Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms

Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms, dried and bagged for future use. 

Due to the relatively complex methodology and the type of equipment needed to isolate and maintain sterile cultures, it appears unlikely that cultivation of Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms by laypersons will significantly heighten the mushroom s popularity or widen its area of distribution anytime soon. 

Given sufficiently wet climate conditions, Psilocybe cubensis can often be found in other parts of the world growing on pastures in areas located up to 30° north as well as south of the equator. Therefore, it is likely that the yellow Stropharia species from the Highlands of Kenya may actually have been Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms or at least a close relative of this species. 

Psilocybin can be found in over 100 species of mushrooms in Mexico, Central America, and northwestern and southeastern parts of the United States. Some of the common mushroom varieties are Psilocybe mexicana, Psilocybe cubensis, Psilocybe azure-scens, and Psilocybe cyanescen. Street names include Alice, magic mushrooms, purple passion, sh rooms, and siUy putty. 

OFFICIAL NAMES Psilocybin, Psilocybe mushrooms STREET NAMES Magic mushrooms, shrooms, boomers, caps, cubes (Psilocybe cubensis), fungus, liberty caps, Mexican mushrooms, mushies, mushrooms, psychedelic mushrooms, psilocydes, purple passion, sillies, silly putty, simple Simon DRUG CLASSIFICATIONS Schedule I, hallucinogen... 

Since the original publication of this book, there has been a virtual mushroom revolution. Head shops and mail order houses now sell complete kits for home cultivation of Psilocybe cubensis (spores included). The flagrant ignorance of the law-makers is reflected in the fact that in Title 21 the alkaloid psilocin is misspelled as psilocyn. This small error is a product of the same mentality that classified cocaine as a narcotic in the 1922 Amendment to the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act and deliberately retains the error to this day. 

The next year Schultes began studies with Dr. Reko in northeastern Oaxaca among the Mazatec Indians. Soon the two heard reports about the existence of mushroom rites in and near the Oaxacan town of Huautla de Jimdnez. They collected specimens of Panaeolus sphinctrinus, which was alleged to be the mushroom chiefly used in the rites. They also collected specimens of Stropharia (or Psilocybe) cubensis, a mushroom of lesser importance according to the native Mazatecs. These specimens remained in the herbarium at Harvard. 

Stropharia (Psilocybe) cubensis, the most popular psilocybian mushroom, contains up to 14 mg./gm. of psilocybin dry weight. The potency of this mushroom varies greatly, however, and deteriorates fairly rapidly over time. 

Psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is a psychedelic indole, as is its active metabolite, psilocin. It is found in about 200 species of fungi, including those of the genus Psilocybe, such as Psilocybe semilanceata (the liberty cap) and Psilocybe cubensis (golden top or golden cap), also called magic mushrooms or simply shrooms (1). 

Since the late 1970s this situation has changed. In the first place, psilocybin mushrooms have been found in great numbers in many parts of the world.,One of the principal species, called Psilocybe cubensis, is a large mushroom that grows in cow pastures in warm climates. It occurs in Southeast Asia, in Central... 

At an archaeological site in the Non Nak Tha region of northern Thailand, the bones of Bos indicus cattle were recently unearthed in conjunction with human remains. We know that Psilocybe cubensis flourishes in the manure of cattle in this region of Thailand. Terence McKenna has suggested that the temporal and physical relationship between the human bones and the bones of cattle is conclusive evidence that psychoactive mushrooms were known to the people who frequented this region around 15,000 B.C.E. (McKenna 1992). He suggested that the consumption of these types of mushrooms provided a certain impetus to humanity s intellectual evolution. 

In the mid-1960s, Psilocybe cubensis became the species of choice for experiments that made use of submersed fermentation to investigate the biosynthesis of psilocybin from tryptophan and other precursors. We should note in this context that around the same time, this technique was also used to obtain mycelial pellets of the species Psilocybe baeocystis Singer Smith, providing the material for the first-ever isolation of baeocystin from mushroom tissue. 

From the 1970s on, a growing number of books were published in the United States that distributed information acquired by members of the counter-culture on the cultivation of psychotropic mushrooms. The scope of these books soon narrowed, with a primary emphasis on Psilocybe cubensis, which may be explained by the fact that, initially, only R. Heim s research results were published, thus making them available to a larger audience. 

Experts on bluing gilled mushrooms, who travelled to South America and the Caribbean, discovered several psychotropic species (e.g. Panaeolus cyanescens in Jamaica), even before mycological research established the existence of these species. According to those few scientific publications on taxonomic identity, the two most commonly used species are Psilocybe cubensis and Panaeolus cyanescens. Around 1970, tourists who had previously been looking for Psilocybe species in Mexico learned that they are abundant among Colombia s mycoflora as well. 

Also, those interested in mycological field research continued to study Psilocybe subaeruginosa and even discovered the species in the northern part of the country. Like Psilocybe cubensis, this species is also known by the colloquial name of "gold top", whereas Panaeolus cyanescens, a species that wasn t discovered until later, acquired the nickname "blue meanies" within the counterculture (an expression that refers to a collection of several fruiting bodies). It is likely that these mushrooms were named after the small blue men featured in the classic psychedelic Beatles movie "Yellow Submarine", which was released in 1968. 

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