Monday, June 23, 2014

St. John's Wort

In the Hyperiaceae family, this native shrub lives low to the ground. Stems are smooth, leaves attached directly to the stem, growing alternate of each other. 

The flowers have four yellow petals that dry into seed containing capsules. I've found this particular St. John's Wort blooming during various times of our long growing season (spring-fall) but is perhaps able to bloom all year long in the pine flatwoods.





Sunday, June 1, 2014

Psilocybin Cubensis Growing Freely in Florida

In Florida, the psychoactive mushroom Psilocybin Cubensis is a schedule 1 drug and is considered to have a "high potential for abuse and has no currently accepted medical use in treatment".  
...oh but of course. Well anyways, the fungi couldn't give a care what the lawmaker's of this country and state write up, they have been in existence for longer than you and I and they will continue to thrive. 
I found these in a grass patch in an area with rich soil that was previously occupied by cows and their rich manure.


So what's the deal if this "illegal" mushroom decides to drop spores and grow on your property? Are you at fault for it? Does that make you criminal drug cultivator? What if you pick them?
Since the Fiske vs Florida case, if you pick these mushrooms and are caught with them fresh you may not get in trouble for not having known of their identity or psychoactive effects since Florida law does not define the fungi or plants that contain psilocybin, just that psilocybin itself is illegal (but also illegal are the psilocybin containing materials, compounds, mixtures, or preparations) 


So WTF, it just sorta loops around and makes the mushrooms illegal without actually defining them.


This is the patch of grass I found them in, and where I left them behind. *Wink




Cited: