Amazing images expose inner world of mind-blowing plants and fungi

From ayahuasca and cannabiscs with mushrooms and psilocybin tobacco, people use plants and mushrooms altering the mind in rituals and spiritual ceremonies for thousands of years to filter and change their vision of the world.

Now the objective has been returned, with a new book revealing these psychoactive and medicinal plants and mushrooms in a new light, thanks to advanced microscopy techniques.

Confocal microscopy uses laser scanning at several depths to create detailed and highly concentrated images of a sample. The technique is normally used for university research.

Jill Pflugheber of the University of Kentucky formed its confocal microscopes on 50 species of sacred plant and mushrooms of the Americas. His work is presented in Microcosms: sacred plants of the AmericasA book she wrote with independent historian Steven F. White.

The result is a sparkling journey in the inner life of some of the most revered plant species in the world, explains White. He said they were looking for a way to create “botanical art” that upsets the perceptions of people in sacred plants. “We hope that people watching Microcosms Can learn to respect these plants in new ways. »»

Working from the main image, the images show some of the results of their work: Brugmansia suaveolens; Justicia Pectoralis; Virola Theiodora; Neltuma Pallida; cannabis; And Theobroma cocoa.