Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A highly toxic alkaloid, C9H20NO2, related to the cholines, found in fly agaric and certain other mushrooms.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A brownish-violet pulverulent dye, , prepared by the action of nitroso-dimethylaniline hydrochlorid on 2, 7-dihydroxynaphthalene.
  • noun An extremely poisonous alkaloid (C5H13NO2) obtained from the fly-fungus, Agaricus muscarius.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun biochemistry An extremely poisonous alkaloid, obtained from fly agaric, that disrupts the action of acetylcholine neurotransmitter.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin muscāria, specific epithet (from feminine of Latin muscārius, of flies, from musca, fly) + –ine.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the fungus Amanita muscaria, from Latin musca ("fly").

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Examples

  • Neurin is almost identical in its physiological effects with muscarine, which is described below.

    Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc. George Francis Atkinson 1886

  • It could be identified by its characteristic instability, and by the fact that its activity matched the same known concentration of acerylcholine in a series of different physiological tests, covering both "muscarine" and "nicotine" actions.

    Sir Henry Dale - Nobel Lecture 1965

  • Through what I termed its "muscarine" action, it reproduced at the periphery all the effects of parasympathetic nerves, with a fidelity which, as I indicated, was comparable to that with which adrenaline had been shown, some ten years earlier, to reproduce those of true sympathetic nerves.

    Sir Henry Dale - Nobel Lecture 1965

  • For all such effects of acetylcholine, directly analogous to those which Loewi discovered in relation to the heart vagus, were covered by what I had termed the "muscarine" action of acetylcholine, and were all very readily suppressed by atropine.

    Sir Henry Dale - Nobel Lecture 1965

  • The meat of the story revolves around the following thesis statement: "It may well be the case that it was the cultivation of psychotropic substances rather than foodstuffs that prompted the initial development of agriculture, while fungal hallucinogens like psilocybin and muscarine were probably the catalyst responsible for the initial development of human self-consciousness."

    Archive 2008-03-01 Karen Burnham 2008

  • The meat of the story revolves around the following thesis statement: "It may well be the case that it was the cultivation of psychotropic substances rather than foodstuffs that prompted the initial development of agriculture, while fungal hallucinogens like psilocybin and muscarine were probably the catalyst responsible for the initial development of human self-consciousness."

    "Following the Pharmers" Brian Stableford Karen Burnham 2008

  • A local shaman would eat the mushroom, using his body to filter out the poisonous muscarine; its mood-altering compounds were preserved in his urine, which was then ritually consumed by other Koryac and also some of the more favored reindeer.

    Elephants 2007

  • A local shaman would eat the mushroom, using his body to filter out the poisonous muscarine; its mood-altering compounds were preserved in his urine, which was then ritually consumed by other Koryac and also some of the more favored reindeer.

    Soma and synchronicity 2007

  • I vaguely recall that muscarine is only found in the younger shrooms; it looks like you'd want to avoid them, unless it's also responsible for most of the interesting effects. vince cavasin@convex.com

    Natural Highs Frequently Asked Questions by Vince Cavasin 1992

  • _Merck's_ sez that neither ibotenic acid and muscarine were "controlled substances" (what a * dumb* term) as of '76; was there maybe

    Natural Highs Frequently Asked Questions by Vince Cavasin 1992

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