Definitions/Description

• Psilocybin is a naturally occurring indole alkaloid found in approximately 200 species of mushrooms, primarily in the genus Psilocybe.
• Psilocybin mushrooms have been used for centuries by indigenous cultures including the Olmec, Aztec, and Mayan people in Central America.
• The earliest historic record of psilocybin comes from 16th century works like the Florentine Codex that documented ritual use of psilocybin mushrooms among the Aztec people.
• Psilocybin mushrooms were formally introduced to Western science in 1955 as introduced to the mycologist R. Gordon Wasson by the indigenous Mazatec healer María Sabina in Huautla, Mexico. The mushrooms were subsequently analyzed by Dr. Albert Hofmann of Sandoz Laboratories in Switzerland in 1957, who isolated psilocybin as the primary psychoactive component, and first produced synthetic psilocybin in 1958 [1].