Noob Psilocybe cubensis Identification

Noob Psilocybe cubensis identification guide by implee

Notes and messages from implee:

I understand it looks like a lot of info is flying around in this guide, but mushrooms are my hobby and passion so I want lots of good information in it, don't be intimidated.

Please help me improve and update the information in this article thanks, implee. Feel free to edit this document for errors, add links to key words, point people to good sources of information or other guides for more info, add pictures, spell, grammar, etc. Oh also design, I'm not good with it, rearranging info to make it flow better and to make it easier for the novice to follow.

Also be sure to add to the bottom credits and sources, if they are unknown put unknown and put a link to your user name as well if you would like. Also please try to post original images of your own, or with owner permission, give the owners credit, if you are linking from another site source it, these aren't a requirement I just want a somewhat complete guide that has as much info as possible, too much misinformation gets thrown around.

A typical day on the Shroomery Hunting Forums goes like this. "Hi i live in City, State. I would like to know what type of shrooms can be picked and when? please tell me where are the best places to find them." We get so many of these that it can be time consuming and bothersome to answer them over and over again... 

All the basic answers can be found in the rules, so please take the time to read the rules first Read Me!!! Yes You n00b: Mushroom Hunting Forum Rules, and once you have found a mushroom please take the time to make a proper ID request. Sample ID request - READ BEFORE POSTING AN ID REQUEST!.

Psilocybe cubensis only grows in some states and some countries.

Photo by Photohound.

• United States
  Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia
  
  
• Australia
  New South Wales, Queensland
  
  
• South America/Other
  Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Venezuela,  Mexico,  Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Kenya
  
  
• Asia
  Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam
  

What psychoactive mushrooms can be found in Texas?

Psilocybe
Psilocybe cubensis

Gymnopilus
Gymnopilus aeruginosus
Gymnopilus junonius
Gymnopilus luteofolius
Gymnopilus luteoviridis
Gymnopilus sapineus

Panaeolus
Panaeolus cyanescens

Psilocybe cubensis

These mushrooms are nick named Cubes Psilocybe cubensis can also be shortened to P. cubensis. This is one of the most cultivated psychoactive mushroom.

Active chemicals

The two major contributing active chemicals are Psilocybin, and Psilocin.

Two other active chemicals in cubes are Baeocystin which is not a major contributing factor of a mushroom trip... A dose of 10mg pure Baeocystin is said to produce entheogenic effects. And Norbaeocystin It is unknown if this contributes to a mushroom trip.

Where do they grow?

They grow most commonly on cow poop, they can also be found growing on horse poop. Check in the tall grass they can be found there often.

Crazy finds

Pinheadx has found them in manure/mulch/Wood chip piles, and on Wood chip ONLY piles. I have also found them in Manure/Mulch/Wood chip piles .We believe the manure used had mycelium in it, or got spores in it at some point and colonized... We do not believe either pile was cultivated by humans... I have no idea how the cube got in the Wood Chip only pile its crazy stuff This is EXTREMELY RARE, but if your in Houston Texas like us, anything can happen so keep an eye out 

Pinheadx's finds: Never say never, MUTANT CUBE, zonate cube, and a polypore, Cubensis on wood chips.

My find's: Cubes found in LAWN Houston TX, South Texas mother fucker that's where I stay (Cubes found in Mulch/Manure at a High School/No Drug Zone LULZ)

What do they look like?

Cap

The cap when young will be almost completely golden colored, then when they get more matured they have a great golden yellow fade on top. When they get really old or sun bleached the caps can sometimes turn really pale and will no longer be gold or yellow. Sometimes the caps will have spores sprayed on top of them and turn a purple color. The caps can have a verity of different shapes due to weather or genetics. Bell, domed, flat, flat with a nipple, or just crazy shaped.

Closed caps are pretty solid colored

Sun bleached or dried/old

Golden fade

Spores on cap

Waterlogged cubes can look funny also, and they can be waaay soggy when you eat them... Plus if your doing a weighed out dosage they can throw the actual weight off... If your going to dry them find a really fast way to dry them up.

bell shaped

Flat or with nipple

Stem

Yellowish colored, and hollow, There is a veil present on the stem with purplish spores on one side and the bottom side (if visible) will be yellow/whitish/blueish/purplish. The stem will bruise blue/green when you squeeze it or break it in two. Also the base of the stems will probably have mycelium growing on them.

See the stems are yellow and have veils with spores dropped on them sometimes the veils are small sometimes they are big.

But keep in mind sometimes the veil wont be purple from the spores because its flappy, or formed differently.

Cubes have hollow stems but Texas cubes are known to be pretty dense and sometimes are pretty meaty and solid and not so hollow inside.

Here is mycelium, its perfectly okay to eat.

Gills

Purplish brown, sometimes they are spore less and only have a light brown color.

Spore Print

Cut your cap off, then place it on a piece of white paper wait 30 minutes to an hour and you should have a print that is dark and purplish...

Bluing

The gills and stem will bruise blue or green, This is the active chemicals oxidizing, this is said to lower the potency so don't bruise them up too much... Only enough to verify that they are indeed Psilocybe cubensis, or Pan cyan... But please note that NON Psilocybe mushrooms will also bruise blue which are potentially poisonous..  So take everything gills, color, shape, and spore print color into consideration when identifying mushrooms. Cut the stem and wait about 5-30 seconds you should see a light green blue appear, it will probably get darker blue over the next few minutes.

