A popular wild mushroom, openly sold in markets and restaurants in southwest China, if not prepared properly, can cause a striking pattern of hallucinations straight out of a fairytale, according to the Natural History Museum of Utah.
The mushroom Lanmaoa asiatica known locally as jian shou qing belongs to an entirely different class of fungi than the more commonly known “magic mushrooms” and remains far more mysterious.
Closely related to the common porcini, it can nevertheless produce bizarre and remarkably consistent hallucinations and analyzing its biological origins and health impacts raises new questions about food safety, fungal toxins, and how little science still understands about some of the world’s most familiar ingredients.
Tasty Mushroom Summons Visions
Yunnan Province in southwest China is known as the “Kingdom of Wild Fungi” and is home to roughly 40 percent of the world’s wild edible mushroom species. Each year, from June to September, wild mushrooms emerge and enter markets, and the incidence of mushroom poisoning shows a significant upward trend, according to a 2023 study published in the Journal of Clinical Emergency Medicine.
Lanmaoa asiatica mushrooms at the market.
(Image Courtesy of Colin Domnauer)
Among the hundreds of species found in the region, Lanmaoa asiatica poisoning is especially common. More than a hundred cases are treated annually at Yunnan University’s affiliated hospital alone. Hard to resist, as the mushroom is prized for its taste and therefore widely consumed, it comes with a distinctive appearance: it turns blue when touched and has a brick-red cap and stem base, also known locally as “red onion.”
What makes Lanmaoa asiatica particularly unusual is not just its look, but the strange hallucination it causes. Patients consistently describe colorful, vivid visions of “little people, little elves” jumping and dancing. Some report seeing them while dressing or eating, and the hallucinations are even more pronounced when the eyes are closed, resulting in coining this phenomenon “lilliputian hallucinations,” named after the tiny characters in Gulliver’s Travels, per the Natural History Museum of Utah.
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How Harmful Is the Fairytale Mushroom?
To better understand if any health risks accompany the strange hallucinations, the 2023 study analyzed acute Lanmaoa asiatica poisoning of 398 patients admitted to the emergency department of the Affiliated Hospital of Yunnan University between January 2020 and December 2021.
The poisoning was mainly neuropsychiatric in nature, with hallucinations occurring in 90 percent of patients, but also gastrointestinal symptoms were common. While rare cases suggest that Lanmaoa asiatica poisoning can cause serious and potentially irreversible nervous system damage, if not treated early, routine tests showed no significant abnormalities or obvious damage to the function of important organs in the majority of patients admitted.
Most poisoning cases are caused by consuming fresh mushrooms, though frozen ones have also been implicated. The toxins appear to be relatively stable, with poisoning incidents reported even after hot frying and high-temperature cooking. Symptoms typically begin 12 to 24 hours after consumption, when what was meant to be an ordinary meal takes an unexpected turn.
What Causes the Hallucinations Is Still a Mystery
To this day, the biological mechanisms causing the unique hallucinations remain largely unclear. Earlier research suggested Lanmaoa asiatica contained substances speculated to have effects like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). But modern chemical and genomic analyses of the mushroom have revealed no traces of any known psychoactive compounds.
Chemical and genomic analyses performed at the Natural History Museum of Utah suggest that something entirely new may be responsible.
For now, the mushroom remains an enigma. This locally popular ingredient, capable of producing extraordinary visions, is a reminder that even the most familiar foods can still harbor profound scientific mysteries.
This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.
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Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from a study published in the Journal of Clinical Emergency Medicine
- This article references information from an article from the Natural History Museum of Utah: Experts Explore New Mushroom Which Causes Fairytale-Like Hallucinations
