Psilocybe baeocystis

Description

Psilocybe baeocystis, also known by names Like Bottle Caps, Knobby Tops, Blue Bells, and Olive caps, is a fascinating psilocybin mushroom from the Hymenogastraceae family 🍄. This hallucinogenic species contains the compounds psilocybin, psilocin, and baeocystin, known for their psychoactive effects. 🌿

This species is recognizable by its robust stature, hygrophanous cap, and the distinctive blue bruising of the flesh when cut. The mushroom’s psychoactive compounds can range from 0.15% to 0.85% psilocybin, with psilocin up to 0.59% and baeocystin up to 0.10%, as confirmed in studies by Beug and Bigwood (1981). 🌌

While Psilocybe baeocystis shares some similarities with Psilocybe aztecorum, it remains a unique and potent mushroom with significant historical and scientific interest.

Mushroom Identification

🧢 Cap:

• Diameter: 0.6 to 2.2 inches (1.5 to 5.5 cm)

• Shape: Conic to convex, occasionally flat with age

• Color: Dark olive-brown to buff-brown, sometimes steel-blue; turns copper brown when dry. Fades to pallid white.

• Texture: Hygrophanous (color changes when drying), viscid with a separable gelatinous pellicle. Often wavy and striate (lined) at the margin. The cap may be sticky.

• Special Note: Bruises bluish-green, especially near the edges.

🍂 Flesh:

• Color: Yellowish-brown in cap, brownish-orange in stem. Stains blue when bruised or cut.

🍁 Gills:

• Attachment: Adnate to sinuate (slightly curved)

• Color: Grayish to dark cinnamon-brown with paler edges.

🍃 Stem:

• Size: 1.97 to 2.76 inches (5 to 7 cm) long, 2–3 mm thick

• Color: Pallid to brownish, often yellowish towards the apex; covered with fine white fibrils. Stains blue-green when damaged.

• Structure: Brittle, stuffed with loose fibers, with distinct rhizomorphs (root-like structures) at the base.

👰 Veil:

• Thin and cobweb-like; quickly disappears, sometimes leaving faint fibrils on the stem.

👃 Odor & Taste:

• Strongly farinaceous (like fresh flour or meal).

🔬 Microscopic Features:

• Spore Print: Dark purplish-brown

• Spores: 9.5–13.7 x 5.5–6.6 μm, mango-shaped with thick walls.

• Cheilocystidia: Fusoid with a narrow neck, forming a sterile band along the gill edges.

🌲 Habitat:

• Found growing alone or in clusters on bark, wood chips, peat moss, decaying conifer mulch, and occasionally on lawns, pastures, and rarely in conifer forests.

• Often seen in gardens, flower beds, and near Douglas-fir seed cones from fall to early winter, and occasionally in spring.

• This hemiboreal mushroom is common in the Pacific Northwest and typically grows from August to December, with rare sightings as early as late June.

Look-Alikes

1️⃣ Psilocybe cyanescens: It has a thinner veil, a more conical cap that is typically olive-brown when young, and a smooth, non-wavy cap margin, while P. cyanescens features a broad, umbonate cap with a wavy margin.🍄

2️⃣ Psilocybe strictipes: Has a long, brittle, and straight stem, which sets it apart from P. baeocystis. 🌿

Photo source: Alan Rockefeller (CC BY-SA 4.0)