Psilocybe subtropicalis
🏷️ Description
🧬 Family: Hymenogastraceae
🌎 Found In: Subtropical forests of Mexico and Guatemala
🌡️ Climate: Subtropical
🌱 Habitat: Grows on muddy soils and humus, often in small groups.
📖 Ecology & History
This slow-growing species thrives from June to November. Known for its resistance to contamination and decay, Psilocybe subtropicalis was first collected in Huautla de Jiménez and described by mycologist Gastón Guzmán in 1995. Historically, it was referenced as Psilocybe semperviva, meaning "ever-living," due to its robust and enduring nature.
🌈 Psychoactive Properties
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Contains psilocybin, a compound responsible for its hallucinogenic effects.
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Recognized for its cultural and scientific significance, originating from collections dating back to 1958.
📝 Quick Facts
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Growth Habit: Typically found in small groups.
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Seasonality: Late spring to autumn.
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Unique Features: Stains blue, lacks a veil, and does not form sclerotia in culture.
💡 Fun Fact: Its genetic history connects it distantly to Psilocybe hoogshagenii but as a distinct species. This mushroom carries the legacy of decades of study and resilience!
🔎 Identification
🍄 Cap
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Size: 10–30 mm in diameter.
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Shape: Convex to subcampanulate (bell-shaped), sometimes with a slight papilla (point).
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Color: Orangish-brown to yellowish, fading to straw-colored as it dries.
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Surface: Smooth (glabrous), hygrophanous, and striate near the edges.
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Bruising: Dark blue to blackish when moist or handled.
🌾 Gills
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Attachment: Adnate to adnexed.
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Color: Pale brown to dark purplish-black at maturity, with whitish edges.
📏 Stem
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Dimensions: 40–110 mm long, 1–3 mm thick, hollow.
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Color: Whitish to cap-colored, covered with white fibrils.
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Base: Subbulbous, tough, and fibrous.
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Bruising: Blue staining when cut or injured.
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Veil: Absent in mature specimens.
🦠 Spores: Brownish-yellow with a distinct germ pore.
🔬 Microscopic Features
Size: 6.5–8 x 5–5.5 μm, rhomboid to subrhomboid in face view, thick-walled.
Pleurocystidia: Ventricose and rostrate (13–22.5 x 4–7 μm).
Cheilocystidia: Irregularly branched and abundant (20–32 x 5–7 μm).
Clamp connections: Present.
Photo source: Alan Rockefeller (CC BY-SA 4.0)
