Some similarities to : Magpie Inkcap, Common Inkcap and Snow-White Inkcap, but Shaggy Inkcap looks like it is covered in small short bird feathers.

Somewhat surprisingly the mushroom is edible and good to eat even when raw, but only before it starts to turn to a viscous black fluid. Alas, the mushroom soon starts to deteriorate when picked, and cannot be stored frozen. Once grown commercially for public consumption, they are no longer because of the very short shelf life. It has a salty flavour and a pleasant smell.

The crowded and shrouded gills beneath, white at first, turn first pink, then to black liquid as they liquefy. The black liquid also contains the spores, ready to propagate the species in the immediate vicinity.

The white stem or stipe has a narrow rim, which is mobile, consisting of no more than a 'stocking-like' sheath around the stem which slowly rolls downwards. The stipe is persistent, remaining when the mushroom has almost completely dissolved apart from the top-most part, which is left like a black-rimmed parasol.

Mainly grouped together on shortish grassland or waste ground.

ANTABUSE Both the Common Inkcap and Shaggy Inkcap to a lesser degree contain an amino acid containing sulphur called coprine, named after the Genus Coprinus of these mushrooms. Coprine is a dimer and consists of two identical units stuck back-to-back. It has four atoms of sulphur. Harmless in itself, coprine is poisonous if the mushroom is ingested during or within 24 hours of having partaken of any alcoholic drink. Normally, the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH-2) which is within the body metabolises alcohol to the dangerous acetaldehyde. But the acetaldehyde, is, in its turn, metabolised by the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase-2 which converts the acetaldehyde to the mostly harmless acetic acid (vinegar). Dehydrogenases remove one hydrogen atom at a time. Coprine prevents the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase-2 found within Mitochondrial Organelles from metabolising acetaldehyde to acetic acid. The result is an increase in the very harmful acetaldehyde, which is the cause of hangovers in the first place. Consuming alcohol and coprine within a day or two gives the imbiber an almost instant and severe hangover. This co-effect is so strong that coprine is now marketed as the drug variously known as Disulfiram or Antabuse to prevent alcoholics from drinking, for if they do, then they experience these extremely un-pleasant and very dangerous side effects. The net effect is that anyone on the drug will not be able to drink alcohol for several days afterwards. It would be dangerous if they did; acetaldehyde is a poison. Alcohol and coprine also, taken together, prevent the normal breakdown of the neuro-transmitter dopamine. This results in an excess of this neurotransmitter within the body, leading to very un-pleasant symptoms such as high anxiety, restlessness and high blood pressure. Forty percent of East Asians have a faulty version of the gene that is responsible for producing ALDH-2, which goes on to construct a mutant version of ALDH-2 called ALDH-2* which fails to catalyse the destruction of acetaldehyde, inflicting upon them an inherited form of severe alcohol intolerance (Asian Flush) similar in effects to that caused by Coprine. On the other hand, 25% of drinkers (including the author) are resistant to hangovers; for they metabolise alcohol and acetaldehyde differently. For people in this category, eating Shaggy Inkcap or being given Coprine is unlikely to make drinking an unpleasant experience.

A new drug, ALDA-1, has recently been synthesized that repairs the damaged version of ALDH-2 which then enables those afflicted with this condition to be treatable. It re-activates the mutant ALDH-2* by acting as a chaperone molecule. By this same chaperoning activity, ALDA-1 also increases the effectiveness of ordinary ALDH-2. This drug, ALDA-1, may also find use in heart-attack patients, where damaging acetaldehyde (and another dangerous aldehyde, 4-hydroxynonenol), build up in heart muscles which are short of oxygen, which can result in death. ALDH-2 deactivates both these two aldehydes and another toxic aldehyde, acrolein, found mostly in over-cooked food. Containing two atoms of chlorine, ALDA-1 is not found naturally.

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