Where to Find Magic Mushrooms

Where to find mushrooms!

Watered lawns w/automatic sprinklers. Schools, football/baseball fields.

Borders of forest lands, new forest roads, tress (cottonwoods, alders, willows, box elders, sweet gums, hornbeams, American

beech) also around Douglas firs (needles/cones) Monterey pine.

Moist soil along streams/ponds/lakes.

Grazing area of grass fed domesticated animals. In and around tall sedge grass and low lying wetlands of pastures, trees that

separate pastures.

Devastated reoccurring cataclysms - Flooding rivers, landslide, Around construction site

Picking mushrooms

“If a gilled mushroom has purplish brown to black spores and the flesh bruises its very likely psilocybin”

Take the whole thing, spore print in first few hours, convex caps are better to print

∞ Psilocybe azurescens ∞

One of the most potent species in the world and exhibits one of the strongest bluing reaction. Flesh becomes indigo black where

damaged. Silky white stem, caramel-colored cap, relatively large stature and broad but pronounced umbo are representative features.

Cap: 3-10 cm broad. Conic to convex, expanding to broadly quickly. Flat with age with a pronounced umbo, surface smooth, sticky when

moist, with a separate pellicle. Chestnut to caramel in color, bruising blue to blue black when damaged.

Gills: Ascending, sinuate to adnate, brown. Mottled, edges white.

Stem: 90-200 mm long x 3-6 mm thick, silky white, fibrous. Base of stem thickening downwards, often curved.

Spore-print: dark purplish brown to purplish black in mass.

Habitat/Season: deciduous wood-chips and/or in sandy soils rich in organic debris. The mushroom has an affinity for coastal dune

grasses. This mushroom naturally grows often prolifically along the northern Oregon coast near Astoria, favoring the land adjacent to the

shoreline. Dune grasses especially Ammophila maritima, for which it is closely associated, generating an extensive, dense and tenacious

mycelial mat. Causes the whitening of wood. Cold weather tolerant. Fruiting begin in late September and continue well after the first

frost, often into late December/early January.

Dosage: Extremely potent. 1 to 2 large mushrooms or 2 to 4 small specimens Loses potency when stored for months.

∞ Psilocybe baeocystis ∞

Moderately active, loses significant potency in drying or from damage. Abundant where wood chips and bark (Douglas firs have been

used for landscaping. Often found amongst ivy as spreads over cultivated landscapes near newly constructed buildings. Dark colored cap

makes it difficult to see against wood chips

Cap: 1.5-5.5 cm diameter. Dark olive brown to tan, occasionally steel blue. Becomes copper brown in the center when drying. Conic to

bell shaped. Translucent when moist, appears pleated towards bottom portion of cap. Often staining blue to blue-green when damaged.

Gills: attached cinnamon brown to gray, close with white edges

Stem: 50-70 cm long, 2-3 mm thick. White to brownish surface sometimes covered with fine whitish fibers which may yellow towards

apex.

Spore-print: purplish brown

Habitat/Season: solitary to gregarious to subcespitose on decaying conifer mulch, woodchips or lawns with high lignin content.

Occasionally grows from fallen seed cones of Douglas fir. June to October in lawns. From late September through December and

sometimes into January in mulched garden beds. From Eugene, Oregon to Seattle, Washington, up to British Columbia, Canada. Once

considered rare, it is now common.

Dosage: 1 to 2 large mushroom specimens or from 2 to 4 small specimens, 1/5 oz. wet, 1/4 gram dry

Woodchip varieties

Lawn variety Bluing

∞ Psilocybe cyanescens ∞

Psilocybe cyanescens is recognized by a chestnut-brown, striate, wavy-margined cap that soon fades to yellow brown or buff, and blue-

staining fruiting body. Moderately to highly potent. Toxic look-alikes in Galerina, Conocybe and Inocybe.

Cap: 2-4 (5) cm broad. Conic to flat, wavy with age. Chestnut brown to caramel in young specimens. Fading to orange/dark yellow with

age. Tan when dry. Viscid when moist. Bruising bluish to green/blue!

Gills: Broad. Cinnamon brown to deep smoky brown. Edges paler. Smokey reddish brown

Stem: 20-80 mm long x 2.3-5.5 mm thick. Curved with enlarged base. White with fine silky fibrils. Often bluing when damaged. Hollow.

Spore-print: Dark purple brown.

