Ergot

Do you see the brown things sticking out of the brown seedhead on the right? That is ergot, a fungus that grows on rye grass. The history of ergot in regards to humans is deep and wide and has both positive and negative elements. It has caused death and disease, has been used as an intoxicant, and has provided a source for chemicals to treat migraine. It is both hated and revered.


Illustration from Medical Botany (1836) by John Stephenson and
James Morss Churchhill. Reproduction thanks to Rawpixel.


Ergot, among other things, constricts blood vessels. This means that it can be used to reduce the pain of migraine and reduce hemorrhaging after childbirth. But it also means that it can cause hands and feet to dry up and fall off.  This is called gangrenous egotism.

Ergot grows on rye when the weather is moist. So a staple in the diet becomes poisonous. Hundreds of years before Christ was born, ergotism was mentioned in an Assyrian tablet. Sickness from this fungus was rather too common in the middle ages. Thousands of people died.

It also causes people to feel hot, dance, writhe, and hallucinate. Visions of flying are especially common. Wise pagan women (who later became known as Witches by christians who feared powerful women) used ergot to help women survive childbirth and to help themselves have magical experiences. They smeared magic wands with ergot and applied the fungus to mucus membranes, where it could be absorbed while causing little harm. The wands were disguised as brooms with twigs and straw at one end. That is why Witches always have brooms. Witches are old because it takes time to become wise. They have warts because any imperfection would cause christians to accuse a woman of being a witch. The green skin? That is the result of a portrayal in The Wizard of Oz.

LSD was developed from ergot by Afred Hoffmann at the Swiss company Sandoz. It is not a legal drug. Except Dr Peter Gasser, a Swiss psychiatrist, is using it to help people deal with terminal illness.

Another drug derived from ergot is ergotamine. This is a legal prescription drug used to treat migraine. It has been in used to treat headaches since 1925 and is still available today. Since it is chemically related to neurotransmitters and and causes visions, it is not surprising that it can help with a pain in the head. So maybe it works by working on the blood vessels and on the neurons.

(Rx, sacred plant, poisonous plant, intoxicating plant)