Psilocybe silvatica

🏷️ Description

Psilocybe silvatica is a psychoactive mushroom 🌈 native to woodlands and forests across Europe and North America. Belonging to the Semilanceatae section of the genus Psilocybe, this saprotrophic species thrives on decaying wood and leaf litter. It was first described as Psathyra silvatica in 1889 by Charles Horton Peck and later reclassified to Psilocybe in 1958 by Rolf Singer and Alexander H. Smith.

🌱 Cultivation Tips: Grows naturally in woodland environments 🌳, moderately resistant to contamination, and requires responsible handling due to its psychoactive properties and legal considerations ⚖️.

🔎 Identification

🧢 Cap

• Size: 0.31 to 0.98 inches (0.8 to 2.5 cm) wide

• Shape: Conical to campanulate, often with an acute umbo.

• Texture: Viscid when moist, with a thin gelatinous pellicle.

• Color: Moist: Dark tawny brown, fading to pale yellow-brown. Dry: Hygrophanous, sometimes striated, and occasionally tinged with grayish-green.

🌿 Gills

• Attachment: Adnate to adnexed.

• Spacing: Close to subdistant.

• Color: Young: Dull grayish brown to cinnamon. Mature: Smoky brown with white edges.

📏 Stem

• Size: 0.79 to 3.15 inches (2 to 8 cm) long, 1–3 mm thick.

• Shape: Equal or slightly widened at the base.

• Color & Texture: Whitish to grayish near the apex with silky fibrils. Brownish to dark brown towards the base, occasionally bruising slightly blue.

🥩 Flesh

• Whitish in the cap, cartilaginous brownish in the stem.

• Turns slightly blue when cut ✂️.

🦠 Spores

• Color: Dark purplish-brown to blackish purple 🖤.

• Microscopic Spores: 6–9.5 × 4–5.5 µm.

👃👅 Odor & Taste: Flour-like 🍞.

🌍 Habitat & Ecology

• Substrate: Woody debris, wood chips (especially alder), and decayed conifer substratum.

• Distribution: Found from southern Oregon to British Columbia, with reports in Idaho, Finland, and other forested regions of Europe.

• Season: Late September through December 🍂❄️.

🧐 Look-Alikes

1️⃣ Psilocybe pelliculosa: Slightly less yellow caps. Differing spore size and cheilocystidia structure.

✨ Psychoactive Properties

Active Compound: Psilocybin 🍬.

Effects:

• Visual: Mild distortions, enhanced colors 🎨.

• Mental: Elevated mood, introspection 🤔.

• Physical: Energy boost, sensory enhancement 🌟.

Dosage: 20–40 fresh mushrooms or 2–4 grams dried.

Duration: 4–6 hours ⏳.

📜 Synonyms

1. Psathyra silvatica Peck (1889)

2. Pilosace silvaticus (Peck) Kuntze (1898)

3. Hypholoma silvaticum (Peck) A.H.Sm. (1941)