now i've focused on where and when to look and steered clear of what to look for, partially due to liability concerns. So, right now, the map is mainly useful for people who already know what they are looking for (or are willing to do the research) rather than complete beginners. I may add a 'field guide' on i…

In France, pharmacists are trained and obligated by law to provide free mushroom identification to anyone. For this purpose, every pharmacy owns of very complete mushroom encyclopedias. I had good results in asking psilocibes IDing, but of course got some weird looks and strong recommendations not to consume them. Nobody called the cops.

Re: Show HN: Magic Mushroom Map

#42

Post by JoeAltmaier »

a2tech wrote: post #39
anm89 wrote: post #35

As someone who forages mushrooms pretty extensively my advice is not to forage psychedelic mushrooms as a beginner. Most psilocybin mushrooms fall into the colloquial category of "LBMs" (little brown mushrooms) and the advice is almost always not to forage LBMs because there a million of them, they all look alike, and you might not know from region to region what the risk of look a likes are. ' So unless you have a r…

There's a crazy amount of inertia around the 'mushroom foraging is only for experts' idea. I was just telling my mother in law this weekend that in our area there are no killer mushrooms. There are mushrooms that taste very bad, and (in the worst case) will cause stomach upset (vomiting) but nothing that will kill you outright. I was trying to encourage her to try some of the more well known edible wild varieties (wh…

Well, vomiting isn't very nice either. And some (many?) folks aren't crazy about mushrooms to start with. They may make apologies of the "I wouldn't know how to pick them safely" sort to avoid having to go mushrooming...

Re: Show HN: Magic Mushroom Map

#43

Post by a2tech »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #42
a2tech wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a crazy amount of inertia around the 'mushroom foraging is only for experts' idea. I was just telling my mother in law this weekend that in our area there are no killer mushrooms. There are mushrooms that taste very bad, and (in the worst case) will cause stomach upset (vomiting) but nothing that will kill you outright. I was trying to encourage her to try some of the more well known edible wild varieties (wh…

Well, vomiting isn't very nice either. And some (many?) folks aren't crazy about mushrooms to start with. They may make apologies of the "I wouldn't know how to pick them safely" sort to avoid having to go mushrooming...

Thats undeniably true, vomiting isn't something anyone wants to do. However you're VERY unlikely to pick anything except what you're looking for if you stick to the 'biggies' of the found mushroom world as the grandparent comment covers--chicken of the wood, hen of the wood, morels, etc. They're quite distinctive and not easily confused with other things. The LBMs are a whole different kettle of fish--you're definitely into 'hard mode' when you try to differentiate those. But until you're an expert there's really no reason you'd even be looking for mushrooms in that category.

Re: Show HN: Magic Mushroom Map

#44

Post by pelasaco »

Strange that none was found in Brazil. I remember in the region of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (mostly Mountain Regions), after a nightly dew over the pastures, you could always find some magic Mushrooms, early in the morning.

Re: Show HN: Magic Mushroom Map

#45

Post by JoeAltmaier »

a2tech wrote: post #43
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, vomiting isn't very nice either. And some (many?) folks aren't crazy about mushrooms to start with. They may make apologies of the "I wouldn't know how to pick them safely" sort to avoid having to go mushrooming...

Thats undeniably true, vomiting isn't something anyone wants to do. However you're VERY unlikely to pick anything except what you're looking for if you stick to the 'biggies' of the found mushroom world as the grandparent comment covers--chicken of the wood, hen of the wood, morels, etc. They're quite distinctive and not easily confused with other things. The LBMs are a whole different kettle of fish--you're definite…

Hm. Morels around here come in 4 colors, and some of those can resemble other toxic mushrooms that also grow around here.

It can seem 'easy' to distinguish when familiar. But if you're coming at it fresh it's quite daunting. And to make your friends sick is a significant faux pas.

Anyway that leaves the "I don't want to do this, and I want a 'good reason' and the death card is a good reason" cause of reluctance. It may be more common that we think.

Re: Show HN: Magic Mushroom Map

#46

Post by breakfastduck »

a2tech wrote: post #39
anm89 wrote: post #35

As someone who forages mushrooms pretty extensively my advice is not to forage psychedelic mushrooms as a beginner. Most psilocybin mushrooms fall into the colloquial category of "LBMs" (little brown mushrooms) and the advice is almost always not to forage LBMs because there a million of them, they all look alike, and you might not know from region to region what the risk of look a likes are. ' So unless you have a r…

There's a crazy amount of inertia around the 'mushroom foraging is only for experts' idea. I was just telling my mother in law this weekend that in our area there are no killer mushrooms. There are mushrooms that taste very bad, and (in the worst case) will cause stomach upset (vomiting) but nothing that will kill you outright. I was trying to encourage her to try some of the more well known edible wild varieties (wh…

How can we be so certain there are no killer mushrooms in your area? We have no idea what is growing on a daily basis, the guidebooks were only accurate on the date of publication.

