Psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms, 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 Copelandia, Gymnopilus, Inocybe, Panaeolus, Pholiotina, Pluteus, and Psilocybe. Psilocybin mushrooms have been and continue to be used in indigenous New World cultures in religious, divinatory, or spiritual contexts. Psilocybin mushrooms are also used as recreational drugs. They may be depicted in Stone Age rock art in Africa and Europe, but are most famously represented in the Pre-Columbian sculptures and glyphs seen throughout North, Central and South America.
Psilocybe is a genus of gilled mushrooms, growing worldwide, in the family Hymenogastraceae. Most or nearly all species contain the psychedelic compounds Psilocybin, psilocin and baeocystin.
Psilocybe mexicana is a psychedelic mushroom. Its first known usage was by the natives of North and Central America over 2,000 years ago. Known to the Aztecs as teotlnanácatl, from the Nahuatl teotl ("god") + nanácatl ("fungus"). This species was categorized by French botanist Roger Heim.
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.
Psilocybe baeocystis is a psilocybin mushroom of the family Hymenogastraceae. It contains the hallucinogenic compounds psilocybin, psilocin and baeocystin. The species is commonly known by various names such as bottle caps, knobby tops, blue bells, olive caps.
Gastón Guzmán Huerta, a Mexican mycologist and anthropologist, was an authority on the genus Psilocybe.
Psilocybe MP 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 aucklandiae is a species of agaric fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae 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.
Psilocybe mescaleroensis is a psychedelic mushroom which has psilocybin and psilocin as main active compounds. This mushroom is closely related to Psilocybe hopii and Psilocybe cyanescens. It was brought to scientific attention by Lee Walstad.
Psilocybe stuntzii, also known as Stuntz's blue legs and blue ringers it is a psilocybin mushroom of the family Hymenogastraceae, having psilocybin and psilocin as main active compounds.
Psilocybe naematoliformis, is a species of fungus in the mushroom family Hymenogastraceae. It is a psilocybin mushroom, having psilocybin and psilocin as the main active hallucinogenic compounds.
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 hispanica is a species of fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae. It produces small brown mushrooms with conical to convex caps up to 10 mm (0.4 in) in diameter and stems 16 to 25 mm long by 0.5 to 1 mm thick. Reported as new to science in 2000, it is only known from the Pyrenees mountain range in northern Spain and southwestern France, where it grows on horse dung in grass fields at elevations of 1,700 to 2,300 m. The mushroom contains the psychoactive compound psilocybin. The possible depiction of this species in the 6,000-year-old Selva Pascuala rock art suggests that it might have been used in ancient religious rituals—the oldest evidence of such usage in prehistoric Europe.
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 makarorae is a species of psilocybin mushroom in the family Hymenogastraceae. Officially described as new to science in 1995, it is known only from New Zealand, where it grows on rotting wood and twigs of southern beeches. The fruit body (mushroom) has a brownish cap with lighter coloured margins, measuring up to 3.5 cm (1.4 in) wide. The cap shape is either conical, bell-shaped, or flat depending on the age of the mushroom, and it features a prominent umbo. Although the whitish stem does not form a true ring, it retains remnants of the partial veil that covers and protects the gills of young fruit bodies. P. makarorae mushrooms can be distinguished from the similar North American species Psilocybe caerulipes by microscopic characteristics such as the presence of cystidia on the gill faces (pleurocystidia), and cheilocystidia with more elongated necks. Based on the bluing reaction to injury, P. makarorae is presumed to contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin and psilocin.
Psilocybe tasmaniana is a species of coprophilous agaric fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae. It was described by Gastón Guzmán and Roy Watling in 1978 as a small tawny orange mushroom that grows on dung, with a slight blueing reaction to damage, known only from Tasmania and southeastern Australia. It was likened to Psilocybe subaeruginosa although characteristics, appearance, and the association with dung were not typical for that species. As a blueing member of the genus Psilocybe it contains the psychoactive compounds psilocin and psilocybin.
Psilocybe yungensis is a species of psychedelic mushroom in the family Hymenogastraceae. In North America, it is found in northeast, central and southeastern Mexico. In South America, it has been recorded from Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador. It is also known from the Caribbean island Martinique, and China. The mushroom grows in clusters or groups on rotting wood. The fruit bodies have conical to bell-shaped reddish- to orangish-brown caps that are up to 2.5 cm (1.0 in) in diameter, set atop slender stems 3 to 5 cm long. The mushrooms stain blue when bruised, indicative of the presence of the compound psilocybin. Psilocybe yungensis is used by Mazatec Indians in the Mexican State of Oaxaca for entheogenic purposes.
