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Ethnomycology is the study of the historical uses and sociological impact offungi and can be considered a subfield ofethnobotany orethnobiology. Although in theory the term includes fungi used for such purposes astinder, medicine (medicinal mushrooms) and food (includingyeast), it is often used in the context of the study of psychoactive mushrooms such aspsilocybin mushrooms, theAmanita muscaria mushroom, and theergot fungus.
American bankerRobert Gordon Wasson pioneered interest in this field of study in the late 1950s, when he and his wife became the first Westerners on record allowed to participate in a mushroomvelada, held by theMazateccuranderaMaría Sabina. The biologistRichard Evans Schultes is also considered an ethnomycological pioneer. Later researchers in the field includeAlbert Hofmann,Ralph Metzner,Carl Ruck,Blaise Daniel Staples,Giorgio Samorini,Keewaydinoquay Peschel, John W. Allen,Jonathan Ott,Paul Stamets, andJuan Camilo Rodríguez Martínez.
Besides mycological determination in the field, ethnomycology depends to a large extent onanthropology andphilology. One of the major debates among ethnomycologists is Wasson's theory that theSoma mentioned in theRigveda of theIndo-Aryans was theAmanita muscaria mushroom.[1][2] Following his example similar attempts have been made to identify psychoactive mushroom usage in many other (mostly) ancient cultures, with varying degrees of credibility. Another much written about topic is the content of theKykeon, thesacrament used during theEleusinian Mysteries inancient Greece between approximately 1500 BCE and 396 CE.[3]
The 1990s saw a surge in the recreational use ofpsilocybin mushrooms due to a combination of a psychedelic revival in therave culture, improved and simplified cultivation techniques, and the distribution of both the mushrooms themselves and information about them via theInternet. This "mushrooming of mushroom use" has also caused an increased popularization of ethnomycology itself as there are websites and Internet forums where mushroom references inChristmas andfairy tale symbolism are discussed. It remains open to interpretation what effect this popularization has on ethnomycology in the academic world, where the lack of verifiable evidence has kept its theories with their often far-reaching implications shrouded in controversy.