Psilocybe subaeruginascens

Not to be confused with Psilocybe subaeruginosa.

Psilocybe subaeruginascens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Agaricales
Family:	Hymenogastraceae
Genus:	Psilocybe
Species:	P. subaeruginascens
Binomial name
Psilocybe subaeruginascens Hohnel

Psilocybe subaeruginascens Mycological characteristics
	Gills on hymenium
	Cap is campanulate or conical
	Hymenium is adnate
	Stipe has a ring
	Spore print is blackish-brown
	Ecology is saprotrophic
	Edibility is psychoactive

Psilocybe subaeruginascens is a psychedelic mushroom which has psilocybin ^[1] and psilocin as main active compounds. This mushroom is closely related to Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata.^{[ citation needed ]}

Description

The cap is 20–30 mm, and conical, to broadly campanulate (bell-shaped) or umbonate. It has a striated, ivory or pale-gray/brown colour, with a blue-green tinge and is hygrophanous. It does not change colour in reaction to KOH. ^{[2] [3]}

The tough white stipe measures 40-65 x 2–3 mm. It is smooth to finely hairy though its base has conspicuous white rhizoids and mycelial strands attached to substrate. It has a fragile, fleeting, white ring left by its partial veil. It bruises blue-green where damaged. The flesh is tough, white, blues when touched and its odor is unpleasant. ^[3]

The gills are a pale brown, to yellowish brown color when young, becoming dark brown with white fringed edges in age. They have an adnate attachment, are crowded and somewhat forked. ^[4] Its spore print is dark brown or black. ^[3]

Microscopic Features

The spores measure 8-9.5x 5-6.5 x 4.5-5.5 μm, and are elliptical to subrhomboid in face view and almond-shaped in side view. They have thick-walls (1-1.3 μm in diameter), with distinct germ pore at its apex, and are smooth and opaque. The basidia are 24-30 x 6-8 μm in size, and are cylindrical. They have 4 spores each, and have sterigmata that are up to 7 μm long. ^{[3] [2]}

The cheilocystidia measure 18-24 x 6-10 μm, and are spindle to urn-shaped, with a rounded or slightly swollen apex. The apex is sometimes covered in a thin, transparent crust. The spores have thin-walls, and are transparent. Pleurocystidia and caulocystidia absent. Clamp connections are present.

The hyphae of the pileipellis run in parallel to the cap surface, and are transparent, to pale yellow. They are 4-10 μm in diameter and are non-gelatinized, and non-incrusted, with no distinct terminal cells. The subpellis is made up of transparent, irregularly interwoven, thin-walled hyphae. ^[3] The stipitipellis has parallel, transparent to yellowish brown, thin-walled hyphae that are 5–7 μm wide. ^[2]

Distribution and habitat

Psilocybe subaeruginascens grows in gregariously and in cespitose clusters in wood chips, piles of leaves, and woody debris in urban areas and along trails and roads in deciduous forests and gardens. It is occasionally found in dung. It is found from April to July in southern Japan and subtropical Indonesia . ^[4]

Use

A study in 1981 found that the mycelium of P. subaeruginascens has a psilocybin concentration of .017-.018%. ^[5] In his book Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World: An Identification Guide, Paul Stamets describes the mushrooms as moderately potent. ^[4] Possession of this mushroom is banned in Japan. ^[6]

It can oxidize naphthalene. ^[7]

See also

• List of Psilocybin mushrooms

References

1. ministerrådet, Nordiska (2009). Occurrence and use of hallucinogenic mushrooms containing psilocybin alkaloids. Copenhagen: Nordiska ministerrådets förlag. p. 64. ISBN   978-92-893-1836-5.
2. Silva, P. S.; Silveira, R. M. B.; Cortez, V. G. (December 2014). "Notes on Deconica and Psilocybe (Agaricales) from the southern border of Atlantic forest and Pampa biomes of Brazil". Sydowia (66): 217–228. doi:10.12905/0380.sydowia66(2)2014-0217. ISSN   0082-0598.
3. Horak, Egon; Desjardin, Dennis D (June 2006). "Agaricales of Indonesia. 6. Psilocybe (Strophariaceae) from Indonesia (Java, Bali, Lombok)". Sydowia . 58: 15–37.
4. Stamets, Paul (1996). Psilocybin mushrooms of the world: an identification guide. Berkeley, Calif: Ten Speed Press. pp. 152–153. ISBN   978-0-89815-839-7.
5. Koike, Yutaka; Wada, Kohko; Kusano, Genjiro; Nozoe, Shigeo; Yokoyama, Kazumasa (May 1981). "Isolation of Psilocybin From Psilocybe argentipes and Its Determination in Specimens of Some Mushrooms". Journal of Natural Products. 44 (3): 362–365. Bibcode:1981JNAtP..44..362K. doi:10.1021/np50015a023. ISSN   0163-3864.
6. Gonmori, Kunio; Yokoyama, Kazumasa (March 2009). "[Acute encephalopathy caused by cyanogenic fungi in 2004, and magic mushroom regulation in Japan]". Chudoku Kenkyu: Chudoku Kenkyukai Jun Kikanshi = The Japanese Journal of Toxicology. 22 (1): 61–69. ISSN   0914-3777. PMID   19344063.
7. Rosenberg, E. (1993). Microorganisms to Combat Pollution. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. p. 355. ISBN   978-94-011-1672-5.

• Guzman, G. The Genus Psilocybe: A Systematic Revision of the Known Species Including the History, Distribution and Chemistry of the Hallucinogenic Species. Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia Heft 74. J. Cramer, Vaduz, Germany (1983) [now out of print].