Psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms or shrooms, are a polyphyletic informal group of fungi that contain psilocybin, which turns into psilocin upon ingestion. Biological genera containing psilocybin mushrooms include Psilocybe, Panaeolus, Inocybe, Pluteus, Gymnopilus, and Pholiotina.
Psilocybe is a genus of gilled mushrooms, growing worldwide, in the family Hymenogastraceae. Most or nearly all species contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin and psilocin.
Psilocybe semilanceata, commonly known as the liberty cap, is a species of fungus which produces the psychoactive compounds psilocybin, psilocin and baeocystin. It is both one of the most widely distributed psilocybin mushrooms in nature, and one of the most potent. The mushrooms have a distinctive conical to bell-shaped cap, up to 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter, with a small nipple-like protrusion on the top. They are yellow to brown, covered with radial grooves when moist, and fade to a lighter color as they mature. Their stipes tend to be slender and long, and the same color or slightly lighter than the cap. The gill attachment to the stipe is adnexed, and they are initially cream-colored before tinting purple to black as the spores mature. The spores are dark purplish-brown in mass, ellipsoid in shape, and measure 10.5–15 by 6.5–8.5 micrometres.
Psilocybe cyanescens, commonly known as the wavy cap or potent psilocybe, is a species of potent psychedelic mushroom. The main compounds responsible for its psychedelic effects are psilocybin and psilocin. It belongs to the family Hymenogastraceae. A formal description of the species was published by Elsie Wakefield in 1946 in the Transactions of the British Mycological Society, based on a specimen she had recently collected at Kew Gardens. She had begun collecting the species as early as 1910. The mushroom is not generally regarded as being physically dangerous to adults. Since all the psychoactive compounds in P. cyanescens are water-soluble, the fruiting bodies can be rendered non-psychoactive through parboiling, allowing their culinary use. However, since most people find them overly bitter and they are too small to have great nutritive value, this is not frequently done.
Psilocybe tampanensis is a very rare psychedelic mushroom in the family Hymenogastraceae. Originally collected in the wild in a sandy meadow near Tampa, Florida, in 1977, the fungus would not be found in Florida again until 44 years later. The original Florida specimen was cloned, and descendants remain in wide circulation. The fruit bodies (mushrooms) produced by the fungus are yellowish-brown in color with convex to conic caps up to 2.4 cm (0.9 in) in diameter atop a thin stem up to 6 cm (2.4 in) long. Psilocybe tampanensis forms psychoactive truffle-like sclerotia that are known and sold under the nickname "philosopher's stones". The fruit bodies and sclerotia are consumed by some for recreational or entheogenic purposes. In nature, sclerotia are produced by the fungus as a rare form of protection from wildfires and other natural disasters.
The Strophariaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Under an older classification, the family covered 18 genera and 1316 species. The species of Strophariaceae have red-brown to dark brown spore prints, while the spores themselves are smooth and have an apical germ pore. These agarics are also characterized by having a cutis-type pileipellis. Ecologically, all species in this group are saprotrophs, growing on various kinds of decaying organic matter. The family was circumscribed in 1946 by mycologists Rolf Singer and Alexander H. Smith.
Gastón Guzmán Huerta, a Mexican mycologist and anthropologist, was an authority on the genus Psilocybe.
Psilocybe caerulipes, commonly known as blue-foot, is a rare psilocybin mushroom of the family Hymenogastraceae, having psilocybin and psilocin as main active compounds. An older synonym is Agaricus caerulipes.
Psilocybe zapotecorum is a psilocybin mushroom which has psilocybin and psilocin as main active compounds. It is in the section Zapotecorum.
Psilocybe aucklandiae is a species of agaric fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae. The species is known from the Auckland Region of New Zealand, where it grows from clay soils in exotic pine plantations and native forests. It is phylogenetically similar to or almost the same as Psilocybe zapotecorum from Mexico and South America. As a blueing member of the genus Psilocybe it contains the psychoactive compounds psilocin and psilocybin.
Psilocybe galindoi is a psychedelic mushroom in the section Mexicana, having psilocybin and psilocin as its main active compounds. It is also known as Psilocybe galindii. The species was named in honor of Mr. Carlos Galindo Arias and his family by Dr. Gastón Guzmán.
Deconica montana, commonly known as the mountain moss Psilocybe, is a common species of mushroom that usually grows in mossy and montane regions around the world. The appearance is that of a typical "little brown mushroom" with a small, brown cap and a straight, thin stipe.
Psilocybe aztecorum is a species of psilocybin mushroom in the family Hymenogastraceae. Known from Arizona, Colorado, central Mexico, India and Costa Rica, the fungus grows on decomposing woody debris and is found in mountainous areas at elevations of 2,000 to 4,000 m, typically in meadows or open, grassy conifer forests. The mushrooms have convex to bell-shaped caps 1.5–2 cm (0.6–0.8 in) in diameter, atop slender cylindrical stems that are up to 7.5 cm (3.0 in) long. The color of the caps changes with variations in hydration, ranging from dark chestnut brown to straw yellow or whitish when dry. The base of the stem is densely covered with conspicuous white rhizomorphs, a characteristic uncommon amongst Psilocybe species.
Psilocybe hoogshagenii is a species of psilocybin mushroom in the family Hymenogastraceae. The mushroom has a brownish conical or bell-shaped cap up to 3 cm (1.2 in) wide that has an extended papilla up to 4 mm long. The stem is slender and 5 to 9 cm long. The variety P. hoogshagenii var. convexa lacks the long papilla.
Psilocybe pelliculosa is a species of fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae. The fruit bodies, or mushrooms, have a conical brownish cap up to 2 cm in diameter atop a slender stem up to 8 cm long. It has a white partial veil that does not leave a ring on the stem. American mycologist Alexander H. Smith first described the species in 1937 as a member of the genus known today as Psathyrella; it was transferred to Psilocybe by Rolf Singer in 1958.
Deconica coprophila, commonly known as the dung-loving psilocybe, meadow muffin mushroom, or dung demon, is a species of mushroom in the family Strophariaceae. First described as Agaricus coprophilus by Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard in 1793, it was transferred to the genus Psilocybe by Paul Kummer in 1871. In the first decade of the 2000s, several molecular studies showed that the Psilocybe was polyphyletic, and the non-bluing (non-hallucinogenic) species were transferred to Deconica.
Deconica is a genus of mushroom-forming fungi in the family Strophariaceae. It was formerly considered synonymous with Psilocybe until molecular studies showed that genus to be polyphyletic, made of two major clades: one containing bluing, hallucinogenic species, the other non-bluing and non-hallucinogenic species. Deconica contains species formerly classified in the sections Deconica and Coprophila of Psilocybe.
Psilocybe allenii is a species of agaric fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae. Described as new to science in 2012, it is named after John W. Allen, who provided the type collection. It is found in the northwestern North America from British Columbia, Canada to Los Angeles, California, most commonly within 10 miles (16 km) of the Pacific coast.
Psilocybe medullosa is a species of psychoactive mushroom. It was originally described in 1898 as Naucoria medullosa by Italian mycologist Giacomo Bresadola. Czech mycologist Jan Borovička transferred it to Psilocybe in 2007. A widespread but rather rare species, it is found in Europe, where it grows as a saprobe on woody debris and detritus. Chemical analysis has been used to confirm the presence of the psychedelic compounds psilocin and psilocybin in the fruit bodies but probably at low levels. Psilocybe silvatica is its American sister species; it differs by subtle changes in molecular markers.
