Teófilo Herrera Suárez (24 February 1924 – 23 April 2020) was a Mexican mycologist who was known for his contributions to the Mexican mycological flora. He was also an emeritus professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where he worked for over 50 years.
Professional training Herrera is originally from Mexico City. In 1940 he enrolled in the UNAM National High School. In 1942 he decided to study Biology instead of Medicine thanks to the positive influence of his teacher Francisco Villagran. He began as an undergraduate student in the Faculty of Sciences at UNAM and got his degree in 1945. Later on, he moved to the US to pursue a master's degree in Microbiology and Biochemistry of Fermentation, which he obtained in 1953 from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He expanded his knowledge getting a second bachelor's degree in 1954, this time in Chemical Biology and Parasitology at the School of Biological Sciences from the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN). Further on, he began his Doctorate's degree at UNAM; he focused his research in "gasteroid fungi" and got his degree with honors in 1964 with his thesis: "Gasteromycetes of the Valley of Mexico".
Scientific career
Early career He began his teaching career in 1946, right after getting his bachelor's degree, as a lab assistant at the UNAM National High School. Further, he taught in different public and private schools, diverse courses such as Biology, Anthropology and Zootechny. He started as an instructor in 1952 in the Faculty of Sciences teaching for undergraduate students at UNAM, where he eventually taught for over 50 years lectures in Botany, Microbiology, Mycology, and History of Science.
1940s–1950s He started as an assistant researcher for Manuel Ruíz Oronoz, his mentor, in 1945. Ruíz Oronoz's research was focused on studying fermenting microorganisms from "pulque". Throughout his scientific career, Herrera has remained interested in fermenting microorganisms behind traditional Mexican alcoholic beverages. Herrera participated in the isolation and identification of pulque fungi, commonly called "pulqueros", such as: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pichia membranaefaciens, Candida boidini, C. incospicua, and numerous species of the genera Kloeckera, Rhodotorula and Torulopsis. In 2003 he published a book entitled: "Más allá del pulque y el tepache" ("Beyond pulque and tepache"), in which he writes about these two beverages as well as other traditional Mexican alcoholic beverages such as "pozol", "tesgüino" and "colonche". In this book, as well as in the rest of his research, he always provides information of the social impact and history behind it. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Herrera and his collaborator Gastón Guzmán were the only scientists focused on studying macromycetes in Mexico. In fact in 1948, Herrera published the description of Podaxis pistillaris. Later, with Guzmán, he published a compilation of more than 100 pages with 82 different species of edible mushrooms from the local markets in Mexico; it was published in the Anales del Instituto de Biología. During the late 1950s he became interested in hallucinogenic mushrooms from several regions of Mexico, specifically Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca, in the Mazateca Sierra. Like his previous studies, he did not only study the taxonomy, ecology, and distribution of hallucinogenic mushrooms, but he focused part of his research in social impacts, learning about these fungi directly from the local shaman, María Sabina. His ecological research in hallucinogenic mushrooms determined the environmental conditions for these organisms to grow: oak and coniferous forests between 1,300 and 2,600 msl. However, further studies showed that hallucinogenic fungi can also grow, although rarely, at sea level (Psilocybe cubensis), and above 3,500 msl (Psilocybe aztecorum). During 1958 he focused his research in culturing, under laboratory conditions, the hallucinogenic mushroom Psilocybe cubensis. Further on, he described the hallucinogenic effects of Psilocybe based on personal experience, which were published in the Mexican journal "Neurología",: (Translation to English)
"Increased blood pressure and body temperature as well as increased heart rate and pulse, other effects may be present, such as shivers, flushing or paleness, nauseas, tremor and heavy legs; in some cases headache, dizziness, euphoria, and changes in behavior; almost always, occurrence of hallucinations shaped like geometric bright figures of various and changing colors like a kaleidoscope, changes in the understanding with rapid disintegration and confusion of ideas, difficulty to distinguish reality from fiction, loss of space and location, sense of shortening or elongated as well as distorted or disconnected body parts; schizophrenia, namely, split personality, feeling apart from the body and mind. All of these trigger a state of anguish, unable to distinguish between real and unreal, but generally, a feel that there is direct communication with god or supernatural forces or beings. In general, the psychotropic effect lasts for four to five hours but it can last longer, there can be sporadic manifestations even several days after the ingestion of hallucinogenic mushrooms." In mid-1960s he began studying macromycetes from the Valley of Mexico, specifically the class Gasteromycetes (currently obsolete). He published an individual and detailed analysis of each of the following genera: Myriostoma, Cyathus, Phallus, Battarrea and Tulostoma. He then expanded his research to other areas of Mexico: Sonora, State of Mexico and Campeche, focusing in the genus Geastrum. During this time he was interested in identifying edible mushrooms from these regions. With this particular research area, Herrera, instilled interest in the cultivation of Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus in Mexico; currently is a fruitful and well-remunerated activity. At the same time he was interested in identifying toxic mushrooms in Mexico. He carried out research in toxic fungi such as Amanita virosa, A. verna and A. bisporigera, which cause the majority of fatal poisoning in Mexico.
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