Gymnopilus junonius

Gymnopilus junonius, also known as Gymnopilus spectabilis, Laughing gym or Laughing Jim, is a large and very widely distributed hallucinogenic mushroom which grows in dense clusters on dead hardwoods and conifers. It has a rusty orange spore print, a bitter taste, stains red with KOH and turns green when cooked in a pan.

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Gymnopilus junonius includes subspecies which contain the hallucinogen psilocybin. Specimens found in the eastern US or Japan is more likely to contain psilocybin than similar mushrooms found in the western part of the US or Europe. [1] In Japan this mushroom is called waraitake, which translates to "laughing mushroom". This mushroom is often mistaken for Gymnopilus ventricosus, which contains no psilocybin.

This mushroom contains bis-noryangonin and hispidine, which are structurally related to alpha-pyrones found in kava. ^[1]

Description

The cap ranges from 7 to 42 cm across, is convex, and is bright orange, orangish brown, or reddish brown with a dry scaly surface. The flesh is yellow and the gills are adnate to subdecurrent. The stem is 25-265 mm long, .8 to 9 mm thick, dusted with rusty orange spores and often narrowing near the base.

Range

This mushroom grows just about everywhere that decaying wood can be found. It has been reported from Australia, Azores, Brazil, Canada (Alberta, Nova Scotia, Ontario), China, Fiji, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Maderia, New Zealand, North Africa, Peru, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, United States (Arizona, Alabama, California, Idaho, New Jersey, Vermont), and Uruguay. ^[2]

References

• C.J. Alexopolous, Charles W. Mims, M. Blackwell et al., Introductory Mycology, 4^th ed. (John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken NJ, 2004) ISBN 0-471-52229-5