PALEO-SIBERIAN
Isolated groups of FinnUgrian people, the Ostyak and the Vogul of Western Siberia are known to employ Amanita muscaria shamanistically. So are the Chukchee, Koryak and Kamchadal people of Northeastern Siberia (Heizer, 1944; Brekham & Sam, 1967; Wasson, 1968; LaBarre, 1975). Other reports verify that the use of Amanita muscaria is not just restricted geographically to western and northern Siberia. Both Graves (1960) and Schultes (1976) have indicated that some Finns and Lapps, as well as a small enclave in Afghanistan all use this species shamanistically (Graves, 1960; Schultes, 1976) and in Japan and the Philippines. The use of Amanita muscaria was recently reported among some groups of North American Indians (Wasson, 1979b). In her books "Windmills of the Mind" and "Hallucinogens: Cross Cultural Perspectives," Marlene Dobkin de Rios (1976, 1984) discusses the strange custom of Amanita urinedrinking by the reindeer herdsmen of Siberia. This interesting habit had first been reported by travelers and explorers in Siberia during the late seventeenth and eighteenth century and similar evidence of the urine-drinking is also mentioned in the Hindu scriptures (Wasson, 1968). It is likely that some psilocybian mushrooms were also used in Siberian shamanism (Wasson, 1968).
North American Indians
In North America, Amanita muscaria has been observed and reportedly used among two different groups of native American Indians:
l). the Dogrib Athabascan (Schultes & Hofmann 1979) and
2). the Ojibway of Northern Michigan, U.S.A; and Ontario, Canada (Keewaydinoquay, 1978, 1979, 1998; Wasson, 1979b).
Use of this Amanita species by native American Indians dates back over four hundred years. This is the only record of a group of North American Indians who use mushrooms as a sacrament.
Active ingredients isolated from Amanita muscaria include ibotenic acid and muscimol (Saleminck, 1963; Eugster, Jolly & Good, 1965). The same causative agents have also been isolated from a similar species; Amanita pantherina (Takemoto, Nakajima & Sakuma, 1964). Both of the above-mentioned species are sometimes employed as recreational drugs in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States (Ott, 1978; Weil, 1977, 1980). Furthermore, there are several other species of Amanita which also contain these classical agents (Ott, 1993; Guzmán, Allen & Gartz, 1999).
Amanitaceae 11. Amanita muscaria (L. : Fr.) Hook. with several forms, subspecies or varieties, as A. muscaria ssp. muscaria, ssp. americana (Lange) Singer, ssp. flavivolvata Singer [= var. flavivolvata (Singer) Jenkins], ssp. kamtschatica (Langsd. : Fr.) Singer var. alba Peck, var. formosa (Pers.: Fr.) Bertillon, and var. persicina Jenkins (see Singer, 1986, Jenkins, 1977, 1986 and Castro, 1998) (Fig. 18) (see below var. regalis as A. regalis 12. A. pantherina (DC. : Fr.) P. Kumm. with varieties, as var. mutisquamosa (Peck) Jenkins, var. pantherinoides (Murrill) Jenkins and var. velatipes (Atkinson) Jenkins (see Jenkins, 1977)
13. A. regalis (Fr.) Michael [= A. muscaria var. regalis (Fr.) Bartillon]
ABout six species of Amanitas contain steric acids. Ibotenic acid, muscimole, muscarine, oazaole.
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