Mushroom Botanical Illustrations and Elementary's A Study in Charlotte

Summary: Blue Angels mushroom botanical illustrations and photographs cover wild fungi, not tainted mushrooms in Elementary's A Study in Charlotte Feb. 18, 2016.

Blue Azure mushrooms (Psilocybe azurescens); Pacific County, southwestern Washington; Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010: shroom360, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Blue Angels mushroom botanical illustrations and photographs attest to the distribution ranges and physical appearances that camera angles avoid in the Elementary procedural drama episode A Study in Charlotte Feb. 18, 2016.

Director Guy Ferland and writers Robert Doherty and Robert Hewitt Wolfe broach North America's psychedelic mushrooms in Season 4's 13th episode, the series' 85th episode overall. Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) considers how collectors and consumers of hallucinogenic mushrooms can confuse psychedelic Blue Angels, related golden caps and toxic death caps mushrooms. Sherlock declares that "The mushrooms the [dead QBU] professor [of botany, Joseph Ballantine,] has in his tea are pure Psilocybe azurescens, also known as Blue Angels."

Sherlock explains that Blue Angels, also called Astorians, Blue Runners and Flying Saucers, "are a potent and relatively rare species native to the Columbia River Delta."

"Three bags of dried mushrooms" and "extract of Amanita phalloides, the aptly-named death cap mushrooms" respectively function as "poor quality Psilocybe cubensis" and "highly concentrated poison."

Blue Angels mushroom botanical illustrations and photographs give "simple mushrooms" whose "naturally-occurring compound" gets "minds to the realm of spirit, allowing us to touch the eternal." The Hymenogastraceae (puffball-shaped, from the Greek ὑμήν [humén, "membrane"] and γαστήρ [gastér, "belly"]) agaric and false-truffle family members have elliptical, purple-black or purple-brown, smooth pore-tipped spores. Smooth pore-tipped 0.00047- to 0.00053- by 0.00026- to 0.00032-inch (12- to 13.5- by 6.5-micron to 8.0-micron) spores irradiate into fluffy-looking, web-like white mycelium (μύκης [múkēs, "mushroom"]).

Blue angels mushroom botanical illustrations juggle 7- to 14-day journeys from spores to mycelia at real-world, 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (21.11 to 26.6 degrees Celsius).

Blue Angels mushrooms keep to three- to four-week colonization schedules, from spores to mycelia with tiny white-bumped dots to pinheads, every September through December or January.

Blue Angels mushroom pilei (from the Greek πῖλος [plos, "felt"]), with 1.18- to 3.94-inch (3- to 10-centimeter) diameters, look like age-flattened, cone-like, convex (upward-curved) short caps. Brown lamellae (from the Latin lāmellae, "small, thin metal plates") manifest black stains when mishandled and mottling when matured into spore-making gills with non-undulating, white-fringed margins.  Blue-bruised, thin-stemmed, 3.4- to 7.88-inch (9- to 2-centimeter) by 0.12- to 0.19-inch (0.3- to 0.5-centimeter) stipes (from the Greek στέφω [stéphō, "encircle"]) need thick, white-tufted bases.

Blue Angels mushroom botanical illustrations and photographs offer Agaricales (from the Greek ἀγαρικόν [agarikón, "tree-fungus"]) order members observed in 1995 by Paul Stamets and Jochen Gartz.

Blue Angels mushrooms possess smooth-surfaced caps until knobby with umbō (raised centers), opaque or yellow from dryness, pitted blue-black from contact, sticky or transparent from moisture.

The blue-blackening qualifies as an indicator of the hallucinogenic compounds baeocystin, psilocin and psilocybin that queue up throughout the above-ground fruiting and below-ground vegetative fungal parts. Respective 0.35, 0.38 and 1.78 percentages of baeocystin, psilocin and psilocybin that mycologists Gartz and Stametz retrieved in 1995 result in government-proscribed psilocybe cultivation and use. Deciduous woodchips and woody debris-rich sandy soils support native Blue Angels mushroom populations in northwestern riparian woodlands of Oregon, specially around Astoria and Tillamook, and Washington.

Blue Angels mushroom botanical illustrations and photographs transmit distribution ranges, life cycles and physical appearances of bitter-tasting mushrooms for terminal trips when tainted with toxic toadstools.

