ferret Posted June 8, 2011 thought i would have a look at the paspalum in my front yard and found a few slerotia looking things and some honeydew. heres the honeydew stage- loaded with conidia 11.3-15.4 x 4.4-5.1 looks pretty good when compared to this pic i found on the net. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted June 8, 2011 Wow! What a find. Intending on doing anything with it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ferret Posted June 8, 2011 nah i don't have the balls to play around with this one, although that Kykeon wine does sound interesting.. for other people to try! hopefully i can keep an eye on them and get some pics of the the scerotia fruiting. curiously, while i was flatbed scanning the flower heads i noticed the honeydew strongly fluorescing where it had touched the glass.. heres an "uninfected" floret compared to a sclerotium , both in a little puddle of water.. apparently my scanner has a UV lamp? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shortly Posted June 8, 2011 Now that is very cool, i dont want to think what the APPS would say, but very cool. Keep the pic's comming I need a popcorn emoticon. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
∂an Posted June 8, 2011 (edited) Hofmann states that that paspalum distichum contains only ergonovine and lysergic acid amide, and not the toxic ergotamine and ergotoxine. I wonder if your grass is p. distichum? Looks similar to the pic on wikipedia. Guess it would take a brave soul to experiment with this stuff though given the sub 1mg activity of most of the compounds. Edited June 9, 2011 by kalika Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tarenna Posted June 8, 2011 Fascinating stuff ferret - looks like P. distichum to me. Pls keep us posted. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naja naja Posted June 9, 2011 nah i don't have the balls to play around with this one, although that Kykeon wine does sound interesting.. for other people to try! hopefully i can keep an eye on them and get some pics of the the scerotia fruiting. curiously, while i was flatbed scanning the flower heads i noticed the honeydew strongly fluorescing where it had touched the glass.. heres an "uninfected" floret compared to a sclerotium , both in a little puddle of water.. apparently my scanner has a UV lamp? That is just sexy! but plse remember to keep this coshur Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ferret Posted June 10, 2011 pretty sure it's on Paspalum dilatatum. had a look around the neighboorhood yesterday and realise this stuff is everywhere- i'd say approx 1/3 of P. dilatatum around my area is infected. plenty of it is co-infected with Cerebella spp. (prrrrobably not a good idea to handle these with bare hands as I did yesterday. spent a good 5 hours last night feeling like i was coming up on a mild trip. waves of heavy thumping elevated heart rate, intensification of colours and light, very energetic/fidgety so I went on a 2km walk around the block at 1:30 am. managed to sleep around 5am. almost packed myself into a cab to the hospital once i realised i was undoubtedly dosed with something.. pretty damn sure i did not accidentally consume any orally!) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazonian Posted June 10, 2011 ^ ^ Whoa, thats pretty full on ferret............ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted June 10, 2011 That's pretty interesting ferret. Any feelings of being poisoned? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ferret Posted June 10, 2011 no i didn't really feel "poisoned" at all. im still trying to come to terms with how i managed to get an active dose into my system. i dont think i washed my hands between handling infected racemes and eating dinner. effects began about 4-5 hours after dinner, and about 30 minutes after handlind and slicing up some Cerebella infected sclerotia to look at under the scope with bare hands. i really should have known better. after i started feeling weird i did some quick googling and came across heaps of stuff like: Also, you do realize how very dangerous it is to be working with ergot? I hope you didn't clean that ergot fungus off with your bare hands? ... Do not touch ergot with your bare hands. Always wear gloves i think im lucky paspali does not appear to contain much or any of the toxic stuff? once i reassured myself that nothing too drastic was really happening to me physiologically it was quite manageable. woke up today after only a few hours sleep feeling good, definately afterglow-esque. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ferret Posted June 10, 2011 the cardio effects were probably the only thing that was slightly worrying, although im not sure how much of that was brought on by realising i may have seriously fucked up! really strong thumping heartbeat and a couple of instances this morning of a weird heaviness in the chest, perhaps very mild palpitations? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted June 10, 2011 It's pretty remarkable. Is it tempting to try (for want of a better word) it again? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CβL Posted June 10, 2011 Did you measure your heart rate at all? What did you have for dinner (like composition of the food)? And yeah, I'm glad you are okay. I'd be mighty careful if you're going to continue to experiment. