An undergraduate student at West Virginia University (WVU) recently discovered a mystery fungus that has eluded mycologists for decades. Hazel was initially studying how morning glories disperse protective chemicals called ergot alkaloids through their roots. Morning glories live in symbiosis with the fungi that produce the same ergot alkaloids. “It’s amazing for a student.”These same ergot alkaloids were modified by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann when he invented LSD in the late 1930s. “This inspired Hofmann and others to investigate morning glories for the presence of a hidden fungus related to the ergot fungus that might be the source of these chemicals.