Alright good people Welcome to episode number 22, “The World's Most Famous Mushroom” ... Today’s guest and today’s mushroom really don’t need an introduction, but I’m gonna give them one anyway... Our guest is Eugenia Bone, Eugenia is an investigative journalist who focuses on mycology, she is a film star and more significantly, she joined us as a guest on the Cedar Falls Mycology Podcast Episode number 4 where we talked about her book “Have A Nice Trip”. She also wrote the excellent book called Mycophilia and was the lead author on the “Fantastic Fungi” cookbook which was created to accompany the movie, in which she appears, Fantastic Fungi by Louie Schwartzberg. If you enjoyed the Movie you will love the book. It won the cookbook of the year award from Vanity Fair Magazine. So that’s a bit about Eugenia if you missed episode #4 you might want to go back and check it out.. So , that is an introduction to our guest now, let’s introduce our mushroom. The mushroom we are talking about... “the world's most famous mushroom” is the esteemed Amanita muscaria. Amanita muscaria an ecto mycorrhizal basidiomycete that is quite common in a variety of forests. This mushroom has maintained a mycozooistic relationship with humans for thousands of years and is known by hundreds of common names spanning most of human history... The most common of the common names (at least in English) is the fly amanita. The genus name “Amanita” describes the shape of the mushroom and comes from the ancient Greek word Amanitai, (Ah mah neat tie )which likely refers to Mount Amanus. The species name “Muscaria” Comes from the Latin word musca, meaning “fly”. We will get into that more later. So what makes this the world’s most famous mushroom? Well, the mushroom is on stamps, it’s on postcards, it’s on ads, it’s on the emojis on your phone, it’s available as a plushy, on a pillow, on a shirt.... It is in video games, animals seek out its psychoactive properties, it is speculated that this mushroom laid the foundations of some of the world’s oldest religions... Religions that predate Christianity by 10,000 years... It is also possible that this mushroom is responsible for the story of Santa Claus... The mycorrhizal mycelial networks of Amanitas feed trees all over the planet. Forests are by definition a conglomerate of organisms from all Kingdoms of life. The mycelial networks of amanitas act as the circulatory system, immune system and even nervous system of the forest community itself, Amanita muscaria maintain mycozooistic relationships with many species of animals including humans who have been consuming this mushroom , for better or worse, since our kind made the migration north from the fertile crescent into eastern Europe. This was many centuries before we made our way onto the North American continent. Humans have been interacting with this mushroom since a time when our species was just becoming what we now think of as “human” and by that I mean, apes with conscious thought, religion, mathematics, farming and animal husbandry. As would be expected with any famous mushroom, rumors and scandals have followed the amanita muscaria throughout history to the point where it is often hard to tell fact from fiction or ethnomycology from theoretical mycology. However, it is the opinion of Cedar Falls Mycology that when we encounter these species of mushrooms that are widespread and act as the lifeline of our forest, it is in mankind's best interest to take special note as to how they conduct themselves. As an investigative mycology journalist Eugenia has recently set her sights on the massive and overwhelming subject of Amanita muscaria. She is an expert on this subject and she is here so let’s ask her some questions. We will start with some urban myths and ethnomycology then get into some more recent revelations.... so let’s get to some questions with Eugenia
