''Psilocybe stuntzii'', also known as Stuntz's blue legs and blue ringers it is a psilocybin mushroom of the family

Hymenogastraceae The Hymenogastraceae is a family of fungi in the order Agaricales with both agaric and false-truffle shaped fruitbodies. Formerly, prior to molecular analyses, the family was restricted to the false-truffle genera. The mushroom genus '' Psilo ...

, having psilocybin and psilocin as main active compounds.

Taxonomy

The mushroom is named in honor of mycologist Daniel Stuntz of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

Description

The pileus is , obtusely

conic A conic section, conic or a quadratic curve is a curve obtained from a cone's surface intersecting a plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is a special case of the ellipse, thou ...

to convex, expanding to convex-umbonate or flat with age. The margin is translucent-striate when moist and uplifted in age. It is

hygrophanous The adjective hygrophanous refers to the color change of mushroom tissue (especially the pileus surface) as it loses or absorbs water, which causes the pileipellis The pileipellis is the uppermost layer of hyphae in the pileus of a fungal fr ...

, glabrous, dark chestnut brown while lighter towards the center. The pileus is olive-greenish at times, fading to a pale yellowish brown or pale yellow. It is viscid when moist from a gelatinous pellicle, staining slightly greenish-blue when injured or with age. The

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

are

adnate Adnate may refer to: * Adnation, in botany, the fusion of two or more whorls of a flower * Adnate, in mycology, a classification of lamellae (gills) * Conjoined twins Conjoined twins, popularly referred to as Siamese twins, are twins joined '' ...

sinuate A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, fl ...

adnexed In mycology, a lamella (: lamellae), or gill, is a papery hymenophore rib under the cap of some mushroom species, most often agarics. The gills are used by the mushrooms as a means of spore dispersal, and are important for species identificatio ...

, close to sub-distant and moderately broad, yellowish brown at first, soon violet brown or chocolate brown to blackish violet, and uniform or somewhat mottled, with whitish edges. The

spore print 300px, Making a spore print of the mushroom ''Volvariella volvacea'' shown in composite: (photo lower half) mushroom cap laid on white and dark paper; (photo upper half) cap removed after 24 hours showing warm orange ("tussock") color spore print. ...

is dark violaceous brown. The stipe is 2–7.5 cm x 1.5–6 mm, equal or slightly enlarged at the base, cylindric or subcylindric, twisted striate at times, flexuous,

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

to slightly fibrillose, dry, stuffed with a pith and becoming hollow, and white or whitish silky to ochraceous or brownish fibrillose. The partial veil is thinly membranous, leaving a fragile annulus that becomes more noticeable as it darkens with spores. It stains blue-green when injured, most noticeably on the ring. The taste and odor are

farinaceous Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures. ...

Microscopic features

The spores are 8.2–13.5 x (6) 7.1–7.7 x 5.5–6.6

μm The micrometre (Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System ...

, subrhomboid in face view, subellipsoid in side view, with a hilar appendage visible and a truncate apex with a broad germ pore, thick walled, and dingy yellow brown. The basidia are 16.5–33 x 5.5–8.8 μm, 4-spored, and

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from , and . Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is named after its glassy appearance on fresh gross pathology. On light microscopy of H&E stained slides, the extracellula ...

Pleurocystidia A cystidium (: cystidia) is a relatively large cell found on the sporocarp of a basidiomycete (for example, on the surface of a mushroom gill), often between clusters of basidia. Since cystidia have highly varied and distinct shapes that are oft ...

are absent and

cheilocystidia A cystidium (: cystidia) is a relatively large cell found on the sporocarp of a basidiomycete (for example, on the surface of a mushroom gill), often between clusters of basidia. Since cystidia have highly varied and distinct shapes that are oft ...

are 22–30 x 4.4–6.6 μm, abundant, forming a sterile band, hyaline, lageniform, fusiform-lanceolate or fusoid-ampullaceous, with an elongate and flexuous neck, and are 1–2.2 μm in diameter, sometimes irregularly branched. Clamp connections are present.

Habitat and distribution

''Psilocybe stuntzii'' is found growing scattered to

gregarious Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother was ...

to cespitose, rarely solitary, in

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

wood chips and bark mulch, in soils rich in woody debris, and in new lawns of freshly laid sod or any newly mulched garden throughout the western region of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

. It appears from late July through December, being observed all year long in the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

area, also reportedly appearing in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, rarely as far south as Santa Cruz. There was a time when this mushroom appeared in over 40 percent of all new lawns and mulched in areas in the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

region of the Pacific Northwest. Due to a disappearance of pastures south of Seattle in the Tukwila-Kent-Auburn areas, this mushroom now only appears sporadically in certain new lawns which are well fertilized and manicured.

Edibility

This mushroom is hallucinogenic. Additionally, it closely resembles the highly toxic ''

Galerina marginata ''Galerina marginata'', known colloquially as funeral bell, deadly skullcap, autumn skullcap or deadly galerina, is a species of extremely poisonous mushroom-forming fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae of the order Agaricales. Before 2001, th ...

'', and several poisonings have been attributed to collectors consuming ''G. marginata'' after mistaking them for hallucinogenic ''P. stuntzii''.

Notes

References

*Mycologia 68(6): 1261 (1977) * *Guzmán, G. The Genus ''Psilocybe'': A Systematic Revision of the Known Species Including the History, Distribution and Chemistry of the Hallucinogenic Species. Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia Heft 74. J. Cramer, Vaduz, Germany (1983) ow out of print * {{Taxonbar, from=Q7255938 Entheogens Psychoactive fungi stuntzii Psychedelic tryptamine carriers Fungi of North America Taxa named by Gastón Guzmán Fungus species