There are more than 4000 types of mushrooms in the Netherlands.
A mushroom is the aboveground part, the fruit-body, of underground fungi that digest dead remains of plants and animals. Without these fungi, waste would accumulate. Many fungi have no fruit or have such small fruit that it’s not visible to the naked eye, but with mushrooms this is obviously different.
Some mushrooms are edible, most famous of course, is the champignon, but most mushrooms are tasteless, have a sharp taste or are downright nasty. Some mushrooms are poisonous. In the Netherlands there are about 30 toxic species, of which 7 are deadly toxic for humans.
Some species, that contain psilocybin and psilocin, have a hallucinogenic or psychedelic effect, the so-called ‘magic mushrooms’. In Central- and South America are centuries-old rituals, where Psilocybe Mexicana is eaten to get in touch with the afterlife, the future or a higher reality.
Undoubtedly in our regions in the past, mushrooms were also used by medicine-men or –women. According to some authors, experiences with magic mushrooms could underlie religious revelations and visions that were handed down to us.
For that reason, mushrooms in the middle ages were regarded as mysterious and diabolical. The mysterious circles in which mushrooms sometimes grow, were called 'witches-circles ', because witches were considered to perform their rituals there.