Psilocybe azurescens

Taxobox
name = "Psilocybe azurescens"


image_width = 265px
regnum = Fungi
divisio = Basidiomycota
classis = Agaricomycetes
ordo = Agaricales
familia = Strophariaceae
genus = "Psilocybe"
species = "P. azurescens"
binomial = "Psilocybe azurescens"
binomial_authority = Stamets & Gartzmycomorphbox
name = Psilocybe azurescens
whichGills = adnate
whichGills2= sinuate
capShape = convex
capShape2=umbonate
hymeniumType=gills
stipeCharacter=bare
ecologicalType=saprotrophic
sporePrintColor=blackish-brown
sporePrintColor2=purple
howEdible= psychoactive

"Psilocybe azurescens" is a psychedelic mushroom whose main active compounds are psilocybin and psilocin. It is among the most potent [Paul Stamets, "A Comparison of Combined Maxima of Psilocybin, Psilocin and Baeocystin in Eleven Species of Psilocybe" [http://www.fungi.com/info/gallery/psilochart.html Fungi Perfect] ] of the tryptamine-bearing mushrooms, containing up to 1.8% psilocybin, 0.5% psilocin, and 0.4% baeocystin by dry weight, averaging to about 1.1% psilocybin and 0.15% psilocin. It belongs to the family Strophariaceae in the order Agaricales.

Appearance

Pileus 30-100 mm in diameter, conic to convex, expanding to broadly convex and eventually flattening with age with a pronounced, persistent broad umbo; surface smooth, viscous when moist, covered by a separable gelatinous pellicle; chestnut to ochraceous brown to caramel in color often becoming pitted with dark blue or bluish black zones, hygrophanous, fading to light straw color in drying, strongly bruising blue when damaged; margin even, sometimes irregular and eroded at maturity, slightly incurved at first, soon decurved, flattening with maturity, translucent striate and often leaving a fibrillose annular zone in the upper regions of the stem. Lamellae ascending, sinuate to adnate, brown, often stained info-black where injured, close, with two tiers of lamellulae, mottled, edges withish. Spore-print dark purplish brown to purplish black in mass. Stipe 90-200 mm long by 3-6 mm thick, silky white, dingy brown from the base or in age, hollow at maturity. Composed of twisted, cartilaginous tissue. Base of stem thickening downwards, often curved, and characterized by coarse white aerial tufts of mycelium, often with azure tones. Mycelium surrounding stipe base densely rhizomorphic (i.e., root-like), silky white, tenaciously holding the wood-chips together, strongly bruising bluish upon disturbance. They have no odor to slightly farinaceous. Their taste is extremely bitter.

Habitat and distribution

Cespitose to gregarious on deciduous wood-chips and/or in sandy soils rich in debris. Aspect collyboid, generating an extensive, dense and tenacious mycelial mat, "Psilocybe azurescens" causes the whitening of wood. Fruitings begin in late September and continue until harsh frost, usually mid-November.

Cultivated patches occur worldwide, but natural patches are found along the US Pacific coast, north of Seaside, Oregon, as well as Astoria, Oregon. Isolated patches have been found as far south as Arcata, California.

Legal status

Possession and/or cultivation of this species is illegal in a number of countries.

Effects

"See ."

References

External links

* [http://www.sporeworksgallery.com/microscopy_composites/Psilocybe_azurescens_001 Psilocybe azurescens microscopy composite photo]
* [http://www.shroomery.org/8700/Psilocybe-azurescens-taxonomy-paper Psilocybe azurescens taxonomy paper]
* [http://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_cultivation_az2.shtml Psilocybe azurescens cultivation]