Wasson's Alternative Candidates for Soma
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs April 1, 1993 DOI: 10.1080/02791072.1993.10472245 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Mushroom Traditional medicine Toxicology |
| Citations | 7 |
| Key points | Argues that Wasson's unpublished letters demonstrate his openness to refining his identification of Vedic soma as Amanita muscaria, despite rejecting other psychoactive plant candidates. |
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Wasson's identification of Vedic soma as the psychoactive mushroom Amanita muscaria (fly-agaric), this article reviews unpublished letters by Wasson in which he considered and rejected other psychoactive plants as candidates, including the mint Lagochilus inebrians, Convolvulaceae (morning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.
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- Occurrence and use of hallucinogenic mushrooms containing psilocybin alkaloids TemaNord May 19, 2009
- Historical overview of psychoactive mushrooms Inflammation and Regeneration 2009
- Síndromes neurológicos asociados con el consumo de plantas y hongos con componente tóxico (II). Hongos y plantas alucinógenos, micotoxinas y hierbas medicinales Revista de Neurología 2003