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ahh thanks the thread title fooled me. thought they looked kinda different...

Cool nice cluster there! Central NSW, that's different to the usual humid habitat for cubensis. Growing on cow dung, or is that heavily manured soil? Were there special circumstances in the local environment that allowed a higher humidity (i.e. dense foliage, pooling water?). I am interested in the extremities of cubensis distribution in australia...

These copraphillic mushrooms were photographed in south east asia (in hindsight I should have taken many more photos but light was running out... sorry for the poor quality pics – will attempt more photos when I am back in the area) The first two pics are of the same cluster and I assumed them to be inactive lookalikes. The latter are most definitely a psilocybin containing species as a bluing reaction was observed after 10 minutes when the stem was broken (also the one on the right is seen to have an already blackening stem). The former however did not seem to exhibit a bluing reaction after heavy bruising and being left in the field over night. However I have found in the past that the bluing reactions sometimes takes a very long time to be observed for this species, but surely over night is sufficient for it to occur. They look remarkably similar, with purple to black spores and gills and whitish caps – however the latter do seem to have thinner more yellow stems, compared to the more fleshy white stems of the former (although this could just be due to different stages of development). Also the latter appear to have more hemispherical caps. My mycological intuition immediately saw a difference between these two clusters of mushrooms, although it is hard to see in the photos. Is anyone aware of non-active copraphillic copelandia cyanescens look-a-likes? any photos of these species would be greatly appreciated.

sounds like a great idea. would you be thinking of planting on public or private land?

also need to talk to Rainbow Serpent folks. my ticket hasn't arrived and I need to leave tomorrow. edit: oops I see you need to talk to EGa folk... reckon they will let me in with the receipt?

yep they go to a blue slimy mess after about 20 minutes... but if you pulled them out, blended them in a smoothie and drank ASAP I reckon the loss of alk's would be very low.

best way for short term storage (less than a week) is in the refrigerator or freezer. but strong oxidation will ensue an hour or so after removing them from the cold environment, so gotta be quick

adds some texture, and good for the immune system! that's if one were to actually consume said mushroom... pretty sure these have been collected for mycological studies only. years ago when I first got into mushrooms I remember reading Paul Stamets book "Psilocybin mushrooms of the world" where he describes his very gentle and painstaking technique for lifting out a wild mushroom. insert a knife under the base of the mushroom and gently lift upwards, while pulling gently on the stem. for mycological studies (and accurate ID) it is important to have the whole mushroom intact, including the base of the stem. you can then scrape off the dirt/shit from the base with a knife. ever since reading that great book, I have tried to use this technique when possible. I know, I know... its not necessary and is a pain in the ass, but since we here at this forum are primarily interested in mushrooms for mycological studies then its the best technique to use.

good advice, I would second this. sometimes in our 1st world playpen's its easy to lose the exhilaration of just being alive - people living more traditional lifestyles around the world are still very much in touch with this lust for life, despite the hardships they go through. having something in your life that you can be proud of, and strive for, is also a big help. e.g. sign up for a course in something you have always wanted to do, volunteer at homeless shelters, help other people. eating and living healthy is very important too. I went through a pretty tough period about 12 months ago and these things helped me. I tried using tryptamines, but they only made my anxiety and depression worse, even at low doses.

nice one mate! if you pull them out carefully you can avoid tearing the base of the stem, and you get more mushroom.

hey guys, am driving down from north of bris. hopefully next week if the roads clear up from all this flooding. planning to take 4 or 5 days to do the trip. should have room for one or two people, but might be a squeeze as only a 1.6L sedan and have all my camping stuff. will be going the coastal road from bris to sydney... any one wanna lift?

I was forced to buy white bread instead of whole grain today! lets hope the bruce highway opens soon so I can start driving down to Rainbow Serpent! on a serious note, condolences to those seriously effected.

too much rain at the moment and not enough sun. cow pies are getting saturated with water and not fruiting. but when the sun comes out again, bonanza time! no cows in brisbane? maybe not the in CBD , but brisbane is a pretty big place! go for a sunday drive in the outer suburbs...