Habitat/Season: Habitat: Scattered to gregarious in humus enriched in woody debris among leaves and rotting wood. Under mixed

woods at the edges of lawns, among alder wood chips and bark mulch. Often growing solitary to clusters and clumps in heavily mulched

areas with rhododendrons or rose bushes, ivy and strawberry plants. Located in San Francisco, California to British Columbia, Canada.

Rare in the wild but abundant in manmade environments throughout the Pacific Northwest. Sometimes more than 20 to 50 pounds may

appear in a single location. September through December. Late summer in watered areas to mid-winter. Dosage: 1 large specimen or from 2 to 3 small specimens. 1/2 gram dried.

∞ Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa ∞

Weakly to mildly active. Strong bluing reaction yet loses over 70% of its potency from handling and drying. Fresh specimens probably

much higher than chemical analysis. A few hundred pounds of this species mixed with Psilocybe cyanescens was collected from mulch

piled along side of I-5 highway on both sides of the road between Eureka and Arcada, California.

Cap: 1-4 x 3.5 cm broad. Conic to convex to broadly convex. Plain in age. Deep chestnut brown, hygrophanous, fading to pale tan or

yellowish brown or grayish white in drying. Viscid when moist with a separate gelatinous pellicle.

Gills: Adnate to adnexed. Light grayish when young becoming purplish brown in age with white edges.

Stem: 30-70 mm long x 2-4 mm thick. Straight, equal to enlarged at base with fibrils that become bluish when damaged. Yellow brown to

light tan underneath.

Sporeprint: Purplish brown.

Habitat/Season: Scattered to gregarious among bush lupines in alder and willow wood chips and bark mulch. Common among

rhododendron gardens and nurseries and especially flood plains where river meets Pacific Ocean. From northern California

(Eureka/Arcada) north to British Columbia, Canada. September to December.

Dosage: 1 large specimen, 2 to 5 small specimens. High in psilocin and low in psilocybin.

∞ Psilocybe semilanceata ∞

Moderately active to extremely potent. In Pacific Northwest this species is one of the most common psilocybin mushrooms. Long

Storage Life. Rarely bruises bluish. Many varieties, most forms have conic to campanulate caps with sharp umbo. Note that woodland

Galerinas can coexist with grassland psilocybes, especially new pasture.

Cap: .5-2.5 cm broad. Twice as tall, conic with a raised nipple. Color is variable, EXTREMELY hygrophanous. From dark chestnut

brown when moist soon drying to rusty brown to pale yellow when dry occasionally with olive tint. Margin striate and translucent when

moist with a sticky gelatinous pellicle.

Gills: Adnate to adnexed, crowded and purple brown. Much darker than Psilocybe pelliculosa and ascending into the cap edges

remaining pale.

Stem: 40-100 mm long. .75-2mm thick. Slender and smooth. Pale to rusty brown at base, where attached mycelium may

become bluish, especially during drying. Tough pith which is usually crooked and can be wrapped around ones finger.

Spore Print: Dark purple brown.

Habitat/Season: Scattered to gregarious in pasture lands but not growing directly in manure. In Pacific Northwest of the

United States, this species along with a similar macroscopic species, can be found in new well fertilized and manicured

lawns, fields, or other grassy areas, especially where cattle and sheep graze. Very common around the base of sedge grass

clumps and other tall rank grasses in pasture lands and in open meadows. Northern California to British Columbia, Canada,

west of the Cascades and along the coastal areas of Oregon and northern California. Also can be found on new condo lawns

in residential housing projects and golf courses. Season August through November-December. Dosage: 1 large shroom, 1/5 oz. wet, 1/4 gram dry [Erowid note: most P. semilanceata are much smaller than 0.25 gram when dry).

∞ Psilocybe subcubensis ∞

This species is macroscopically similar to Psilocybe cubensis with the difference being in the size of the spores. The P. subcubensis has a

smaller spore than P. cubensis. Moderately potent. It has been found that there is a tenfold variation in potency from wild specimens

probably due to sun exposure and nutrition. Easy to recognize by its size, golden color, well formed membranous annulus, blue staining

stem and veil and coprophilic habitat.

Cap: 1.5-8 cm in diam., conic to convex, becoming campanulate to gradually expanding to plain. Color reddish Copper in center to a

light golden brown with age fading to pale yellow or white near the margin with the umbo or center region remaining cinnamon brown.

Hygrophanous in drying, remnants of a veil, and bluing in the edge of the cap when injured.

