Psilocybe weilii

Psilocybe weilii is a psilocybin mushroom having psilocybin and/or psilocin as main active compounds. Originally mistaken for Psilocybe caerulescens var. caerulescens, it is named after Andrew Weil, the integrative medicine physician.

Description

Psilocybe weilii has a farinaceous taste and a farinaceous smell similar to a cucumber. Psilocybe weilii pleurocystidia are subfusoid to sublageniform, and are 16 to 22 µm by 5 to 10 µm. The cheilocystidia are long-necked, lageniform, sometimes forked, and are 20 to 38 µm by 5 to 7 µm.

Cap

Psilocybe weilii caps range from (2)3 to 6(8.5) cm in diameter and are obtusely conic to convex to campanulate. The margin is incurved or inrolled when young, becoming irregularly lobulated then straight with age. Psilocybe weilii are subumbonate, hygrophanous, glabrous, and subviscid when moist from the separable gelatinous pellicle. It is translucent-striate at the margin, and purple brown or chestnut brown to dark brown, fading to buff or straw yellow as it dries, with the center remaining blackish brown. Psilocybe weilii often have white scale-like remnants along the margin. The mushroom is flesh white, strongly bruising blue with som

Gills

Gills can be subadnate to sinuate, and are closely aligned. They are cream to light brown or brownish yellow, becoming purple brown as the spores mature. The edges are subfloccose and whitish.

Spores

Spores of this mushroom are dark violet brown, subrhomboid to subellipsoid, and are (5.5)6 to 7(7.5) µm by 5 to 6(6.5) µm. They are thick-walled with broad germ pores.

Stipe

The stipe is (2.5)4 to 7 cm long and (4)5 to 10 mm thick. It has an equal structure, and is slightly subulbous. It is hollow, and whitish to yellowish becoming bluish black and drying to grayish straw with vinaceous tones. Whitish subfloccose patches are located near the base. The stipe is pruinose or smooth towards the upper region. The velum sometimes leaves a partial annular zone. It bruises bluish to blackish when injured, sometimes with the entire stipe completely blue or with vinaceous tones.

Habitat and formation

 

Psilocybe weilii grows gregariously to cespitosely, from May to December. Psilocybe weilii is found under Loblolly Pine and Sweet Gum or in bermuda grass or fescue, often in red clay soil that is enriched with pine needles. It also grows in urban lawns and in the deep woods on areas where decaying wood collects. Psilocybe weilii is found only in northern Georgia.