- As food: although it is not common, some people in Europe eat it as food. Despite the fact that Amanita muscaria is poisonous and can cause hallucinations if ingested in large amounts, it can be detoxified once boiled, as shown below.
Source:www.youtube.com - As drug: due to its psychoactive substances including ibotenic acid, muscarine and muscimol, Amanita muscaria is sometimes used as a drug. It can cause deep relaxation, a decrease in pain and a dream-like state as positive effects, and sleepiness, equilibrium loss and blurred vision as negative effects.
Some exaples of psychoactive drugs.
Source: www.qub.ac.uk
- As insecticide: Amanita muscaria has been used by Germans to kill flies by adding its powder into milk for flies to ingest. In addition, many believe that is why it is named "muscaria" since "musca" means "fly" in Latin.
- In religious practices: in Siberia, many tribes used it to communicate with God for religious belief.
- At Christmas: the red and white colours used at Christmas, as Santa's red cloth and his white hair, can often be related to the colours of Amanita muscaria.
A Photo that shows the similarity of the colours between Santa and Amanita muscaria.
Photo Source: www.worldwidehippies.com
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