Desperate times

I had to get my mycological kicks where I could find them during this long hot summer of 2018. And where I found them happened to be my own front garden.

I was ferreting through the long grass, admiring the insects which have colonised this small area we've converted to 'meadow', when I spotted these black banana-shaped things sticking out of the grass.

I think these are 'sclerotia' (hardened masses of fungal mycelium) of Ergot Claviceps purpurea.

It's pretty crazy stuff to find in your own front garden. The compounds discovered in Ergot were a precursor to the synthesis of lysergic acid diethylamide: LSD. But even if I was tempted to turn off my mind relax and float downstream, I wouldn't do it by chowing down on these grass bananas. Because Ergot has been responsible for unimaginable human suffering throughout much of history, due to people ingesting infected grain products; especially rye, a common host plant for this fungus, which has long been cultivated as an agricultural crop.

As well as having hallucinogenic properties, Ergot is also seriously poisonous – causing convulsive symptoms, psychosis, gangrene and death. I gotta say, its effects look pretty unpleasant.

Painting by Matthias Grünewald of a patient suffering from advanced ergotism from approximately 1512–16 CE. [Image from Wikimedia Commons]

Still, desperate times call for desperate measures, and I was fascinated to come across this video from the New Zealand Archives, calling for people to collect Ergot so that it could be used in treating cases of shock during World War 2. (You can read more about that here.)



These black bananas are only really a 'waiting' stage in the Ergot's lifecycle.

Claviceps purpurea life cycle. [Image from Wikimedia Commons]

If it's not picked by some curious amateur mycologist, or collected for the war effort, the mature sclerotium drops to the ground and remains there, dormant, until suitable conditions trigger its fruiting phase.

Fruiting stage of Claviceps purpurea. [Image from http://www.cieliparalleli.com/costume/tarantismo-lingestione-dellergot-in-religioni-popolari-ditalia.html]

I really want to see this! I'm wondering if I can simulate suitable conditions in my spare room and get the sclerotia I've collected to fruit... Have any of my readers ever attempted this?

References
Mostly good ol' Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claviceps_purpurea 

For the record
Date collected: Sunday 5 August 2018
Location: Small Dole
Grid reference: TQ2112

Record entered into FRDBI 07/09/2018