Psilocybe cyanescens

Psilocybe cyanescens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Hymenogastraceae
Genus: Psilocybe
Species:
P. cyanescens
Binomial name
Psilocybe cyanescens
Psilocybe cyanescens
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Gills on hymenium
Cap is umbonate
Hymenium is adnate or subdecurrent
Stipe is bare
Spore print is blackish-brown to purple
Ecology is saprotrophic
Edibility is psychoactive

Psilocybe cyanescens, commonly known as the wavy cap or potent psilocybe,[1] is a species of potent psychedelic mushroom. The main compounds responsible for its psychedelic effects are psilocybin and psilocin. It belongs to the family Hymenogastraceae. A formal description of the species was published by Elsie Wakefield in 1946 in the Transactions of the British Mycological Society, based on a specimen she had recently collected at Kew Gardens.[2] She had begun collecting the species as early as 1910.[3][4] The mushroom is not generally regarded as being physically dangerous to adults.[5][6] Since all the psychoactive compounds in P. cyanescens are water-soluble, the fruiting bodies can be rendered non-psychoactive through parboiling, allowing their culinary use. However, since most people find them overly bitter and they are too small to have great nutritive value, this is not frequently done.[5]

Psilocybe cyanescens can sometimes fruit in colossal quantities; more than 100,000 individual mushrooms were found growing in a single patch at a racetrack in England.[7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference MD was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Dennis, R.W.G.; Wakefield, E.M. (1 September 1946). "New or interesting British fungi". Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 29 (3): 141–166. doi:10.1016/S0007-1536(46)80038-X.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference fieldmyco was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Duffy, Thomas. "Toxic Fungi of Western North America". Myokoweb. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  5. ^ a b Paul Stamets (2000). Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms. Ten Speed Press. p. 329. ISBN 978-1-58008-175-7.
  6. ^ Gartz, Jochen (1998). "Observations on the Psilocybe cyanescens complex of Europe and America". Ann. Mus. Civ Rovereto. 12.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference guardian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).