Re: Show HN: Magic Mushroom Map

#47

Post by anm89 »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #42
a2tech wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a crazy amount of inertia around the 'mushroom foraging is only for experts' idea. I was just telling my mother in law this weekend that in our area there are no killer mushrooms. There are mushrooms that taste very bad, and (in the worst case) will cause stomach upset (vomiting) but nothing that will kill you outright. I was trying to encourage her to try some of the more well known edible wild varieties (wh…

Well, vomiting isn't very nice either. And some (many?) folks aren't crazy about mushrooms to start with. They may make apologies of the "I wouldn't know how to pick them safely" sort to avoid having to go mushrooming...

In years of eating foraged mushrooms, I have never gotten so much as a stomach ache.

If you are making educated identifications (which is really easy to do with the materials available in this age) you shouldn't ever be vomiting when eating mushrooms.

A very small percentage of people cannot handle most of the mushrooms that other people can and will vomit but this is true of many other food categories and is not unique to mushrooms.

Re: Show HN: Magic Mushroom Map

#48

Post by anm89 »

breakfastduck wrote: post #46
a2tech wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a crazy amount of inertia around the 'mushroom foraging is only for experts' idea. I was just telling my mother in law this weekend that in our area there are no killer mushrooms. There are mushrooms that taste very bad, and (in the worst case) will cause stomach upset (vomiting) but nothing that will kill you outright. I was trying to encourage her to try some of the more well known edible wild varieties (wh…

How can we be so certain there are no killer mushrooms in your area? We have no idea what is growing on a daily basis, the guidebooks were only accurate on the date of publication.

This just isn't true. There aren't new mushroom species popping up in the night with any regularity. In the US we have a very good survey of what is out there.

I have never heard a story of someone making a positive identification based on the resources available, then getting poisoned because they had discovered a new species which had total overlap with their positive identification. Doesn't mean it's never happened but I would say if it has it is exceedingly rare.

In the same way we don't not drive because it's possible to crash, I'm not going to stop foraging because of the possibility of super outlier events.

Re: Show HN: Magic Mushroom Map

#49

Post by anm89 »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #45
a2tech wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats undeniably true, vomiting isn't something anyone wants to do. However you're VERY unlikely to pick anything except what you're looking for if you stick to the 'biggies' of the found mushroom world as the grandparent comment covers--chicken of the wood, hen of the wood, morels, etc. They're quite distinctive and not easily confused with other things. The LBMs are a whole different kettle of fish--you're definite…

Hm. Morels around here come in 4 colors, and some of those can resemble other toxic mushrooms that also grow around here. It can seem 'easy' to distinguish when familiar. But if you're coming at it fresh it's quite daunting. And to make your friends sick is a significant faux pas. Anyway that leaves the "I don't want to do this, and I want a 'good reason' and the death card is a good reason" cause of reluctance. It m…

Yeah but how hard is it to get a guidebook and figure out if Morels are a safe pick in your area. If you already know morels have look a likes where you are, then don't pick them unless you have put in the time on your own research and feel you know how to make that particular ID.

Especially after I've picked something, it is really easy to move backwards and say "is there uncertainty with what this could be?".

Re: Show HN: Magic Mushroom Map

#50

Post by anm89 »

ricardo81 wrote: post #37
anm89 wrote: post #35

As someone who forages mushrooms pretty extensively my advice is not to forage psychedelic mushrooms as a beginner. Most psilocybin mushrooms fall into the colloquial category of "LBMs" (little brown mushrooms) and the advice is almost always not to forage LBMs because there a million of them, they all look alike, and you might not know from region to region what the risk of look a likes are. ' So unless you have a r…

Sounds like sensible advice. I've been led to believe the psilocybin ones have blue stalks which can distinguish them from others, but wouldn't pass that on as advice, myself.

It is true that afaik, every pislocybe species bruises blue, the problem is, could it bruise blue, contain psilocybin, but also be poisonous. I think the truth is that it is pretty rare for that to be the case or may even be non existent but I'd definitely want to get verification on that for my specific region before harvesting anything.

Also, as a general point, it is a myth that bruising blue always indicates the presence of psilocybin. For instance, many boletes bruise blue and don't contain any psilocybin.

Here's a picture of an intensely blue staining bolete that does not have psilocybin:

https://i.redd.it/waumic0mjh921.jpg

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