Jochen Gartz - Magic Mushrooms Around the ... - preterhuman.net

that those mushrooms occurred adventitiously,
that is, that the spores had been imported from
overseas together with other plant materials. The
presence of such mushrooms in botanical gardens
had been observed quite frequently, and such
imports are likely whenever the mushroom in
question has never before been found in
surrounding areas. The possible importation of
Gymnopilus purpuratus is described elsewhere
(see Chapter 3.5).
The mushrooms displayed a much more
intense blue staining reaction than Psilocybe
semilanceata. They were observed growing on
small pieces of wood in the forested areas of Kew
Gardens during the fall season for several years.
Among the mushrooms' most notable features are
their undulating, twisted caps. Guzman believes
that specimens collected in British Columbia and
the Pacific Northwest of the United States
(Northern California, Oregon, Washington) are
identical to those found in Kew Gardens (see
Figure 24). Indeed, all of the macroscopic and
some microscopic descriptions and photographs
match the mushrooms found in England. However,
conclusive proof of identity can be provided only
by results from DNA analyses and cross-breeding
experiments with single-spore mycelia. I will
elaborate on this method in a later section.
In 1975, fruiting bodies of this species
were also discovered in Holland. Additional bluing
mushrooms growing gregariously on grass and
decaying reeds were found in the Jura Mountains
of Switzerland in 1972 (MTB 8511). Other
samples are known to have been collected in the
Steiermark region of Austria in the fall of 1976, as
well as on the Mediterranean island of Corsica in
1972 and 1984.
On several occasions, a number of
fruiting bodies classifed as Psilocybe cyanescens
were also discovered in Germany (see Figure 23, p.
32).
More elaborate descriptions of several such
collections are provided below:
On October 31, 1983 considerable
quantities of fruiting bodies in all stages of
development were found in the lower regions of
Bavaria (MTB 7542). Interspersed with grass, the
mushrooms grew along a 100-yard stretch right
next to an old garbage dump forming colonies,
some small and others larger, that were partially
intertwined. They were found scattered
across decaying plant materials, such as leaves,
twigs and mulch. There were greenish and
distinctly bluish stains on the caps, and most
notably a bluish color near the base of the stem.
Other fruiting bodies quickly developed blue
stains in reaction to being handled, even in very
cool temperatures.
The description of Psilocybe cyanescens
below is somewhat condensed, but essentially
applies to all other collections, while the relative
measures and sizes may vary:
Caps: 5-40 mm broad, conic at first, with
cortinate fibrils ascending steeply to the stem, but
fading quickly, bell-shaped later on, partially with
an acute umbo. Later expanding to plane, with
undulating or wavy margins, no remnants of veil,
also broadly convexed to umbonate in older
mushrooms. Deep chestnut brown when fresh and
moist, fading to a whitish color when drying, with
stains of bluish to blue-green coloration.
Gills: Attachment adnate to broadly
subdecurrent, color light to dirty beige when
young, later on changing to cinnamon-purple
brownish color due to maturation of spores. Blue
staining reaction is slight in response to pressure.
Stem: 30-85 mm long, uniformally thick at 1.5-3
mm. Stems and mycelial fibers turn blue in
response to touch, if blue stains not already
present.
Odor: Somewhat like flour or potatoes.
Spores: 6-8 x 9-14 u.
In 1976, bluing mushrooms growing on
plant debris were found in the Saarland region of
Germany. Other collections came from the
Southern regions of the Black Forest (MTB 7515,
1959, 1963), as well as the Vogtland area (1979)
and the Rheinland area (MTB 4706, 1982).
Similar mushrooms were also discovered near
Hamburg (MTB 2428, 1983) and Bremen (1982,
1983). The latter collections are especially
interesting, because the greenhouses at the
Rhododendron Park and People's Park in those
cities provided layers of wood chips during the
fall which enabled the mushrooms to fruit much
more prolifically (thousands of mushrooms) than
they did naturally in surrounding areas, where the
species was also fruiting in several locations.
These findings most likely indicate the presence
of a similar, imported species, because native
fruiting bodies require exposure to the shock of
colder temperatures of fall in order to develop