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

From ayahuasca and cannabis to psilocybin mushrooms and tobacco, people have been using mind-altering plants and fungi in spiritual rituals and ceremonies for thousands of years to filter and change their view of the world.

Now the lens has been flipped, with a new book revealing these psychoactive and medicinal plants and fungi in a new light, thanks to cutting-edge microscopy techniques.

Confocal microscopy uses laser scanning at multiple depths to create detailed, sharply-focused images of a specimen. The technique is normally used for academic research.

Jill Pflugheber at the University of Kentucky trained her confocal microscopes on 50 sacred plant and fungal species from across the Americas. Her work is featured in Microcosms: Sacred plants of the Americas, a book she has written with independent historian Steven F. White.

The result is a glittering journey into the inner life of some of the world’s most revered plant species, says White. He says they were looking for a way to create “botanical art” that upends people’s perceptions of sacred plants. “We’re hoping the people who look at Microcosms can learn to respect these plants in new ways.”

Working from the main picture down, the images show some of the results of their work: Brugmansia suaveolens; Justicia pectoralis; Virola theiodora; Neltuma pallida; cannabis; and Theobroma cacao.