Student discovers long-awaited mystery fungus sought by LSD's inventor

Fungus discovery links morning glories to LSD-related chemistry: West Virginia University microbiology student Corinne Hazel and collaborator Daniel Panaccione report a new species, Periglandula clandestina, that produces effects similar to LSD. Hazel found the fungus while studying how morning glory plants disperse ergot alkaloids through roots. DNA sequencing and genome work confirmed the fungus as a new species, and the researchers published the findings in Mycologia. The study connects the finding to Albert Hofmann's long-standing hypothesis that a hidden fungus in morning glories could be the source of lysergic acid derivatives. Because ergot alkaloids are made by fungi and can be toxic, the paper frames the fungus as a potential route to more controllable pharmaceutical development and future research on slow-growing cultivation and other morning glory species that may host similar symbiotes.