Alunperin Wade Davisin ja James Yostin vuonna 1983 kuvailema, ecuadorilaisten shamaanien toisinaan hyödyntämä jäkälä on tarkempien analyysien myötä sijoitettu Dictyonema-sukuun ja se on saanut latinankielisen nimen Dictyonema huaorani tämän jäkälän tunteneen heimon mukaan.

Dictyonema huaorani (Agaricales: Hygrophoraceae), a new lichenized basidiomycete from Amazonian Ecuador with presumed hallucinogenic properties (Schmull et al., 2014)

Dictyonema huaorani, a new species represented by a  well-developed specimen found in the Ecuadorian Amazon region, is described in this paper. The material was collected during a Harvard ethnobotanical expedition in 1981 and originally determined by Mason E. Hale Jr. as belonging in the genus Dictyonema (D. sericeum s.lat.) and possibly representing an undescribed species. The species is morphologically distinctive in forming densely woven, semicircular thalli, closely resembling those of the paleotropical D. ligulatum but lacking clamps and with hyphal sheath around the photobiont filaments that resembles those of Cyphellostereum species. The species was reported to have hallucinogenic properties and chemical analyses suggest certain substances present that are shared with the hallucinogenic mushroom Psilocybe cubensis. Due to our inability to use pure reference compounds and scarce amount of sample for compound identification, however, our analyses were not able to determine conclusively the presence of hallucinogenic substances.

Analyysit antoivat myös alustavaa osviittaa siitä, että tämä kantasienen ja syanobakteerin liitto tuottaisi jonkin sortin tryptamiineja:

The preliminary analysis performed on an Agilent 1200 Series HPLC showed a peak with the same molecular weight (160 Da), UV spectrum and retention time (12.6 min) as tryptamine. Trace amounts of tryptamine can be found in mammal brains, where it is considered to play a role as a neurotransmitter and serotonin-releasing agent (Jones 1982). The subsequent, refined analysis on the Waters showed tryptamine (tR 2.69), 5-MeO-DMT (tR 6.14) and psilocybin (tR 5.79) with identifications based on database values. Psilocybin is one of the most widespread psychoactive fungal substances, found in more than 200 species of mushrooms. However, these are tentative identifications as no authentic standards for these compounds were available. The alternative analysis on the Agilent 6530 QTOF LC/MS with dual spray ESI source showed the likely presence of 5-methoxy-N-methyl-tryptamine, 5-methoxy-dimethyl-tryptamine, and 5-methoxy-tryptamine, but again these identifications were based on database values, not authentic samples. All together, the results are suggestive of the presence of tryptamine and psilocybin in Dictyonema huaorani, but comparison of larger amounts of fresh material of this species with authentic standards are necessary to confirm these tentative findings.

Nykytiedon mukaan 5-MeO-NMT, 5-MeO-DMT ja 5-MeO-T (meksamiini) ovat oraalisesti epäaktiivisia, joten joko hallusinogeenisistä vaikutuksista raportoineet huaoranit nauttivat tätä muulla tavoin kuin suun kautta (nuuskaamalla, polttamalla?) taikka jäkälä sisältää psilosybiiniä tai muita oraalisesti aktiivisia komponentteja.