Gills: Adnate to adnexed to seceding, close, narrow to slightly enlarged at center. Pale to grayish is younger cubensis. Becoming dark gray

to deep violet gray to dark purplish brown in maturity. Sometimes mottled with whitish edges.

Stem: 40-150mm long by 5-15mm thick. Thickening towards the base in most, equal, hollow, stem whitish to a creamy white or yellow

brown when faded, easily staining blue where damaged. Fibrillose below the annulus.

Spore print: Chocolate to purple-brown.

Habitat/Season: Gregarious, rarely solitary or scattered, on cow dung, rarely on horse manure. Also in rich soil in pastures and meadows,

along roadsides in manure heaps. Largest fruitings are seen in two months prior to the hottest point of the year.

Dosage: 1 to 20 shrooms, 2 oz. wet, 3 ½ grams dry.

∞ Psilocybe stuntzii∞

Weak to Moderately active. Characteristic of its whitish, partial veil that bruises bluish or bluish tinged. Grows in great colonies in large

numbers. Field variety is slender and paler. There was a time when this mushroom appeared in over 40 percent of all new lawns and

mulched in areas in the Puget Sound region of the Pacific Northwest. Due to a disappearance of pastures south of Seattle in the

Tukwilla-Kent-Auburn areas, this shroom now only appears sporadically in certain well fertilized and manicured new lawns. It is also

very common in wood chips, preferably alder.

Cap: 1.5-5 cm broad. Obtusely conic, expanding to convex-umbonate or flat with age. Margin is striate and translucent when moist.

Undulating and often eroding with age. Hygrophanous. Dark chestnut brown while lighter towards the center which is often Olive-

greenish at times, fading to a pale yellowish brown or pale yellow when drying. Viscid when moist from a gelatinous pellicle.

Gills: Attachment adnate to adnexed, close to sub distant and moderately broad with three tiers of intermediate gills. Color pale in

younger bodies becoming brownish and eventually very dark brown.

Stem: 30 to 60 mm long x 2-4 mm thick. Enlarged at apex and often curved, twisted and inflated at base. Dingy yellow to pale yellowish

brown. Surface dry. Remnants of a veil remain and are usually bluish from natural injury when the cap opens. With a whitish pith.

Staining blue to blue-green where injured. Often rhizoorphs protruding from base.

Spore print: Dark purplish grayish brown.

Habitat/Season: Growing gregarious to subcespitose clusters and clumps in conifer wood chips and bark mulch (alder wood), in soils rich

in woody debris, in new lawns of freshly laid sod, fields, along roads, paths, in gardens. From North of San Francisco to Eugene, Oregon

to British Columbia. This species is common in lawns and grassy areas such as parks, fields, or any newly mulch garden area throughout

the western region of the Pacific Northwest. From late July through September in lawns and grassy areas and from late September

through December in mulched garden beds.

Dosage: 20 to 60 fresh specimens, 3/4 fresh ounce or 1-3 dried grams.

∞ Psilocybe Pelliculosa∞

This small Psilocybe which is very much similar to Psilocybe silvatica and Psilocybe semilanceata, fruits abundantly along logging roads,

clear cuts and pilings in the Pacific Northwest. The conic shaped cap, gregarious nature of fruiting, fibrillose patches on the stem, and

bluing reaction at the base of the stem are distinguishable characteristics. Also appears in roadside mulched areas and parks.

Cap: .5-2cm broad. Obtusely conic, becoming conic-capanulate with age. Chestnut brown when moist, dark dingy yellow to pale yellow

when drying. Often with paler band along margin, frequently tinged olive green in patches. Smooth surface, viscid when moist.

Gills: Ascending. Cinnamon brown with white edges.

Stem: 60-80 mm long x 1.2.5 mm thick. Pale. Cream to brown in age. Covered with white filaments. Larger at base.

Stem: 60-80 mm long by 1-2.5 mm thick. Slightly enlarged at base. Covered with grayish fibrils. Whitish and browning at base. Blue

green when bruised or with aging.

Spore print: Purplish brown.

Habitat/Season: Scattered to gregarious to cespitose on well-decayed conifer substratum and in mulch and soil rich in lignin. Prefers

alder woodchips or bark mulch. Along paths in conifer forests and abandoned logging roads around alders and firs. Found mid to late

fall to early winter.

Dosage: 20 to 40 fresh mushrooms or from 2-4 grams dried. Moderately weak.