Muscarine,
L-(+)-muscarine, or
muscarin is a
natural product found in certain
mushrooms, particularly in
Inocybe and
Clitocybe species, such as the deadly
C. dealbata. Mushrooms in the genera
Entoloma and
Mycena have also been found to contain levels of muscarine which can be dangerous if ingested. Muscarine has been found in harmless trace amounts in
Boletus,
Hygrocybe,
Lactarius and
Russula. Muscarine is only a trace compound in the fly agaric
Amanita muscaria; the pharmacologically more relevant compound from this mushroom is
muscimol.
A. muscaria fruitbodies contain a variable dose of muscarine, usually around 0.0003 resh weight. This is very low and toxicity symptoms occur very rarely.
Inocybe and
Clitocybe contain muscarine concentrations up to 1.6%.