December. Timor tends to be much drier than the rest of the indonesian archipelago at sea level (mountains are always wet, but not hot enough for copraphillic mushrooms really). The second half of 2010 was abnormally wet in Timor, however, and perhaps these mushrooms would not be able to be found every year in December. No one I met in Timor, including expats, locals and tourists, new anything about these mushrooms so couldn't tell me if they grew all year or not. The families I met in indonesia that harvest them said they only found out about them when tourists started coming in the 1970's and eating them. So perhaps the knowledge of shrooms in Timor will increase as tourism expands.

this time some photos from indonesia proper. good times... most seemed to be classic panaeolus cyanescens, but there does seem to be considerable variation within the species.

Prodigy - One Love

here are some pics of an 18 month old maidenii plant. grown in small pot for 12 months, put in the ground for the last 6 months. it has almost tripled in size since being in the ground at the beginning of its life, the seed was soaked in water for 24hrs and sown 1 inch deep in soil from backyard in a 15cm diameter pot. will try and find some seedling photos.

yep they seem to love this part of the world. would recommend East Timor to anyone interested in ethnobotany, the traditional anamism practices are alive and well. the locals love telling there creation stories, and sorcery and magic plays an important role especially in the mountainous areas. brugmansia and datura are also prolific.

my first too, coming bck to OZ especially for this one! going to be a ripper...

Timor-Leste

yeah thanks hutch, good to see an australian newspaper running this story. although overall I am happy with the tone of the article, some parts are a bit misleading: As far as I understand switzerland allows people to grow a number of cannabis plants for personal use, and has a heroin treatment program. In 2008 they voted against decriminalisation of cannabis. So to compare Switzerland's policies to that of Portugal's highly progression policies is a bit misleading I think. What exactly does Mr Cardoso mean by drugs in this context? I assume in his mind he is making a distinction between legal pharmaceutical drugs that are prescribed by doctors for the promotion of health, and illegal drugs that ALWAYS are harmful to health. But this is absurd – all drugs, prescribed by a doctor or not, can be harmful if used incorrectly, and some illegal drugs can be highly beneficial to the health of body and mind if used correctly. Given the British governments recent call to scrap the need for scientific advice on the classification of drugs, it is clear that illegal/legal devision is in no way indicative of a substances health giving or taking potential. Rather, it is a politically motivated devision (ie to do with the bank balances and societal structures of nations). If we are to get to the bottom of the 'drug' problem, the first thing we need to do is provide an adequate definition of that word. Does a drug always have to be a physical substance that is ingested? If one looks at the symptoms of alcohol abuse and TV watching, one would have to conclude that both are very similar drugs. Society at large needs to educated on drugs - their pharmacology, uses, history, dangers and benefits. Opiates and tryptamines are so different, for example, that to use the word drug to describe both is entirely misleading. In an ideal world we would scrap the word drug, and use pyschoactive substance. Then on the evening news if someone died of a 'drug overdose', instead the headline would be 'synthetic opiate overdose' or whatever. We are infantialised by our use of poor language. my 2 cents...

thanks mate, from looking at mushroom john's website I think p. cyanescens seems the most likely candidate for the active ones. here are some more pics of similar active species, this time found at sea level (previous ones were at 600m): I enjoyed searching for these mushrooms as only ever find cubensis back in oz.

No I understand what hyperemesis is. Guess I just assumed such heavy use must have initially began from using cannabis for a reason such as treating nausea as you suggest, or glaucoma etc. Just find it hard to understand how people end up smoking such enormous amounts of a plant that is so much more rewarding in moderation...

glad to hear you've got a handle on it now man, from 60 to 8 sessions a day is a big reduction. what happens when you go cold turkey? I've found the thought of it is much worse than the actual withdrawl symptoms... although it sounds like you are using cannabis to treat existing physiological symptoms.