Magic mushrooms (Psilocybe cubensis): How to recognize them.
There are many mushrooms species which like to feed from manure -Coprophilous fungi-. Among them, there are Psilocybe, Paneolus, Coprinus, stropharia, etc. However, many species are apparently very similar. Then in the following photos you will see the main characteristics present in the most famous magic mushroom Psilocybe cubensis, and some other similar mushrooms that can generate cofusion, at least in my research área (Rionegro, Colombia):
Colombia is a non seasonal country, then mushrooms can grow almost all the year, after some rains. At the right part the of image below is the P. cubensis and at the left is another coprophilous unknown mushroom. can you tell the difference in gill colors?. In P cubensis those are blackish, in the other one are brown. in the little specimen there is a very disctinctive characteristic present in Psilocybes: blue bruising. This means that spcilocybin, the allucinogenic substance is oxidated to a blue color when the mushroom is injured
Is the image below logic???. ohhh yes, the animal in photo is a clear indicator that there may be P. cubensis. This mushroom likes to grow mainly in cow manure, at least in my country. Here, i´ve never seen this mushroom growing in other manure than caw´s, not even in horse´s. However, the great Mycologist Paul Stamets reports this mushroom growing in other type of manure like in Elephant´s.
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Here you can see three apparent Psilocibes. but guess what?
After observing details, the middle mushroom is not Psilocybe. This specimen shares many characteristics of Silocybe like the ring and pileus color and shape, but this is actually a Stropharia species, which is related to psilocybe. Can you tell the difference in gills colors?
Right: P. cubensis, Left: Stropharia semiglobata. both mushrooms were growing together in the same manure. note the longitude of the stipe compared to the size of the pileus, in both species this relationship is different.
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comments are welcome !!!
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To support your work, I also upvoted your post!
One of my favorite books ever is Terrance McKenna's True Hallucinations, which takes place in the Amazon region of your country, where Terrance and his brother Dennis find and consume perhaps a few too many cubenses. Fascinating read.
Is it legal where you live to grow, posses or consume these mushrooms? It is still illegal in the USA, but times are changing. The State of Oregon just south of where I live has a citizen initiative to legalize psychedelic mushrooms, and many research facilities around the USA are using psilocybin in human clinical trials.
I'm looking forward to building a friend group on here of folks that love all things related to mushrooms. I look forward to your posts.
I don´t know the book you mention, but It would be very interesting to read it. In this topic there are many interesting books, like those written by Castaneda, those of Dr Hoffman/Schultes, the one of Paul stamets and so on.
Legality of psichedellic mushrooms in my country is not clear, because laws do not mention explicitly mushrooms, maybe because here is an enormous ignorance around this topic. Besides, the government of my country is focused in other type of drugs that actually are causing social problems.
The group you´re building is an amazing idea. I hope I could join you !!!
Thanks four your reading and votes.
Very Cool! I have seen them growing in horse manure here in the US state of Georgia. They were in a big pile of the stuff outside a barn on land owned by the police. I thought about taking some but didn't want to come back for another round of community service.
jajaja, your psilopolice story is very funny. why don´t you cultivate your own srooms?.
by using some cereal grain it´s pretty foolproof. I´ll post on the subject soon.