Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination
    J Psychoactive Drugs. 1993 Apr-Jun;25(2):149-56.

    Wasson's alternative candidates for soma.

    Source

    Botanical Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.

    Abstract

    Citing recently published challenges to R. Gordon Wasson's identification of Vedic soma as the psychoactive mushroom Amanita muscaria (fly-agaric), this article reviews unpublished letters by Wasson in which he considered and rejected other psychoactive plants as candidates, including the mint Lagochilus inebrians, Convolvulaceae (morning glory) seeds, the fungal parasite Claviceps purpurea (ergot), and especially the psilocybin mushroom Stropharia cubensis, known also as Psilocybe cubensis. Apart from their historical interest, these letters--from the Tina and Gordon Wasson Ethnomycological Collection at the Harvard Botanical Museum--demonstrate that Wasson remained open to refinements of his theory.

    PMID:
    8377083
    [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

      Supplemental Content

      Recent activity

      Your browsing activity is empty.

      Activity recording is turned off.

      Turn recording back on

      See more...
      Write to the Help Desk