“Magic mushroom” is the everyday English name for fungi that contain psilocybin. Merriam-Webster defines it as a fungus, such as one of the genus Psilocybe, that contains hallucinogenic alkaloids such as psilocybin, and dates the phrase to 1957 (Merriam-Webster). A 2013 laboratory paper calls it the most common name for these fungi (Pellegrini et al., 2013).
The phrase’s best-known early appearance is R. Gordon Wasson’s “Seeking the Magic Mushroom” in Life on 13 May 1957 (Life, 1957). Who printed it first is not settled, because the dictionary gives a year without a citation. The word “magic” is an English framing: the Nahuatl name recorded in the 1500s was teonanácatl, and María Sabina called the mushrooms “saint children” (Spiers et al., 2024).
The name is not a scientific category. It covers many species in several genera, and it says nothing about which species something is or what it contains. In Canada the law names the compounds, not the mushrooms; Health Canada says producing, selling and possessing magic mushrooms is illegal (Health Canada). This is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
- Merriam-Webster: magic mushroom
- Seeking the Magic Mushroom, Life, 13 May 1957
- Spiers et al., 2024, Journal of Psychedelic Studies
- Health Canada: magic mushrooms
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