DNA links a single wild mushroom to century-old hallucination reports in Asia

DNA analysis by University of Utah scientists has pinpointed Lanmaoa asiatica as the common source of “mushroom madness” reports spanning China and the Philippines, where consumers describe detailed visions of tiny human figures. Historical accounts from Papua New Guinea in the 1930s and later anthropological work had narrowed the culprit to the Boletaceae family, yet chemical tests—including those by Albert Hofmann—found no known psychedelics.

The recent genomic work showed that both the Yunnan mushroom Jian shou qing and the Philippine Sedesdem are genetically identical to L. asiatica, despite dry conditions preventing sample collection in Papua New Guinea. The hallucinations, termed Lilliputian, involve dozens of small, elf-like figures that obey normal physics, suggesting a shared neurochemical mechanism rather than cultural myth. Because the species lacks recognized psychoactive compounds, researchers suspect an undiscovered molecule, which could become a valuable tool for neuroscience. The project also delivered the first comprehensive genome survey of the Lanmaoa genus, revealing 17 species, including four new to science.