Scientists Narrow Lanmaoa asiatica Hallucinogen to Few Candidates After 10 Years of Reports
Updated
Updated · New York Post · Jun 27
Scientists Narrow Lanmaoa asiatica Hallucinogen to Few Candidates After 10 Years of Reports
3 articles · Updated · New York Post · Jun 27
Summary
Mouse tests have narrowed the search for Lanmaoa asiatica’s psychoactive agent to a few candidate compounds, but researchers still have not identified which one causes its unusual effects in humans.
Colin Domnauer’s team found none of the known genes or compounds linked to psilocybin-style mushrooms, pointing instead to a potentially new hallucinogenic compound absent from current databases.
Lanmaoa asiatica is the only known fungus reported to cause Lilliputian hallucinations—detailed visions of tiny people that typically appear 12 to 24 hours after ingestion and can last for days.
The bolete, sold for food in southwestern China and the northern Philippines, has long been tied to such episodes—often after undercooking—even though the species entered science only about 10 years ago.
Researchers now plan to sequence the genomes of Lanmaoa mushrooms more broadly, aiming to explain a rare hallucination mechanism that science still does not know how to treat.