Psilocybe serbica

🏷️ Description

Psilocybe serbica is a remarkable species in the family Hymenogastraceae, celebrated for its potent psychotropic compounds: psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin, norbaeocystin, and aeruginascin. These compounds make it one of the most powerful magic mushrooms in Europe. First described in 1969 by Austrian mycologists Meinhard Moser and Egon Horak, this mushroom's taxonomy has been a subject of intense study, linking it to species like Psilocybe bohemica, P. arcana, and P. moravica. 🍂

🧬 Genomic Insights: Sequenced by the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, the genome of P. serbica sheds light on psilocybin biosynthesis pathways, promising advances in psychedelic medicine.

💊 Potency and Alkaloid Content: Psilocybe serbica is celebrated for its high psilocybin concentrations, with some varieties (var. bohemica) reaching up to 15.543 mg/g—the highest among European Psilocybes. This makes it a potent candidate for therapeutic studies on anxiety, depression, and addiction. 🧠✨

📜 Historical Notes:

• Discovery: Found in Serbia's Tara mountains in 1963.

• Taxonomy: Shares genetic identity with Psilocybe bohemica, P. arcana, and P. moravica.

• Scientific Advancements: DNA analysis in 2010 confirmed these species as synonyms of P. serbica.

• Legacy: An original specimen resides in the Natural History Museum in Belgrade, Serbia.

🔎 Identification

🍄 Cap

• Size: 1–4 cm (0.4–1.6 in) in diameter.

• Shape: Starts conical, transitions to campanulate or convex, eventually flattening with age.

• Color: Buff-brown to orangish-brown, drying to pale ochraceous.

• Texture: Smooth, hygrophanous, slightly translucent-striate when moist, non-viscid.

🌿 Gills

• Attachment: Adnate to adnexed, sometimes subdecurrent.

• Color: Light brown in youth, dark brown with purple hues as it ages.

• Edges: Paler than the rest.

📏 Stem

• Dimensions: 45–80 mm (1.8–3.1 in) long, 2–10 mm (0.1–0.4 in) thick.

• Appearance: Whitish with a silky gloss, occasionally adorned with remnants of a fibrillose veil.

• Base: Slightly enlarged.

🥩 Flesh

• Color: Whitish to cream.

• Reaction: Bruises blue when injured, a hallmark of psilocybin presence.

👃👅 Odor & Taste

• Smell: Mildly radish-like, never farinaceous.

• Taste: Often bitter.

🦠 Spores

• Color: Purple-brown.

• Shape: Ellipsoid, slightly flattened, with a distinct germ pore.

• Size: Highly variable, mostly 10–13 × 6–7.5 μm.

🌲 Habitat and Distribution

• Growth Habit: Found in groups, typically on decayed wood (both deciduous and coniferous), twigs, or plant residue.

• Environment: Moist forests, creek banks, and forest paths across Central Europe.

• Association: Often seen near Urtica (nettles) or Rubus (brambles).

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Karol Filo III (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 2-3 - Author: Michal Honskus (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 4 - Author: Karol Filo III (CC BY-SA 4.0)