Taken from _The Mushroom Culture_(c) 1993, Issue #21, July 1993. Available from FMRC. PEELE'S LEPIOTA STORY AS TOLD BY S.L PEELE HIMSELF ...for all the "expert" know it alls During the late 1970's I was devoting a lot of time collecting different mushroom samples from pasture areas. Cow pastures to be exact. I was collecting from Hernando, MS to Pensacola, FL. It was in the Florida area I first noticed the white mushroom. I was intrigued by the dark and bright red bruising. It also had white spores and not dark ones like most of the other mushrooms I had been collecting. I first only noticed them in cow pastures, then in gardens where cow manure had been used for fertilizer. There seemed to be a connection with animal dung, but I had never seen the mushroom growing directly from any dung. Every once in a while I would run into other mushroom collectors. Some of the psychoactive hunters talked about eating this white mushroom and reported that it had a psychoactive effect. I was told that it was different from what was produced by Ps. cubensis. I was now more intrigued than ever by this mushroom. I never saw one of these mushroom hunters eat one of the white mushrooms, so I was somewhat skeptical. I continued trying to locate some information on the mushroom using the library at West Florida University....no luck. I did however believe that it was a mushroom in the genus Lepiota. I was also aware that Lepiota had some species that were rather toxic. I collected several of the mushrooms one afternoon and ate a small portion to see if there was any toxic effect. The flesh that I ate from the cap hardly had any taste. It was only slightly earthy tasting. Three days went by with no sign of any effects. On this third day I collected several more of the white mushrooms. I ate three average sized mushrooms. I again noted that they really had no taste, only a little earthy taste. Ps. cubensis has a strong and somewhat unpleasant taste to me. Using this for a crude standard, I though that nothing was going to happen from such a tasteless mushroom, and I remember feeling silly about even believing the "magic" story. My wife and I then went to the University again to do some reference gathering. It had been close to an hour since eating the white mushrooms when I suddenly felt myself "changed". I was having difficulties in reading. The letters would not clear up so that I could read the print. Black waving lines then appeared and reading was impossible. I told my wife that something was happening to me. I did not feel intoxicated, only a slight lightness was noticed. My eyes however were hard to focus. I remember seeing large, floating, balls of color, and the black waving lines. I had my wife drive us back to our room. I was not aware of any Lepiota mushrooms that produced psychoactive effects. Because I could not find anything on this mushroom, I published a ms. on this mushroom to alert other mycologists. I sent out a few to other people with mushroom interests. One of these people was Paul Stamets. He show the ms. to Jeremy Bigwood at The Evergreen State Collfege. I received the following letter from Jeremy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethnopharmacology, Lab 1., Room 3052, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA 90210 Mr. Stephen L. Peele, Florida Mycology Research Centre, P.O. Box 0000, Pensacola, Flordia, 11111. Dear Mr. Peele, Paul Stamets showed me your ms. on _Lepiota peele_ peele. Needless to say everyone is quite intrigued by a new 'hallucinogenic' mushroom species. We, at the Evergreen State College are especially interested and have been, for the last four years involved in chemical research with both psilocybin and isoxazolian species. Perhaps the Lepiota that bears your name is a new species containing a yet unknown drug. Our team would be greatly interested in collaborating with you on a scientific paper concerning taxonomic and chemical aspects of this novel mushroom. I am sure you are aware of our contributions to this field, and in March, the _Journal of Ethnopharmacology_ will contain two papers of interest to you. For analysis, we would need no more than three specimens (dried) of this species. Each should weigh over a gram.** No doubt you have been approached by other chemists working with mushrooms. To decide with whom to work - merely look at their papers in print. If you do ont wish to work with our team - that is fine, but I must recommend that you find a good chemist to identify the active compound(s). Sincerely, Jeremy Bigwood February 4th, 1982 ** It may take more if the drug is an 'unknown'. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I took Jeremy up on his offer. The only thing that I asked of him was that any new compounds would not be named. I wanted all areas of research done without having the government make anything illegal. I felt that if a psychoactive compound was found and then named, all the government had to do was to say "whatever compound name" was illegal to have. Jeremy agreed and we started exchanging information and specimens to be tested. I then concentrated a large amount of time on this mushroom. The more I studied the mushroom in the wild, the more questions I had. During this particular collecting season, which by the way is during the two hottest months in the summer, July and August, there were several weeks that went by when afternoon rains come every day. The mycelium came up from the ground and started feeding on a pasture grass which I later found out was "Bermuda Grass". The mycelium built a "covering" over areas 30 by 50 feet, feeding on the grass. I remember seeing this "Mat Condition" when I picked the mushrooms I ate the day I went to the University. I could not remember seeing the Mat Condition on the day I ate the small sample. I thought that this Mat Condition was very important because it allowed the mushroom's mycelium to feed on a substrate that was not normal. It had the broader analysis of nutrients. I later concluded that this is exactly what is going on. The mycelium mat was also very tough. It was not fragile or delicate like you think it would be. It took a firm grip to hold on to it and it would hold on to the grass tearing it out by the roots when it was pulled up off the ground. Take Psilocybe Cyanescens for example. Most of you might know that this is one of the most powerful of all psychoactive mushrooms. I have talked to other people who ate this mushroom. Some, who by the way could boast about how many Psilocybe cybensis mushrooms they could eat, can't even look at a mushroom they might see in the grocery store..........I would advise anybody to go lightly on this one. The point I want to make is that this mushroom, and Psilocybe pelliculosa, prove the somewhat theory I have. When these mushrooms are grown under liquid media, they do not produce any psilocybin or psilocin. This was also found to be true by P. Catalfomo and V.E. Tyler, Jr.. They published the same findings about Psilocybe cyanescens and Psilocybe pelliculosa......they do not produce psilocybing or any other analogs (Catalfomo, P. and