Psilocybe caerulescens var. caerulescens

Taxobox
name = "Psilocybe caerulescens var. caerulescens"

---

image_width = 320px
regnum = Fungi
divisio = Basidiomycota
classis = Agaricomycetes
ordo = Agaricales
familia = Strophariaceae
genus = Psilocybe
species = "P. caerulescens var. caerulescens "
binomial = "Psilocybe caerulescens"
binomial_authority = Murrill
synonyms = "P. caerulescens var. albida, P. caerulescens var. mazatecorum, P. mazatecorum, P. caerulescens var. nigripes "
range_

range_map_width = 240px
range_map_caption = Range of mycomorphbox
name = Psilocybe caerulescens var. caerulescens
whichGills = adnate
whichGills2 = sinuate
capShape = convex
capShape2 = plane
hymeniumType=gills
stipeCharacter=bare
ecologicalType=saprotrophic
sporePrintColor=purple-brown
howEdible=psychoactive

Psilocybe caerulescens var. caerulescens, also known as Landslide mushroom is a psilocybin mushroom in the section Cordisporae, having psilocybin and
psilocin as main active compounds. Along with Psilocybe mexicana, it is one of the mushrooms likely to have been used by the Aztecs.

Description

*Cap: (1)3 - 7(10) cm broad. Convex to obtusely campanulate with an incurved margin at first, rarely becoming plane, often umbonate or with a slight depression in the center, viscid when moist from a separable gelatinous pellicle, margin slightly translucent-striate when moist, hygrophanous, yellowish brown to reddish brown with a silvery-blue metallic luster, paler at the margin, drying to a beige or straw yellow. Readily bruising blue when handled, the younger specimens bruising bluish olivacous or even blackish. Often has a great variation in color and form.
*Gills: Attachment adnate to sinuate, close to subclose, whitish, yellowish grey when young becoming dark violacous brown to sepia brown with age, the edges remain slightly whitish.
*Spores: Dark violacous brown or deep purple fuscous.
*Stipe: (2)5 - 9(13) cm long by (5)8 - 10(12) mm thick. Equal or enlarging slightly at base, somewhat flexous, hollow, subpruinose to flocose, whitish to reddish brown or blackish, readily bruising blue, sometimes with rhizomorphs attached to the base. The veil is well developed but not forming a permanent annulus.
*Taste: Strongly farinaceous.
*Odor: Strongly farinaceous, less with age or when dry.
*Microscopic features: Subrhomboid to subellipsoid, (6)6.7 - 8(8.5) by 4-6 microns. Basidia 4-spored, occasionally 2-spored. Pleurocystidia absent. Cheilocystidia 15-22(25) by 4.5-6 microns, fusoid with a flexuous neck 1-2.5 microns broad.

Habitat and formation

"Psilocybe caerulescens var. caerulescens" Is found growing gregarious to cespitose, rarely solitary, from June through September on disturbed or cultivated grounds often devoid of herbaceous plants, often in sunny locations, preferring muddy orangish brown soils. First reported from near Montgomery, Alabama, by Murrill in 1923 on sugarcane mulch, not re-documented from that locality since, recently found in South Carolina, September 2008. P. caerulescens is common and widespread throughout central regions of Mexico, also found in Venezuela and Brazil.