Psilocybe cyanescens, commonly known as the wavy cap or potent psilocybe, is a species of potent psychedelic mushroom. The main compounds responsible for its psychedelic effects are psilocybin and psilocin. It belongs to the family Hymenogastraceae. A formal description of the species was published by Elsie Wakefield in 1946 in the Transactions of the British Mycological Society, based on a specimen she had recently collected at Kew Gardens. She had begun collecting the species as early as 1910. The mushroom is not generally regarded as being physically dangerous to adults. Since all the psychoactive compounds in P. cyanescens are water-soluble, the fruiting bodies can be rendered non-psychoactive through parboiling, allowing their culinary use. However, since most people find them overly bitter and they are too small to have great nutritive value, this is not frequently done.
Psilocybe cyanescens
Psilocybe cyanescens in situ
Psilocybe cyanescens spores
Image: Psilocybe cyanescens Alan
Psilocybe weraroa, formerly Weraroa novae-zelandiae, is a secotioid fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae. It is endemic to New Zealand, where it grows in native forests from rotting wood and woody debris. Despite its pouch-like form this species is closely related to Psilocybe cyanescens and Psilocybe subaeruginosa. As a bluing member of the genus Psilocybe it contains the psychoactive compounds psilocin and psilocybin. It has been cultivated commercially by Rua Bioscience with a view to researching potential medical applications, bringing together its traditional uses in Rongoā Māori with the recent interest in Western medicine into the medical applications of psilocin and psilocybin.
Psilocybe weraroa
A cross-section of the basidiocarp.
Fruitbodies.
Clavogaster virescens, a close lookalike often mistaken for P. weraroa by foragers.