UK Liberty Caps, Psilocybe semilanceata

The psilocybin containing mushroom known commonly as the 'Liberty Cap' grows in many parts of the UK. The part where I live is home to some of the most prime real estate for Liberty Caps. They like old pasture in particular, so when the time and weather conditions are right, that is, after a dip in the seasonal temperature towards the end of summer/ beginning of autumn and with a good bit of moisture around it is a great pleasure to head out into the hills and locate them.

I think Liberty Caps are perhaps the most mysterious of all mushrooms that I know of, not only because of their ability to induce mystical experiences in humans, but also that they have yet to be cultivated like other psilocybes have. The Liberty Cap grows in a symbiotic relationship with certain species of grass, and when it is not fruiting it will be below ground colonizing the pieces of grass which have served their turn, gone brown, and withered. This is apparently very hard to replicate in a lab type setting, and so Psilocybe semilanceata remains untamed!

Mushrooms are known to adapt very quickly to make use of the resources in their environment. They go where other organisms daren't, and recycle what is there into a form of matter which is useful to all the rest of us organisms. What is there not to love about that?

Something funny I find, is how Liberty Caps grow so profusely in what is invariably a man made habitat - pasture grazed by livestock, playing fields etc. and simultaneously contain one of the best psychedelic compounds known. And what effect does the ingestion of these mushrooms have on the human who has eat them? Often one of awe and wonder and a feeling of love and respect for the natural world! I sometimes wander, is it more than a coincidence? Could something deep in nature be calling us lost humans back into the garden of eden? Or do I just smoke too much weed? That's still up for debate...

Most incredible of all I find, is that some types of fungus are known to grow in the central vicinity of nuclear disaster areas such as Chernobyl - they feed on the radiation and therefore can potentially be used to clear up the radiation and place it in a form that can be stored (see here https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/using-fungi-remediate-radiation-fukushima for Paul Stamets' prescription!).

Another recent study (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749117300295) revealed a hitherto unknown process occurring on a rubbish dump in Pakistan where a species of mushroom feeds on plastics, thereby removing the plastic as a pollutant altogether and recycling it into matter that is of possible benefit to other organisms.

Anyway, that's enough mushroom talk for now!