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) have concerns about tainted psychedelic mushrooms in Elementary tv series' A Study in Charlotte (season 4 episode 13): StarWatchByline @SWByline, via Twitter Jan. 28, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Blue Azure mushrooms (Psilocybe azurescens); Pacific County, southwestern Washington; Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010: shroom360 at Mushroom Observer, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Psilocybe_azurescens_123010.jpg

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) have concerns about tainted psychedelic mushrooms in Elementary tv series' A Study in Charlotte (season 4 episode 13): StarWatchByline @SWByline, via Twitter Jan. 28, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/SWByline/status/692848985879420933

For further information:

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 November 2015. "Black-Capped Central American Squirrel Monkeys and Elementary Series." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/11/black-capped-central-american-squirrel.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 November 2015. “Tienchi-Flower Tea and Elementary's Evidence of Things Not Seen.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/11/tienchi-flower-tea-and-elementarys.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 April 2015. “Pablo Picasso Painting Woman Reading on Elementary's A Stitch in Time.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/03/pablo-picasso-painting-woman-reading-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 February 2015. “Extinct Quagga Plains Zebra on Elementary's The Female of the Species.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/02/extinct-quagga-plains-zebra-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 23 January 2015. “Elementary's Yellow Clivia and Yellow Clivia Botanical Illustrations.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/01/elementarys-yellow-clivia-and-yellow.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 December 2014. “Elementary's Nutmeg Concoction and Nutmeg Botanical Illustrations.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/12/elementarys-nutmeg-concoction-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 November 2014. “Elementary's Bird in Blue-Throated Macaw Natural History Illustrations.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/11/elementarys-bird-in-blue-throated-macaw.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 October 2014. “Bearded Dragon Natural History Illustrations: Not Elementary's Nemesis.” Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/10/bearded-dragon-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 2 May 2014. “Ficus Benjamina Botanical Illustrations and Elementary's Stunted Tree.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/ficus-benjamina-botanical-illustrations.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 February 2014. “Dimetrodon Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Dimetrodon.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/02/dimetrodon-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 January 2014. “Nanotyrannus Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Dead Clade Walking.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/nanotyrannus-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 December 2013. “Fruit in Osage Orange Botanical Illustrations and Elementary Series.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/12/fruit-in-osage-orange-botanical.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 November 2013. “George Stubbs Painting The Godolphin Arabian and Elementary's Nutmeg.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/george-stubbs-painting-godolphin.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 November 2013. “John Wootton Painting The Darley Arabian and Elementary's Studhorse.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/john-wootton-painting-darley-arabian.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 November 2013. “John Wootton Painting The Byerley Turk and Elementary's Thoroughbreds.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/john-wootton-painting-byerley-turk-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 30 August 2013. “Turner Fighting Temeraire Painting in Elementary Series Episode The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/08/turner-fighting-temeraire-painting-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 June 2013. “Paul Gauguin Painting Tahitian Women on the Beach in Elementary's The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/06/paul-gauguin-painting-tahitian-women-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 May 2013. “Rubens Painting The Incredulity of St Thomas in Elementary's The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/rubens-painting-incredulity-of-st.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 May 2013. “Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Painting Rousse in Elementary Episode The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec-painting.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 May 2013. “The Bruegel Painted Parable in the Elementary Series Episode The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-bruegel-painted-parable-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 February 2013. “Osmia Avosetta Natural History Illustrations for Elementary's Bee.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/osmia-avosetta-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 February 2013. “Russian Tortoise Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Clyde Jan. 31, 2013.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/russian-tortoise-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 25 January 2013. “Costliest, World-Most Expensive Chopard Watch: 201 Carats at $25 Million.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/costliest-world-most-expensive-chopard.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 January 2013. “Chopard Watch Worth $25 Million on Elementary Episode The Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/chopard-watch-worth-25-million-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 January 2013. “Claude Monet Painting Nympheas 1918 in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/claude-monet-painting-nympheas-1918-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 January 2013. “Paul Cézanne Still Life Painting Fruit in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/paul-cezanne-still-life-painting-fruit.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 28 December 2012. “Paul Signac Painting Women at the Well in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/paul-signac-painting-women-at-well-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 21 December 2012. “The Van Gogh Pietà Painting in Elementary Series Episode The Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-van-gogh-pieta-painting-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 December 2012. “Edward Hopper Painting Western Motel in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/edward-hopper-painting-western-motel-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 September 2012. "Are Lesser Clovers Sherlock's Lucky Shamrocks on Elementary's Pilot?" Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/09/are-lesser-clovers-sherlocks-lucky.html

Stamets, Paul; Jochen Gartz. 1995. "A New Caerulescent Psilocybe from the Pacific Coast of Northwestern America." Integration: Journal for Mind Moving Plants and Culture, no. 6: 21-28.
Available via Shroomery @ https://www.shroomery.org/8700/Psilocybe-azurescens-taxonomy-paper)

Stamets, Paul. 1996. Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World: An Identification Guide. Berkeley CA: Ten Speed Press.

StarWatchByline @SWByline. 28 January 2016. "CBS Press Release: ‘Elementary’ Episode 4.13 – A Study in Charlotte, Airs Feb 18, 2016." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/SWByline/status/692848985879420933

"A Study in Charlotte." Elementary: The Fifth Season. Los Angeles CA: Paramount Pictures Corporation, Feb. 18, 2016.