Psilocybe cubensis, commonly known as the magic mushroom, shroom, golden halo, cube, gold cap, or bluestain smoothcap, is a species of psilocybin mushroom of moderate potency whose principal active compounds are psilocybin and psilocin. It belongs to the fungus family Hymenogastraceae and was previously known as Stropharia cubensis. It is the best-known psilocybin mushroom due to its wide distribution and ease of cultivation.
Taxonomy The species was first described in 1906 as Stropharia cubensis by American mycologist Franklin Sumner Earle in Cuba. In 1907, it was identified as Naematoloma caerulescens in Tonkin (now Vietnam) by French pharmacist and mycologist Narcisse Théophile Patouillard, while in 1941, it was called Stropharia cyanescens by William Alphonso Murrill near Gainesville in Florida. German-born mycologist Rolf Singer moved the species into the genus Psilocybe in 1949, giving it the binomial name Psilocybe cubensis. The synonyms were later also assigned to the species Psilocybe cubensis. The name Psilocybe is derived from the Ancient Greek roots psilos (ψιλος) and kubê (κυβη), and translates as "bare head". Cubensis means "coming from Cuba", and refers to the type locality published by Earle. Singer divided P. cubensis into three varieties: the nominate, which usually had a brownish cap, Murrill's cyanescens from Florida, which generally had a pale cap, and var caerulascens from Indochina with a more yellowish cap. Psilocybe cubensis is commonly known as gold top, golden top or gold cap in Australia, sacred mushroom or blue mushroom in Brazil, and San Ysidro or Palenque mushroom in the United States and Mexico, while the term "magic mushroom" has been applied to hallucinogenic mushrooms in general. It is commonly known as "Golden teacher" in South Africa. A common name in Thai is "Hed keequai", which translates as "mushroom which appears after water buffalo defecates". Between 2013 and 2022, several samples of an unknown species of Psilocybe mushroom were collected. These samples bore similar superficial characteristics to P. cubensis, as well as similar habit and habitat. Microscopic and genetic testing of these samples led to the conclusion that they were closely related but different species, estimated to have shared a common ancestor some time in the last 3 million years. The new species bears the provisional name Psilocybe ochraceocentrata.
Description
The cap is 1.6–8 cm (3⁄4–3+1⁄4 in), conic to convex with a central papilla when young, becoming broadly convex to plane with age, retaining a slight umbo sometimes surrounded by a ring-shaped depression. The cap surface is smooth and sticky, sometimes with white universal veil remnants attached. The cap is brown becoming paler to almost white at the margin and fades to more golden-brown or yellowish with age. When bruised, all parts of the mushroom stain blue. The narrow grey gills are adnate to adnexed, sometimes seceding attachment, and darken to purplish-black and somewhat mottled with age. The gill edges remain whitish. The hollow white stipe is 4–15 cm (2–6 in) high by 0.4–1.4 cm (1⁄4–1⁄2 in) thick, becoming yellowish in age. The well-developed veil leaves a persistent white membranous ring whose surface usually becomes the same color as the gills because of falling spores. The fruiting bodies are 90% water. The mushroom has no odor and has been described as tasting farinaceous, with an alkaline or metallic aftertaste. The spores are 11.5–17.3 x 8–11.5 μm, sub-ellipsoid, basidia 4-spored but sometimes 2- or 3-, pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia present.
Similar species The related species Psilocybe subcubensis—found in tropical regions—is indistinguishable but has smaller spores. Panaeolus semiovatus can appear similar but does not stain. Psilocybe ochraceocentrata, native to Southern Africa, is closely related to Psilocybe cubensis.
Distribution and habitat Psilocybe cubensis is a pan-tropical species, occurring in the Gulf Coast states and southeastern United States, Mexico, in the Central American countries of Belize, Costa Rica, Panamá, El Salvador and Guatemala, the Caribbean countries Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Guadalupe, Martinique, and Trinidad, in the South American countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru, Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia, India, Australia, Fiji, and possibly Nepal and Hawaii. Psilocybe cubensis is found on cow (and occasionally horse) dung, sugar cane mulch or rich pasture soil, with mushrooms appearing from February to December in the northern hemisphere, and November to April in the southern hemisphere. In Asia, the species grows on water buffalo dung. Along with other fungi that grow on cow dung, P. cubensis is thought to have colonized Australia with the introduction of cattle there, 1800 of which were on the Australian mainland by 1803—having been transported there from the Cape of Good Hope, Kolkata and the American west coast. In Australia, the species grows between northern Queensland to southern New South Wales. In March 2018, several Psilocybe cubensis specimens were collected in Zimbabwe in the Wedza District of Mashonaland East province, approx. 120 km southeast of Harare. This was the first reported occurrence of a psilocybin mushroom in Zimbabwe. The mushrooms were collected on Imire Rhino & Wildlife Conservation—a nature reserve that is home to both wildlife and cattle, as well as cattle egrets.
Relationship with cattle
Because Psilocybe cubensis is intimately associated with cattle ranching, the fungus has found unique dispersal niches not available to most other members of the family Hymenogastraceae. Of particular interest is the cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis), a colonizer of Old World origin (via South America), whose range of distribution overlaps much of that of Psilocybe cubensis. Cattle egrets typically walk alongside cattle, preying on insects; they track through spore-laden vegetation and cow dung and transfer the spores to suitable habitats, often thousands of miles away during migration activities. This type of spore dispersal is known as zoochory, and it enables a parent species to propagate over a much greater range than it could achieve alone. The relationship between cattle, cattle egrets, and Psilocybe cubensis is an example of symbiosis—a situation in which dissimilar organisms live together in close association.
Cultivation
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