Lanmaoa asiatica is a bolete mushroom, prized for its delicious taste and hugely popular in Yunnan province, China, where it is found growing in a symbiotic relationship with pine trees. But anyone eating the mushroom needs to be careful because it also gives hallucinations of lots of tiny people about 2cm tall wearing brightly coloured clothes, all jumping, running, climbing and being generally playful, but in a normal, real-world setting.
The hallucinations are reminiscent of the small people in the hit BBC series Small Prophets, although without their psychic powers. Despite the powerful visions it brings, Lanmaoa is completely unrelated to Psilocybes, or “magic mushrooms”, which give wide-ranging hallucinations for a few hours triggered by the chemical psilocybin.
The hallucinogenic substance in Lanmaoa remains unknown, although Colin Domnauer, at the University of Utah, is researching it. What is known is that the visions always feature tiny people and can last for days, and that the hallucinogen can be destroyed by cooking the mushroom for 15 minutes before eating. Aside from Yunnan in China, Lanmaoa asiatica has only ever been found in one other location: the Philippines.