V.E. Tyler, Jr. _The production of psilocybin in submerged culture of Psilocybe cubensis_ LLoydia 27:53-63, 1964). However, once the mycelium of one of these two is transferred to an agar or grain media, it does produce psilocybin and psilocin. This finding sets the stage for a landmark statement by myself. Using Psilocybe cyanescens and Ps. pelliculosa for standards, I suggest that "in some types of mushrooms the mycelium may find it's way to a new feeding substrate and this new substrate that is not normally used by the particular mushroom or will support complete growth of said mushroom, allows the mushroom to produce compounds not normally produced because of the addition of needed nutrients. In these cases, the mushroom was always capable of producing such compounds but the needed nutrients were never there on the normal substrate." This phenomenon may very well explain why some mycologists and mushroom hunters suddenly become ill after eating a mushroom they identified as a safe edible (eaten many times by the same victim). Say for instance you found an Oyster mushroom growing from a large fallen tree. On the tree was say some raccoon dung that the Oyster's mycelium grew out on.........this would supply new and different nutrients not usually found by the Oyster mushroom. The mycelium in turn uses the new nutrients and produces a bad toxin. You pick mushrooms produced in the dung area and suddenly you are telling everybody you were poisoned by an Oyster mushroom......and you know without a doubt that no misidentification had occurred. How many times have I heard this story? This may be what is going on with the Peele's Lepiota. I now know that when these Lepiota mushrooms are picked and there is no mat condition, there are no effects. I also now know the pH of the fruiting area is also paramount. I had sent Jeremy some soil samples from where I had collected the Lepiota and he confirmed thath the pH of 4 - 5.6 (the pH of the soil samples I sent) was very important. I wondered why the pH in the areas so acid like, and I later found out. When the cows would lay down for the night, they would all lay sort of close together. In the morning when they woke up, they would all stand and urinate in the area.......this is what was changing the pH. Oct. 1, 1982, Jeremy writes to me saying the following: "A test in Sprague Dawley rats is underway. No deaths yet - but I am waiting to see the offspring who ate (without coaxing) and without any other food, a 2.5 gram fresh (cap unopened) specimen. In the growth chambers I continually notice that young specimens have a volva - and these become caved at maturity - with having white fuzz - rendering the volva invisible - can you check field specimens?" When I checked field specimens I found the same thing. The very young mushrooms did have a volva, but when the mushroom matured, it had no volva or any signs that one was once there. Jeremy continued his trials with the rats never seeing any effects from the Lepiota mushroom. Jeremy then started telling me in his letter of Oct. 12, 1982, that Michael Beug and his one time student Paul Stamets were continually harassing him for working with me on the Lepiota mushroom. Paul's gripe was that I named the mushroom after myself. This is untrue as Jeremy and his team have the common name of Peele's Lepiota, later to be identified as Luecogaricus ginerascens, and then later as identified by myself as Lepiota humei. Jeremy said in his letter that Paul asked him "How could you work with such an egotist?" If I had carried a mirror - I would have passed it to him!. I told him that you were unfamiliar with this field and the intricacies of nomenclature procedure - but that I felt the common name "Peele's Lepiota" was acceptable because I do not mind a common name which carries the name of a person." I also needed some type of name in order to place it in FMRC's catalog. Jeremy then goes on to tell me that he had worked 5 months to cultivate a fruiting of the mushroom and that 24 liquid media did not produce any results. By the first part of 1983, Jeremy had not only isolated the new active compound in the Lepiota, he had even synthesized it. The compound itself had a short life of only a day or two and the it broke down to some other non-active compound as psilocybin and psilocin will do. Jeremy told me that the only way he found to slow down the breakdown and make the compound last longer, was to submerge the mushrooms in chlorinated water. The chlorine helped hold the compound's structure. Because of this, this mushroom cannot be dried and then stored for later testing.....the compound will no longer exist. Jeremy also asked me if I had smoked any freshly dried samples. I told him no. He then pointed out that the same effect would occur. According to Peter Stafford, Jeremy told him the mushroom contained LSA, DMT and many other alkaloids. Jeremy continued testing on the rats never seeing any effects. His sacns for compounds in the mushroom also continued. He told me that the only other mushroom that he had ever worked with that showed as many different compounds and different peaks was Panaeolus subbalteatus. He also told me that they had found a compound produced by the human brain. I do not remember the compound's name, but I do remember Jeremy telling me that it was the first time this compound was ever found in any plant tissue. Jeremy then called one morning telling me that someone had broken into the lab he was working and had sabotaged all of his standards. All of the cultures had been padlocked......they did not get any of this. He told me that a lot of other people were mad and upset because they did not know what was going on. They all wanted to be number one and could not stand taking a backseat while this research was leaving them behind. He never told me who he thought broke into the lab, but I have always had my own ideas. Jeremy then left the University and moved all the research to Vashon Island and started working with Jonathan Ott. Jeremy then left to go to Nicaragua......I never heard from him again. We might have learned many new things about mushrooms, but because Jeremy was not allowed to work in peace at the University, this important research still stands today as unfinished. Jeremy and I both received undue harassment and skepticism by our colleagues while trying to find the truth.........I still today 10 years after get bad comments over this by other "so called mushroom experts" who know it all. I hope that these people and the ones who broke into Jeremy's lab will someday think about what they have done. I have always felt that my purpose in mushrooms was to increase awareness and knowledge in this area............What have these people done or contributed to help serve this objective? I think nothing else is needed to be said. From this point on I will refer any comments to me on Peele's Lepiota to this article. I am not responsible for any of the subject matter which may appear in other publications by other authors on Peele's Lepiota. I only endorse this, and the Lepiota peele, Peele ms. of of 1982 both published by FMRC.