Psilocybe guilartensis

🏷️ Description

Psilocybe guilartensis is a rare but abundant psychedelic mushroom known for its enchanting colors, potent psychoactive compounds, and tropical habitat. This fascinating fungus contains psilocybin and psilocin, making it part of the mind-altering Psilocybe genus — and it's the most commonly collected Psilocybe in Puerto Rico.

🧢 Cap Features

• Size: (1 to 3 cm) 0.39 to 1.18 inches in diameter

• Shape: Starts subconical to bell-shaped, maturing to plano-convex with a central umbo

• Color: Dark violet brown, hygrophanous, becoming tan as it dries

• Texture: Translucent-striate near the edges

• Reaction: Stains blue-green to black when bruised

🍬 Gills & Spores

• Gills: Start cream-colored, aging to violet or chocolate brown, adnexed attachment

• Spores: Dark violet brown, subrhomboid face view, subellipsoid side view, thick-walled, approx. 6 × 5 µm

🌾 Stipe (Stem)

• Size: (3 to 8 cm) 1.18 to 3.15 inches long × (1 to 2 mm) 0.04 to 0.08 inches thick

• Shape: Cylindrical, hollow, with a subbulbous base

• Color: Whitish to brown, base often with flattened scales

• Unique Feature: Mustard-yellow setaceous (bristly) hyphae near the base

• Reaction: Stains blue-green to black when bruised

👃 Taste & Odor

• Taste: Farinaceous (like fresh flour), sometimes with a hint of mustard

• Odor: Also farinaceous, occasionally with a mustard-like note

🔬 Microscopic Features

• Cystidia: Two distinct types of pigmented pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia

• Cheilocystidia: Often hyaline, inflated, with encrusted bases and bifurcate (split) tips

• Basidia: Typically four-spored

• Clamp connections: Common

🌍 Habitat & Distribution

Psilocybe guilartensis thrives in the humid tropics, often where disturbance has occurred:

• Found gregariously on bare clay, moss, and along hiking trails

• Grows in coffee plantations, tropical, and subtropical forests, especially landslide zones

• Most common in Puerto Rico, also recorded in the Dominican Republic (Hispaniola)

🧬 Taxonomy & Classification

First described in 1997 by Gastón Guzmán, Psilocybe guilartensis belongs to section Brunneocystidiatae, alongside species like P. banderillensis, P. heimii, and P. verae-crucis. Key traits placing it here include:

• Bluing reaction upon injury

• Thick-walled, rhomboid spores under 8 µm

• Pigmented hymenial cystidia

Its distinctive features, especially the mustard-yellow hyphae and complex cystidia, set it apart from similar species like Psilocybe pleurocystidiosa.

✨ Summary

Psilocybe guilartensis is not only the psychedelic jewel of Puerto Rico but also a microscopic marvel, hiding intricate structures beneath its humble cap. Whether you're a mycologist, psychonaut, or nature enthusiast, this mushroom offers a fascinating blend of chemistry, ecology, and beauty. 🍃💫

Photo source: Wes Gapp (CC BY-SA 4.0)