Any R. Gordon Wasson's around?

this is all very interesting. im liking the lichens.

just a couple thoughts. if its a tryptamine, then there is probably no one in rehab for it!

another thing- many to most icelandic people speak english, no??!

^ I didn't know many Icelandic people speak English. I remember hearing it is one of the most difficult languages for an English borne speaker to learn, so I guess I just assumed it would be uncommon. Well with a review of the bar in English (good English too) that gives me hope for being able to get in contact with someone who can eventually help!

I certainly wouldn't think there would be anyone in recurring rehabilitation for tryptamines, but they might have experience with dealing with people currently on the drug or know of people who abuse it who are in their programs. They seem like a logical place to get me in contact with someone who can help identify this enticing lichen. If it has been a drug of abuse for 9 years surely they have enough information to at least describe its' appearance and where it grows, and maybe even tell more about its' effects.

How should I phrase the email to these folk? I was going to say I represent a group of independent American researchers and we were looking for information on drugs of abuse that are lichens. Or something to that effect. Any suggestions on how to come off appropriately?

from what I've read : Iceland is indeed a partying, English-speaking, kind of place.

edit: Oops. Realized this is the second thread linked in the OP. If you read that ignore this. If you didn't, here's the good parts.

I hope this is okay. I found one thread saying something about spoiler tags being used in a certain way being inappropriate here, but I couldn't find out the certain way! It's long so I figured it was appropriate.

Just a word about IAS's lichen, don't bother if one wants psychoactivity. Tasted like butt, did nothing even after a fistful orally.

So, the lichen take decades to grow, grow on rocks, and in very cold regions. At least it'll never become popular. Sounds like the kind of thing someone with a lot of expensive equipment could research for fun. Learn the actives and then leave the living lichen alone.

-wikipedia

My heart overflows with joy at the thought of psychoactive lichen.

It also makes me want to sing... Jonsi <3.

Thx Bransondude. I won't bother I Am Shaman's Lichens. May they crumble and fall into oblivion for selling people crap like that.

I don't know if all Lichen species grow that slow. Perhaps some will grow much faster.
First thing to do is to identify psychoactive Lichen species, by mostly trial & error + the little scientific and experiential information we have on Psychoactive Lichen.
It might be handy to rule out a number of Lichens known to be toxic and a number of Lichens that have been used to eat without known psychoactive effects.
If we know this, then we may see if this Lichen species can be made to grow faster.
Ideal temperature, lightlevels and humidity in a terrarium? Soil/Growth medium rich in nutrients? A little Insect-symbiotic help perhaps?

But for now I don't see much else we can do but scrape Lichens off of walls and treebarks and start smoking/drinking tea in a really really low dose and increase the dose from there, Shulgin style.






PS: Concerning the Lichen that Shulgin describes in PIHKAL; It is said to contain Olivetol ( or something close to that word ) which is an essential oil that closely resembles THC. A simple conversion into 9 Delta THC, a THC analogue, can be made with Orange juice. ( I've ordered TIHKAL and PIHKAL so I can check this out )

If this is so, then we could find other, more easily and quickly grown plants that also are rich in Olivetol. Then we no longer have to trouble painstakingly slow growing Lichens.

LMAO thats great!

Also I psychoactive compounds in lichen now that i havnt herd of! All the ones by the sea side are defintally not psychoactive.

This thread is really growing on me.

Maybe everyone at the Nexus could pitch in and we could buy Sealand...

iceland, check
rocks and lichens, check
Bjork?
what you didn't think she would be in the know?

http://www.youtube.com/w...oArXwA4&feature=fvst

Well needless to say; Might anyone of the Nexus happen to travel to Reikjavik, Iceland, or better; live in Iceland, they should defenitely look into this issue.
Ask the local Youth and if possible visit this bar named Sirkus.

This may be our best bet in finding the particulairly Psychedelic Lichens from the Stone Soup-article, which are said to bring about lengthy visions of trolls much resembling DMT elfs in nature.

I found this article on Lichens and their various uses: http://web.uvic.ca/~stucraw/part1.html

I'll copy and paste a few interresting lines from that page.
Source "Davis and Yost 1983" sounds like it needs further investigations. Also Waorani culture & history seems worthy of investigation too.

I've worked with usnea, for it's antibiotic properties and oak moss for perfumes.
I've also been very interested over the years of the club moss lycopodium species called lost in the woods that would cause confusion if you smoked it. And the natives in the USA did smoke it.

^ i love the fragrance of oak moss, it is deeply satisfying.

unfortunately i don't have a bioassay to share
but for the love of the lichens i'll offer some pictures of Dictyonema sericeum, suspected "hallucinogen" 'nenendape' of the Waorani/Huaorani in Ecuador.





and some related South American Dictyonema species:







apparently Dictyonema, is more closely related to mushrooms than other fungi, being composed of cyanobacteria & basidiomycetes, rather than the typical/common ascomycetes.

and such an enchanting emerald hue!

Thoooooose are just lovely..........

Awesome! Thanks for the enchantment and the phylogeny tip!

i just found this little nugget of info regarding the Dictyonema species, from Richard Evans Schultes' article, "Psychoactive plants in need of chemical and pharmacological study".



seems perhaps it is more pleasing to the eye than the body or mind...
o well
the intrigue remains

Thanx for the Visual aid blue lunar night. It's beautyfull.

I found something Wikipedia(source: Shulgin) has to say about the synthesis of 9-Delta-THC by reacting Olivetol, extracted from certain Lichens, with D-limonene in the presence of phosphoryl OxyChloride:




I bought PIHKAL an TIHKAL recently and I'm gunna read more, hoping to find Shulgin's mention of what species of Lichens he extracted the Olivetol from.
I checked Wikipedia on "Olivetol" to see if there are other plantsources for Olivetol, but it didn't mention anything but "certain species of Lichens".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivetol

UPDATE: Ooh in the bottom of that Wikipedia page, where the sources are listed, a species of Lichens that contains olivetol is mentioned:
I suppose Hassuni I, Razxouk H. is a source worthy of investigation too.
This is the little fellow:



Here is more about the Olivetol containing Lichen "Oak Moss":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evernia_prunastri

I'm sorry but if that synthesis where done with D-Limonene the product would not be a THC, I say this with confidence. He was referring to another oil in orange peels. Phosphoryl oxychloride is highly toxic! Making it clandestinely could be the last thing you do, especially if you don't know what your doing.

There are easier ways to go about this far far safer. Though you have to look into them yourself.

Is synthesis talk allowed here now?

Anyhow if anyone can find a sample of this illusive unknown moss, I'm sure some primitive tests could be done to at least get an idea for the family of compounds it is in. Marquis reagent may be helpful, may be not. I could never recommend someone smoking something that tribes man say if they hold on to for too long they become ill, and the human variable is a large one(placebo, biased to desired results, etc).

Though to assume that because it's active it has olivetol in itself a logical fallacy. Olivetol is known to be largely inactive, not to say that taking it will not effect your body, but there is very little evidence of it getting you enjoyably 'high'. Referance: Cannabinoids By Vincenzo Di Marzo, page 58. If someone knows otherwise please share a reference.

The sad thing is that there is a large amount of folk-lore behind plants/fungi/animals and not enough accessible scientific information. Take every myth/legend with a kilogram of salt, until analysis can be made.