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Plantwatch: Beware a tasty mushroom with a powerful hallucinogen

Anyone eating Lanmaoa asiatica could have visions for days of tiny people running and jumping around Lanmaoa asiatica is a bolete mushroom, prized for its delicious taste and hugely popular in Yunnan province, China, where it is found growing in a symbiotic relationship with pine trees. But anyone eating the mushroom needs to be careful because it also gives hallucinations of lots of tiny people about 2cm tall wearing brightly coloured clothes, all jumping, running, climbing and being generally playful, but in a normal, real-world setting. The hallucinations are reminiscent of the small people in the hit BBC series Small Prophets , although without their psychic powers. Despite the powerful visions it brings, Lanmaoa is completely unrelated to Psilocybes, or “magic mushrooms”, which give wide-ranging hallucinations for a few hours triggered by the chemical psilocybin. Continue reading...

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Why it mattersScience

Anyone eating Lanmaoa asiatica could have visions for days of tiny people running and jumping around Lanmaoa asiatica is a bolete mushroom, prized for its delicious taste and hugely popular in Yunnan province, China, where it is found growing in a symbiotic relationship with pine trees. But anyone eating the mushroom needs to be careful because it also gives hallucinations of lots of tiny people about 2cm tall wearing brightly coloured clothes, all jumping, running, climbing and being generally playful, but in a normal, real-world setting. The hallucinations are reminiscent of the small people in the hit BBC series Small Prophets , although without their psychic powers. Despite the powerful visions it brings, Lanmaoa is completely unrelated to Psilocybes, or “magic mushrooms”, which give wide-ranging hallucinations for a few hours triggered by the chemical psilocybin. Continue reading...

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What happened

According to The Guardian’s linked report, Plantwatch: Beware a tasty mushroom with a powerful hallucinogen, Anyone eating Lanmaoa asiatica could have visions for days of tiny people running and jumping around Lanmaoa asiatica is a bolete mushroom, prized for its delicious taste and hugely popular in Yunnan province, China, where it is found growing in a symbiotic relationship with pine trees. But anyone eating the mushroom needs to be careful because it also gives hallucinations of lots of tiny people about 2cm tall wearing brightly coloured clothes, all jumping, running, climbing and being generally playful, but in a normal, real-world setting. The hallucinations are reminiscent of the small people in the hit BBC series Small Prophets , although without their psychic powers. Despite the powerful visions it brings, Lanmaoa is completely unrelated to Psilocybes, or “magic mushrooms”, which give wide-ranging hallucinations for a few hours triggered by the chemical psilocybin. Continue reading…

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The development sits in VINI’s Science coverage for readers following research, health, climate, space, medicine, and scientific institutions. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The linked report is dated 2026-07-15T05:00:46+00:00.

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Primary source: Plantwatch: Beware a tasty mushroom with a powerful hallucinogen via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

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