of Psilocybe - Mycophilia

The Genus Psilocybe in North Americaby Michael W. BeugProfessor Emeritus, The Evergreen State College. P. O. Box 116, Husum, WA 98623, beugm@evergreen.eduThe genus Psilocybe is rathersmall, composed of mostlylittle brown non-descriptsaprobic mushrooms that no one wouldnormally give a second thought toexcept for the presence in some of apair of very special indoles. Psilocybewas until fairly recently thought tobe closely related to Stropharia andseveral members, including Psilocybecubensis, have been moved back andforth between the two genera. However,current interpretation of DNA resultsshows that the Psilocybe genus iscaused considerable consternationwith taxonomists because it meansthat whatever species are related to thetype species for the genus will retainthe name Psilocybe and the unrelatedspecies will have to go into a newgenus. The accepted type for Psilocybe,at least as i understood the situation,was a small non-descript mossinhabitingspecies, Psilocybe montana(Pers.) P. Kumm 1871, that does notproduce psilocybin or psilocin (Fig. 1).That appeared to mean that all of thehallucinogenic mushrooms commonlyFigure 2. Psilocybe semilanceataIn the 1970s and 1980s when PaulStamets, Jeremy Bigwood and Iwere doing our research on thechemistry of these mushrooms andnaming a new species and new variety,the large Psilocybe species (similar insize to Agaricus campestris or to thestore-bought button mushrooms) wereconsidered by some authors to belongin the genus Stropharia. Of these larger,meaty species there is one species ofparticular interest due to the presenceof psilocybin and psilocin. That speciesis Psilocybe cubensis Earle (Singer) (Fig.3). It is a beautiful mushroom reachingFigure 3. Psilocybe cubensisup to 8 cm across. The cap can startout with an umbo and becomes firstbell-shaped and then convex as it ages.The cap is biscuit brown fading to paletan as it dries out and has tiny whitishscales. There is a partial veil leaving adistinct ring on the off-white stipe. Allparts bruise blue. In the United Statesit is found in the wild throughout theSoutheast and in Texas and Hawaii. Itis common in Mexico. Its habitat is onwell-manured ground and on dung –and that can be the dung of cattle, oxen,yaks, water buffalo, horses or elephants.This is a truly widespread tropicalspecies fruiting spring, summer and fall.Psilocybe subcubensis is a highly similartropical species and though reportedFigure 1. Psilocybe montanacomprised of two groups that are onlydistantly related to each other andboth groups are only distantly relatedto Stropharia. one group of Psilocybespecies produces the hallucinogenpsilocybin (and usually also the closelyrelated hallucinogen psilocin) and theother group does not. Both groupscurrently in the genus Psilocybe areactually much more closely related toHypholoma and Pholiota than they areto Stropharia.The news that Psilocybe was composedof two only distantly related groupsknown as psilocybes (sometimes simply“‘shrooms”) were going to need a newgenus.Fortunately a well-respected groupof mycologists (Redhead et al., 2007)came to the rescue with a proposal toconserve the name Psilocybe with aconserved type. As of february 2010(Norvel, 2010), it was official – thegenus Psilocybe was conserved withPsilocybe semilanceata (Fr.) P. Kumm1871 as the conserved type (Fig. 2).Psilocybe semilanceata is one of thehallucinogenic Psilocybe species, anda very potent one at that, averagingaround 1% by dry weight psilocybin,but more about that later. Whatwill happen to the nomenclature ofPsilocybe montana and its relatives isa story yet to be told, and one aboutwhich few will care.Most species of Psilocybe,hallucinogenic or not, are small andthin fleshed. All are saprobic – someon dung, some on woody debris, someon other plant remains, some on soiland others among mosses. The capis smooth, often a bit viscid (slimy),sometimes with a few small appressedsquamules (small scales) or veilremnants, colored whitish, ochraceous,grayish, buff, brown or red-brown,often hygrophanous (the color lightensto pale tan as the cap loses moisture,often starting in the center). Most ofthe hallucinogenic species bruise fromslightly blue to intensely blue-black.The spore prints are usually dark violetbrown but in some non-hallucinogenicspecies can be reddish brown orochraceous. Microscopically the sporesare smooth, rather thick-walled, witha germ pore. Cheilocystidia occur ina range of shapes but pleurocystidiaare usually lacking and chrysocystidiaare absent. There are about 30 speciesin the united States and Canada andan additional 50+ species in Mexico– with some of the Mexican speciesappearing in florida and other tropicalto subtropical parts of the united States(Guzmán, 2008).Breitenbush MushroomGatheringOctober 20-23, 2011Eastern European Mushroom TraditionsAlexander Viazmensky, mushroom artist fromSt. Petersburg will teach watercolor paintingChef Michasia Pawluskiewicz will lead themushroom culinary workshopFeatured Speakers: Dr. Denis Benjamin, Daniel Winkler,Debbie ViessCost: $175 plus lodgingRegistration: Breitenbush 503.854.3320Info: patrice@mushroominc.org 206.819.4842www.mushroominc.org6 FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011 FUNGI Volume 4:3 Summer 2011 7