Psilocybe weraroa

Last updated

Psilocybe weraroa
Weraroa novae zelandiae.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Hymenogastraceae
Genus: Psilocybe
Species:
P. weraroa
Binomial name
Psilocybe weraroa
Borovička, Oborník & Noordel. (2011)
Synonyms [1]

Secotium novae-zelandiae G.Cunn. (1924)
Weraroa novae-zelandiae(G.Cunn.) Singer (1958)

Contents

Psilocybe weraroa, formerly Weraroa novae-zelandiae, is a secotioid fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae . [2] It is endemic to New Zealand, where it grows in native forests from rotting wood and woody debris. [3] Despite its pouch-like form this species is closely related to Psilocybe cyanescens and Psilocybe subaeruginosa . [4] As a bluing member of the genus Psilocybe it contains the psychoactive compounds psilocin and psilocybin. [5]

Taxonomy and naming

The species was first described in the literature in 1924 by the New Zealand-based mycologist Gordon Heriot Cunningham, under the name Secotium novae-zelandiae. [6] Rolf Singer transferred it to the genus Weraroa in 1958. [7] Phylogenetic analysis by Moncalvo (2002) [8] and Bridge et al. (2008) [5] has demonstrated the close relationship between Weraroa novae-zelandiae and the hallucinogenic blue-staining group of Psilocybe, particularly Psilocybe subaeruginosa . Phylogenetic analysis published by Borovička and colleagues (2011) showed this species is very close to Psilocybe cyanescens . Given this and the apparently distant relation with other species of Weraroa Borovička et al. (2011) suggested renaming the species Psilocybe weraroa. [4]

P. subaeruginosa "Subs"

P. cyanescens "Wavy Caps"

P. allenii

P. weraroa

P. makarorae

P. cubensis "Magic Mushrooms"

P. serbica

P. medullosa

P. zapotecorum

P. aucklandiae

P. pelliculosa "Conifer Psilocybe"

P. alutacea

P. angulospora

P. semilanceata "Liberty Caps"

P. fuscofulva

Cladogram depicting the phylogeny of P. weraroa and related species of Psilocybe. [4]

Etymology

The species epithet weraroa is taken from the former generic name, which refers to the type locality. The binomial Psilocybe novae-zelandiae could not be used, as it had been applied to another species in 1978 by Gastón Guzmán and Egon Horak (now Deconica novae-zelandiae ). [9] [10]

Description

Psilocybe weraroa
Information icon.svg
Gleba icon.png Glebal hymenium
Conical cap icon.svgOvate cap icon.svg Cap is conical or ovate
Bare stipe icon.svgCortina stipe icon.png Stipe is bare or has a cortina
Transparent spore print icon.svg
Spore print is purple-brown
Saprotrophic fungus.svgEcology is saprotrophic
Mycomorphbox Psychoactive.pngEdibility is psychoactive
A cross-section of the basidiocarp. W novae-zelandiae X section.jpg
A cross-section of the basidiocarp.
Fruitbodies. Weraroa novae-zelandiae.jpg
Fruitbodies.

Pileus (Peridium) 3—5 cm. long by 1.5—3 cm. wide, roundish, ovate (wider at the base and tapering towards the end, egg-shaped) or elongated and elliptic (tapered at the base and apex with a swollen mid-section), base decurrent (extending down the stem below the insertion) or rounded and blunt, margin folded and often torn, light brown when young, becoming french-grey or pale blue-grey, sometimes pallid green in age, longitudinally fibrillose causing a finely striated appearance, becoming smooth, polished, glabrous, tacky and leathery in age, slowly bruising blue or greenish when injured, drying yellow to dingy brown. Stipe up to 40 mm. long by 6 mm. in diameter, slender, equal in width, whitish to french-grey, bruising blue or greenish with damage, yellowish-brown at the base, initially fibrillose but becoming smooth, polished and cartilaginous in age excluding at the base, hollow, flesh yellow-orange, thickening at the internal apex. Gleba sepia-brown to chocolate-brown, cellular, coarsely shaped, often elongated, laterally compressed, sparse, chambered and gill-like. Spores 11–15(17) x 5–8 µm in size, smooth, sepia-coloured to purple-brown, elliptic-ovate or elliptical in shape, rounded at one end with a thin epispore. [6]

