Psilocybe quebecensis

Psilocybe quebecensis Ola'h & R. Heim 1967



Macroscopic feat.:
  • Cap/Pileus: 1-3.5 cm broad. Nearly hemispheric at first, soon expanding to convex, then becoming broadly convex to plane, and without an umbo. Margin incurved at first and usually not markedly undulated; translucent-striate when moist. Pale straw yellow and often with brownish or tawny hues, becoming more grayish in drying. Bruising bluish when touched or disturbed. Surface smooth, becoming finely wrinkled with age, and viscid when moist. Flesh whitish.
  • Gills/Lamellae: Attachment adnate, thin, moderately broad to swollen in the middle. Becoming very dark chestnut brown at maturity, and usually somewhat mottled, with the edges remaining whitish.
  • Stem/Stipe: 20-35 (45) mm long by 1-2.5 mm thick. Brittle, tough, and fibrous. Slightly enlarged at the apex and flared at the base, which is often furnished with rhizomorphs. Yellowish tawny, drying to a distinct grayish yellow, becoming bluish where bruised. Partial veil cortinate, fugacious, and soon disappearing.

Microscopic feat.:
  • Basidio/Spores: Spores purplish brown to black in deposit, ellipsoid to subovoid in side and face view, some spores mango shaped, 8-14 (16) by 6-8.8 µm.
  • Basidia: 4-spored.
  • Pleurocistidia: Present, 12-35 by 9-15 µm, very distinctive by their swollen apices, as in Psilocybe cubensis and Psilocybe cyanescens.
  • Cheilocystidia: 18-36 by 5.5-10 µm, fusoid-ampullaceous with an extended neck, 2-3.3 µm thick.

Habitat: Grows in sandy soils, particularly in outwashes of streams, and in the decayed-wood substratum of alder, birch, fir, and spruce in the late summer and fall. Reported from Quebec, specifically in the Jacques Cartier river valley.

Comment: Moderately active according to Ola'h and Heim (1967). Psilocybe quebecensis is a classic flood-plain species and is probably more widely distributed than presently reported. This species is not well known to Quebec residents, and I suspect that naturalized colonies could easily be established by those wishing to have Psilocybe quebecensis growing in their backyard. See also Psilocybe caerulipes and Psilocybe baeocystis.

source - Paul Stamets "Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World"

Pictures at www.mushroomobserver.org

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