psilocybin

Noun

psilocybin (countable and uncountable, plural psilocybins)

1. A hallucinogenic alkaloid, C₁₂H₁₅N₂O·H₂PO₃, present in several species of Central American mushroom and producing effects similar to LSD. The prodrug of psilocin.
   • The problem of the mushroom supply was solved straight away when Leary learned from a graduate student named George Litwin that a chemist at the Sandoz Corporation, Dr. Albert Hofmann, had recently synthesized the psychoactive molecule of the mushroom, calling it psilocybin.2004, Martin Torgoff, “Psychedelic Spring”, in Can’t Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945–2000, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 70
   • It’s no stretch to posit that because human neurotransmitters respond to the platform’s iconic use of a certain shade of blue, and spark with dopamine upon receiving a “like” or “tag” notification, desperate children are now living in cages and a raving madman occupies the Oval Office. Not even...2019 January 29, Tom Bissell, “An Anti-Facebook Manifesto”, in New York Times