Habitat and distribution

Solitary to crowded on decaying wood buried in forest leaf litter, often on the rotting branches of Melicytus ramiflorus . It has also been found fruiting on rotted cabbage trees and associated with decaying tree-fern fronds, native to the forests of New Zealand. [6]

Fairly abundant in the early winter and spring months in lowland mixed rainforest near Wellington and Auckland. The mushroom can be difficult to see, often buried under leaves or eaten by slugs, and it is sometimes hard to find mature specimens that are not partially eaten. [6] The species is endemic to New Zealand. [3]

Similar species

Clavogaster virescens, a close lookalike often mistaken for P. weraroa by foragers. Clavogaster virescens.jpg
Clavogaster virescens, a close lookalike often mistaken for P. weraroa by foragers.

Clavogaster virescens is similar in appearance and habitat, but the gleba form a reddish brown chambered mass enclosed inside a sack-like structure within the peridium. The stem is stout, smooth and slippery rather than fibrous, off-white to yellow, enlarged at the top where it often smoothly transitions into the pouch, and tapering towards a yellower base. The fungus does not have a bluing reaction; it is naturally blue to greenish blue, and has no psychoactive properties. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Psilocybe</i> Genus of fungi

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.

<i>Psilocybe cyanescens</i> Species of fungus

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strophariaceae</span> Family of fungi

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.

<i>Psilocybe aucklandiae</i> Species of fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae

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.

<i>Psilocybe subaeruginosa</i> Species of agaric fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae

Psilocybe subaeruginosa is a species of agaric fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae described in 1927 and known from Australia and New Zealand. As a blueing member of the genus Psilocybe it contains the psychoactive compounds psilocin and psilocybin.

<i>Deconica montana</i> Species of fungus

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.

Gymnopilus luteus, known as the yellow gymnopilus, is a widely distributed mushroom-forming fungus of the Eastern United States. It contains the hallucinogens psilocybin and psilocin. It is often mistaken for G. speciosissimus and G. subspectabilis.

<i>Weraroa</i> Genus of fungi

Weraroa was a genus of mushrooms from the families Hymenogastraceae and Strophariaceae. The genus was initially described by mycologist Rolf Singer in 1958 to accommodate the single species Secotium novae-zelandiae reported by Gordon Herriott Cunningham in 1924. It was thought that the genus represented an intermediary evolutionary stage between a hypogeous (underground) ancestor and the related epigeous genus Stropharia. Advances in phylogenetics and taxonomic changes since 1958 found it contained unrelated species from multiple genera. It is now considered a synonym of the genus Psilocybe.

<i>Gymnogaster</i> Genus of fungi

Gymnogaster is a genus of fungi in the family Boletaceae. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single secotioid species Gymnogaster boletoides, found in Australia. The fungus produces bright yellow fruit bodies with a light brown internal gleba, and the fruit bodies turn blue then dark brown after bruising or handling.

<i>Agaricus deserticola</i> Species of fungus in the family Agaricaceae endemic to southwestern and western North America

Agaricus deserticola, commonly known as the gasteroid agaricus, is a species of fungus in the family Agaricaceae. Found only in southwestern and western North America, A. deserticola is adapted for growth in dry or semi-arid habitats. The fruit bodies are secotioid, meaning the spores are not forcibly discharged, and the cap does not fully expand. Unlike other Agaricus species, A. deserticola does not develop true gills, but rather a convoluted and networked system of spore-producing tissue called a gleba. When the partial veil breaks or pulls away from the stem or the cap splits radially, the blackish-brown gleba is exposed, which allows the spores to be dispersed.

<i>Psilocybe makarorae</i> Species of fungus

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.

<i>Psilocybe serbica</i> Species of fungus

Psilocybe serbica is a species of mushroom in the family Hymenogastraceae. The mushroom contains the psychotropic compounds psilocybin and psilocin, and also related tryptamine alkaloids baeocystin, norbaeocystin, and aeruginascin. It is closely related to Psilocybe aztecorum. It was reported as new to science by Meinhard Moser and Egon Horak in 1969. Molecular analysis published in 2010 has shown that P. serbica is the same species as Psilocybe bohemica described by Šebek in 1983, Psilocybe arcana described by Borovička and Hlaváček in 2001, and Psilocybe moravica by Borovička in 2003. Psilocybe serbica is common in Central Europe.

<i>Psilocybe tasmaniana</i> Species of fungus

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.

<i>Deconica</i> Genus of fungi

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.

<i>Cortinarius porphyroideus</i> Species of fungus

Cortinarius porphyroideus, commonly known as purple pouch fungus, is a secotioid species of fungus endemic to New Zealand. It was one of six species that appeared as part of a series depicting native New Zealand fungi on stamps, released in 2002.

<i>Psilocybe allenii</i> Species of fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae

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.

<i>Pholiota nubigena</i> Species of fungus

Pholiota nubigena, commonly known as the gastroid pholiota or the bubble gum fungus, is a species of secotioid fungus in the family Strophariaceae. It is found in mountainous areas of the western United States, where it grows on rotting conifer wood, often fir logs. It fruits in spring, often under snow, and early summer toward the end of the snowmelt period in high mountain forests. Fruit bodies appear similar to unopened mushrooms, measuring 1–4 centimetres tall with 1–2.4 cm diameter caps that are whitish to brownish. They have a short but distinct whitish stipe that extend through the internal spore mass (gleba) of the fruit body into the cap. The gleba consists of irregular chambers made of contorted gills that are brownish in color. A whitish, cottony partial veil is present in young specimens, but it often disappears in age and does not leave a ring on the stipe.

<i>Clavogaster virescens</i> Species of fungus

Clavogaster virescens is a species of secotioid or pouch-like fungus in the family Strophariaceae. It is endemic and indigenous to New Zealand, where it grows on rotting wood in native bush and mixed native and introduced forests. It has a stout yellowish stem, and a powder blue, purplish or greenish blue cap that forms a pouch, often referred to as a peridium, enclosing reddish brown or orange chambered gleba. The species is sometimes known as the "Spindle Pouch".

References

  1. "Psilocybe weraroa Borovička, Oborník & Noordel. 2011". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
  2. "Index Fungorum - Names Record". Index Fungorum. 2011. Archived from the original on 1 October 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Psilocybe weraroa Borovička, Oborník & Noordel". NZOR. Archived from the original on 1 October 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Borovička J, Noordeloos ME, Gryndler M, Oborník M (2011). "Molecular phylogeny of Psilocybe cyanescens complex in Europe, with reference to the position of the secotioid Weraoa novae-zelandiae" (PDF). Mycological Progress. 10 (2): 149–55. doi:10.1007/s11557-010-0684-3. S2CID   36050854. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-03-01.
  5. 1 2 Bridge PD, Spooner BM, Beever RE, Park D-C (2008). "Taxonomy of the fungus commonly known as Stropharia aurantiacea, with new combinations inLeratiomyces". Mycotaxon. 103: 109–21. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Cunningham, G.H. (1924). "A critical revision of the Australian and New Zealand species of the genus Secotium". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 49 (2): 97–119. Retrieved 2023-05-18 via Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research (2004) New Zealand Fungi Names Databases.
  7. Singer R. (1958). "New genera of fungi, IX. The probable ancestor of the Strophariaceae: Weraroa gen. nov". Lloydia. 21: 45–7.
  8. Moncalvo JM, Vilgalys R, Redhead SA, Johnson JE, James TY, Catherine Aime M, Hofstetter V, Verduin SJ, Larsson E, Baroni TJ, Greg Thorn R, Jacobsson S, Clémençon H, Miller OK (2002). "One hundred and seventeen clades of euagarics". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 23 (3): 357–400. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(02)00027-1. PMID   12099793.
  9. Guzmán G, Horak E (1978). "New species of Psilocybe from Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand" (PDF). Sydowia. 31 (1–6): 44–54. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2011-07-23.
  10. Redhead SA, Moncalvo J-M, Vilgalys R, Matheny PB, Guzmán-Dávalos L, Guzmán G (2007). "(1757) Proposal to conserve the name Psilocybe (Basidiomycota) with a conserved type" (PDF). Taxon. 56 (1): 255–7. JSTOR   25065762. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2013-03-01.