Hey guys does anyone know where to go to find some unique looking mushrooms around here or anywhere in NWA? Just wanting to look not eat…Specific locations please as I’m not fully familiar with this area. Thanks!!
PNW SEATTLE AREA
~350 ft elevation
I meant to pick this yesterday before the cracks. Biggest puffball i have seen.
I love this Reddit, I personally don’t forage, not enough knowledge. I have a small farm in north GA in the mountains. Our climate mimics the PNW. So a lot of amazing mushrooms, Indian pipes, ferns and the most interesting undergrowth I’ve ever seen. A lot of the young women that come and visit forage. They pick and pick and then leave what they gather on the porch and walk away. One time a young woman picked a mushroom that looked like a brain and almost as large. Left on the porch. Same thing one time with lions mane. The only mushrooms being used is the chanterelles that are sautéed in butter. Would it be rude or “bitchy ole lady” to post that unless you have a specific purpose please just take pics?
And first ever find for me personally
Are these White Chantrelles or a look-a-like? They weren’t growing directly from wood; the stipe does pull apart like string cheese
The Core Issue
*Lanmaoa asiatica*, a bolete fungus from Yunnan, China, has been making people see miniature elves, gnomes, and clowns for as long as locals can remember. Western science mostly ignored this, filing it away as "mushroom madness." A PhD student at the University of Utah decided to take it seriously.
The Finding
Colin Domnauer traveled to both China and the northern Philippines, collected samples, and ran full genomic and chemical screens on *L. asiatica*. No psilocybin. No known psychoactive compounds at all. Whatever is causing these hallucinations appears to be something science has never catalogued before.
Why It Matters
Lilliputian hallucinations (clinically defined visions of tiny people) also show up in alcohol withdrawal, dementia, and Charles Bonnet syndrome. Until now, researchers had no reliable, consistent way to study them. This mushroom may provide exactly that, offering a repeatable research model for a brain phenomenon nobody currently understands.
Limitations of Study
Mouse trials show clear bioactive effects, including hyperactivity followed by a stupor-like state, but whether that maps onto what humans experience is unknown. The effective dose is also undefined, hospital records may only reflect the worst cases, and the active compound still hasn't been isolated.
Interesting Statistics
• 90% of people who eat the mushroom report seeing hundreds to thousands of highly-detailed miniature figures
• Hallucinations begin 12 to 24 hours after eating and can last several days
• Hospital reports show zero deaths and no abnormalities in vital organ function
• The same species was confirmed independently in both China and the northern Philippines
• The mushroom was being sold in Yunnan markets for decades before scientists formally identified it as its own species in 2015
TL;DR
A wild mushroom that reliably makes people hallucinate tiny people appears to work through a completely unknown compound, and finding it could open a new window into how the brain generates one of its strangest experiences.
Hello,
I have mushrooms like these growing in the garden … but i have a puppy 🐶 , is it dangerous if he ate some please?
Michigan, USA. Poking through grass in a recently mowed spot. I believe they follow a root system based on the trail they create.