Laughing Jim (Gymnipilus junonius)

Laughing Jim/Spectacular Rustgil (Gymnopilus junonius)

This colourful mushroom is a common tree-rotting fungus, usually found at the base of trees, logs, or tree stumps in troops. The mushroom is abundant during winter to early spring according to location and starts off yellow, and as the mushroom grows it will range in tones of orange. You will find Gymnopilus junonius in much of mainland Europe, Britain, Ireland, Asia, North America and North Africa. The mushroom has an extremely bitter taste and will therefore tell you it is inedible. The mushroom has an annulus, or ring, on the stem; this was tissue protecting the gills as the mushroom developed, it then breaks away as the mushroom grows, leaving the ring on the stem. 

These fungi were first discovered in 1821, and back then most gilled mushrooms fell into the Agaricus category, so their first given name was Agaricus junonius. It wasn't until 1879 that Petter Adolf Karsten proposed the new fungi genus 'Gymnopilus'; which essentially means 'naked cap'. Following this, the bald or naked, cap became a key feature of this new genus of fungi.

There is much speculation about this mushroom across the internet and opinions regarding their uses. Although some members of this species may contain some psychoactive properties (many are reported to lack any psychoactive components entirely), this species has evolved to become poisonous, particularly to humans. It seems likely, based on my findings and readings of research, that the species in the regions of East Asia are more commonly understood to contain the psychoactive alkaloid psilocybin. In Japan, the name for this mushroom is  'Oh- waraitake', which translates to 'The big laughter mushroom'.