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naja naja Posted June 10, 2011 I got a question, Why the fuck does your scanner have a UV lamp in it? That is very cool. I want to say things like LC and imagine that and uv photo of that n stuff, but I won't Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 10, 2011 So so so interesting. That's so very cool. Muchos respectos for this thread. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted June 10, 2011 I got a question, Why the fuck does your scanner have a UV lamp in it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ferret Posted June 11, 2011 It's pretty remarkable. Is it tempting to try (for want of a better word) it again? it would be great to be able to replicate the experience, but don't think i will to tell you the truth. just don't have the nerves to mess around with such things.. Did you measure your heart rate at all? What did you have for dinner (like composition of the food)?And yeah, I'm glad you are okay. I'd be mighty careful if you're going to continue to experiment. i estimated around 180, resting. dinner was composed of a fish burger and some chips smothered in naga morich chilli sauce, about 5 beers. (on a bit of a health kick ya know) I got a question, Why the fuck does your scanner have a UV lamp in it?:blink:That is very cool. I want to say things like LC and imagine that and uv photo of that n stuff, but I won't fucked if i know! i hear ya, love to see photos of glowing shit. so, theres heaps of scerotia around here if anyone wants a reference sample for microscopy, pm me ya address. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
knarkkorven Posted July 28, 2011 Very nice find! As you might have read, it contains ergine(LSA) and also lysergic acid hydroxy ethylamine (LSH, google it!), I don't know if it is missing in sclerotia from Autralia as mentioned below, but I have read that it is very likely to decompose to LSA when it is extracted to be analyzed with GC/MS. Interesting to see that you did notice psychoactive effects just from handling them. I have picked lots of Claviceps purpurea and never noticed anything, the amount of alkaloids is to low. But if you got something there and that wasn't placebo, then it's VERY potent and VERY interesting. I hope you will do an oral bioassay sometime and report the results here. C. paspali submerged cultures have ergine, isoergine and lysergic acid N-1-hydroxyethylamide (Arcamone et al., 1960) while sclerotia from Australia contain up to 0.005% alkaloids composed of ergine and ergonovine along with chanoclavine and two unidentified ergoline alkaloids (Groger et al., 1961). Elymoclavine (Kobel et al., 1964) and agroclavine (Brar et al., 1968) have also been recorded. http://www.tacethno.com/info/claviceps/ergotalkfungi.txt BTW, may I please have your permission to use your photos in the Wiki at magiskamolekyler.org? http://wiki.magiskamolekyler.org/Claviceps_paspali Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ferret Posted February 19, 2012 Obviously it aint paspali, but an interesting find up in the Vic high country last week. what looks like C. purpurea on Phalaris. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted February 19, 2012 Nice one! You've got keen eyes man. How do you ID them to species? What resources are you using? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trayto Posted February 21, 2012 This is so interesting. Thumbs up! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ferret Posted February 22, 2012 (edited) yes I suppose the eye gets keen after a while of examining most grass heads I walk past.. I actually spotted this one out the window of a car! tripsis the 'purpurea' I have not properly examined, I'm hoping there are some conidia stuck on the outside of the sclerotia. But I have looked up all other species recorded in Australia and nothing else matches sclerotia-wise. (edit- ok i had a look and the sclerotia is covered in conidia, ellipsoid-oblong , 7.5-9.1 x 3.8-4.3, looks spot on for purpurea on phalaris arundinacea) The ID for paspali was based on conidia size and sclerotia morphology. I tried to find some germinating sclerotia to examine ascospores but no dice.. as for resources, this book is sweet and you can browse relevant pages with googlebooks Clavicipitalean fungi: evolutionary biology, chemistry, biocontrol, and cultural impacts and a heap of journal articles for paspali H. B. Brown (1916) Life History and Poisonous Properties of Claviceps paspali; Journal of Agricultural Research ,vol. 7(9), pgs 401-405. Alderman SC, Halse RR, White J F (2004) A reevaluation of the host range and geographical distribution of Claviceps species in the United States. Plant Disease 88: 63-81, A.R. Loveless (1964). Use of the honeydew state in the identification of ergot species. Claviceps phalaridis in Australia: biology, pathology and taxonomy with a description of the new genus Cepsiclava (Hypocreales,Clavicipitaceae) for purpurea some of the above and also http://www.erowid.or...ntification.pdf Edited February 22, 2012 by ferret Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ferret Posted February 22, 2012 interestingly, right next to the Phalaris was a heap of honeydew covered Paspalum accidently threw the sample I collected out, I had assumed it would be C. paspali again until I found this today H Kobel, K Stopp (1967). First discovery of a wild form of Claviceps purpurea on Paspalum. Naturwissenschaften 04/1967; 54(6):145-6. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted February 23, 2012 Thanks for the references ferret. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
