Psilocybe cyanescens

(Photo: Fred Stevens)

Psilocybe cyanescens Wakefield
Trans. Brit. Myc. Soc. 29 141. 1946.

Common Name: none

Pileus
Cap 2-4.5 cm broad, convex, becoming nearly plane with a low umbo; margin striate, often wavy, sometimes upturned in age; surface smooth, sticky when moist, hygrophanous, at first brown, fading to yellow-brown; flesh thin, brittle in age, bruising blue.
Lamellae
Gills close to subdistant, adnate to seceding, pale cinnamon brown becoming dark grey-brown, edges lighter than the faces, mottled from spores at maturity,
Stipe
Stipe 3-6 cm tall, 0.3-0.6 cm thick, equal, sometimes enlarged at the base with conspicuous thickened mycelium (rhizomorphs); surface white, smooth to silky, bruising blue; veil fibrillose, forming a superior, evanescent hairy zone.
Spores
Spores 9-12 x 6-8 µm, elliptical, smooth, with an apical pore. Spore print purple-brown to purple-grey.
Habitat
Scattered to gregarious on woody debris, leaf litter, and wood chips; fruiting from late summer in watered areas to mid-winter.
Edibility
Hallucinogenic.
Comments
Psilocybe cyanescens is recognized by its chestnut-brown, striate, wavy-margined cap that soon fades to yellow brown and blue-staining fruiting body. Because of its hallucinogenic properties, it is sometimes the subject of experimentation, a potentially dangerous practice because of toxic look-alikes in the genus Galerina, Conocybe and Inocybe.