Psilocybe pelliculosa
Description
Psilocybe pelliculosa is a species of fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae. The fruit bodies, or mushrooms, have a conical brownish cap up to 2 cm (3⁄4 in) in diameter atop a slender stem up to 8 cm (3+1⁄8 in) long. It has a white partial veil that does not leave a ring on the stem. It is found in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada, where it grows on the ground in groups or clusters along trails or forest roads in coniferous woods. A single collection has also been reported from Finland, and also in Norway.
The mushrooms contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin and baeocystin, although at relatively low concentrations. Several mushroom species that are similar in appearance to P. pelliculosa can be distinguished by subtle differences in the form of the fruit body, or by microscopic characteristics.
Common names: Conifer Psilocybe.
Mushroom Identification
Cap
0.5-3 cm broad. Obtusely conic, becoming conic-campanulate with age. Margin translucent-striate and generally not incurved in young specimens. Chestnut brown when moist, then dark dingy yellow to pale yellow in drying (hygrophanous), often with a pallid band along the margin, and frequently tinged olive green in patches. Surface smooth, viscid when moist from a separable gelatinous pellicle. Flesh thin, pliant, and more or less concolorous with the cap.
Gills
Attachment adnate to adnexed, finally seceding, close narrow to moderately broad. Color dull cinnamon brown, darkening with spores in age.
Stem
60-80 mm long by 1-2.5 mm thick. Equal above, and slightly enlarged at the base. The surface is covered with appressed grayish fibrils and powdered at the apex. Whitish to pallid to grayish, more brownish toward the base, blue-green were bruised or with age. Flesh stuffed with a tough pith. Partial veil thin to obscure to absent.
Microscopic Features
Spores purplish-brown in deposit, subellipsoid to subovoid, 9-13 by 5-7 microns. Basidia 4-spored. Pleurocystidia absent. Cheilocystidia 17-36 by 4-7.5 microns, fusiform to lance-shaped, with an elongated neck 1.5-2 microns thick.
Season
Late October to through December after cool, wet weather. Usually fruiting around mid November to December in the Pacific Northwest.
Habitat and Distribution
They like clear cuts that are about 3-10 years old, maybe 3-8 years after replant. If you start finding Hypholoma, you are in a good area to keep looking. Don't let them fool you tho, they are kinda hard to spot. Areas on landings in clear cuts, and then the cuts themselves. On decomposed conifer substrate.
Look-Alikes
Psathyrella fagicola
Similar cap cuticle, the coloring, and the stem base covered in silky fibers.
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Distinguished by its larger spores and a conical, papillate cap.
Psilocybe silvatica
A microscope is needed to reliably distinguish between the two species. P. silvatica, found from New York to Michigan and north to Canada, has longer spores. P. pelliculosa has a general resemblance to Hypholoma dispersum, a species found in northern North America and Europe.
Psilocybe pelliculosa Effects
In general, psilocybin causes hallucinations, alterations in thought patterns (sometimes including important personal and spiritual insight), alterations in mood (often euphoria and a sense of connection, though serious anxiety is also possible), nausea, and sometimes vomiting or even convulsions. Dangerous reactions are rare but possible, especially at higher doses. Effects can begin twenty to thirty minutes after taking the psilocybin, and usually last six to eight hours, though fifteen-hour trips are possible.
History
The species was first described scientifically by Alexander H. Smith in 1937 as Psathyra pelliculosa, based on specimens he collected in Washington and Oregon. The type specimen was collected near Tahkenitch Lake, Oregon, in November 1935. In a 1941 publication, Smith revised his opinion, and considered the species to be the same as Hypholoma silvatica (later Psilocybe silvatica), as he thought that the slight differences between the two were of no taxonomic significance. After reevaluating these two species in addition to several others closely related, Rolf Singer and Smith later reestablished the taxon and transferred it to Psilocybe in 1958. Psilocybe authority Gastón Guzmán classified the species in the section Semilanceatae, a grouping of related species characterized by having roughly ellipsoid, usually thick-walled spores, and lacking pleurocystidia.
The specific epithet pelliculosa is derived from the Latin pellicula, meaning "film", and refers to the gelatinous pellicle of the cap. The mushroom is commonly known as the "conifer Psilocybe" or the "striate Psilocybe".
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: Scottdarbey (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 2 - Author: shroom360 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 3 - Author: Scottdarbey (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 4 - Author: Scott Darbey from Canada (CC BY-SA 2.0)
