PSILOCYBIAN MUSHROOMS AND SOME OF THEIR POISONOUS LOOK-A-LIKES

Top Row Left: Galerina autumnalis:-------------------Right: Galerina venenata Bottom Row Left: Psilocybe cyanescens;------------Right: Psilocybe stuntzii Many of the deadly Galerina mushrooms and Conocybe filaris can mimic and macroscopically resemble species of Psilocybe such as P. cyanescens and P. stuntzii. Examples are posted below. Also some Mycena's may resemble the liberty cap (P. semilanceata), except they have white gills instead of the liberty caps chocolate-brown gills spore deposit. Below The Deadly Mushroom Concocybe filaris

Here we have a small colony of Psilocybe cyanescens with one deadly Galerina growing right in amongst the colony.

And here we have one lone specimen of Psilocybe cyanescens, the cap is caramel colored and shows the striate margin.

And here below is a deadly small grouping of Galerina autumnalis, Similar in appearance to the above Psilocybe cyanescens.

Here below are two images of a related species, also deadly, Galerina venenata.

Finally, These last two images represent Chlorophyllum molybdites, also known as "Morgan's Lepiota" and/or "Green Gills." This mushroom is often consumed in the southeast USA from Texas to Florida and north to South Carolina as Psilocybe cubensis It can be recognized by its scaly and often warted cap and white shaggy ring and by the gills which turn olive-green in age.

I often advise collectors of entheogenic mushroom species to always avoid mushrooms with white or orange to cinnamon colored gills, always looking instead at the ones with Chocolate brown to purple brown gills (Psilocybe) and/or black gilled mushrooms such as Panaeolus or Copelandia species. Always better safe than sorry.