When can they be found?

Well in Texas people have found them all year around, even around Christmas.. Its best to have around 75F-90F temperatures and a good rain storm... But you can find them from probably 40-75 just in fewer numbers. So whenever it rains a decent amount go out to those fields.

Dosage

Mushrooms are about 90% water. Take the fresh weight then divide it by 10, the results are about what your dry weight will be. 20 Grams fresh will be about 2 grams dry, but mushrooms can be more dry or more wet so this isn't 100% accurate and can be off by complete grams.

The Great Mushrooms Poll: Shroom Secrets Revealed shows that 27% of people dose ~2 grams dry and 44% of people dose ~3.5 grams dry  so between 2-3.5 grams is the average dose... Sometimes 3.5 grams can be really overwhelming  so you might want to consider dosing 2 grams for your first time... But then again sometimes mushrooms don't effect some people the same as others...

How do you consume?

Straight up

You can eat them right off the cow poop if you wanted to, but i wouldn't recommend tripping on the field unless you own the field... Also make sure you don't eat the poop cut it off. You can also put them under a fan for a day or two until they are cracker dry to store them... Then you can eat those dry mushrooms any time you want to.

Intensify the experience

The Lemon Experience... basically soak mushrooms in lemon juice for X amount of time then dose, it intensifies your experience in an extremely noticeable way  be careful with it.I have tried this method with 2 grams dry/powdered and it sure works.

Black Currant Juice to increase mushroom effects This experiment is a bit different but it is supposed to extremely intensify your trip.. I have not tried this method yet.

Chocolates

You can put your mushrooms into chocolates, there are a few teks online.

Monstermitch's technique for chocolates

Tea

Mushroom Tea Preparation Here are a number of tea recipes.

I made teas a few times and didnt trip.. I think its because i put powered mushrooms in a pot while it was still boiling... The sides and bottom of the pot will be way hotter than the boiling water... This is how i make my tea.

1) Dry mushrooms then powder them in a coffee grinder

2) Boil water

3) Pour boiling water over mushrooms in a cup

4) Stir for 15-30 minutes 

5) Strain with panty hose or coffee filters... Sometimes coffee filters take a while to strain.

Threads

Horse field cubes Ive found a horse field that was producing cubes, the horses ate grass, hay, and whatever other plants they felt like munching on... The field previously had cows and horses interchanged throughout the years but the poop was definitely horse poop that they were growing from.  Almost all of the pictures from this thread were found on horse poop. 

PinheadX found PLENTY of Cubes growing on mulch piles. Now it is possible that it could have been someones out door grow, or maybe the mulch/compost/manure they used had mycelium in it or spores from the cow field which inoculated the whole pile. This is the craziest thing I've ever seen and it is in NO way common, but his finds should inspire you to keep and eye out everywhere for cubes even off the field.  (Update: I have found my own manure/mulch bed cubes! see Link)

Never say never, MUTANT CUBE, zonate cube, and a polypore. 

Photo by PinheadX

Please note that Panaeolus cyanescens only grows in some states and some countries.

United States

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, 

Australia

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, New Zealand

South America/Other

Mexico, Jamaica, Panaeolus cyanescens, Spain, Bermuda, Belize, Costa Rica, 

Asia

Philippines

Panaeolus cyanescens

These mushrooms are nick named Copes don't confuse them with Psilocybe cyanescens they are not the same mushroom and they do not grow in your area. Copes are much stronger than cubes.

Where do they grow?

They grow right along side of Psilocybe cubensis on Cow poop NOT horse poop. Some cow fields produce more copes than cubes some fields produce more cubes than copes.

Stem: Hollow, brown at the bottom, and fades to whitish beige yellow gray at the top. The stems bruise really blue.

Cap: Bruises blue, gray and sometimes yellowish center, sometimes you see black spores sprayed on top.

Spores: Jet black

Bruising: Copes take longer to bruise blue than cubes, so if they look like copes squeeze the stem a little, or cut the stem towards the cap like you see in the picture below and wait about 1-5 minutes you should see a light green blue appear, it will probably get darker blue over the next thirty minutes. If you are unsure if its a cope but you dont want to throw it away just yet, put it in a separate bag and check on it at the end of your hunt... The stems should be blue in spots where they are bent. Remember bruising lowers potency so once you know its good stop bruising it.

Look a likes

Panaeolus antillarum They tend to be thicker and bigger than copes, but they do NOT bruise blue. Sometimes they will look like they bruise a grayish color but do not confuse this for blue, you will know when it bruises blue for real. There are no known poisonous Panaeolus mushrooms but some people have supposedly gotten the runs from them so it is best to properly ID copes before eating them.

Please note that Panaeolus subbalteatus grows in every state in the USA, Canada, Australia, and most other countries. If you can't find other psychoactive mushrooms give these ones a try.

Panaeolus subbalteatus

Also known as %u201CSubbs%u201D If you read about people finding %u201CSubs%u201D they are talking about Psilocybe subaeruginascens NOT  Panaeolus subbalteatus so dont confuse the two.

Where do they grow?

Lawns that are taken well care of  check out Subbedhunter420's subb guide these mushrooms grow all over America in most every state they arent as potent as Psilocybe cubensis but they are indeed active. Subbedhunter's Complete Guide to Panaeolus subbalteatus 

Gymnopilus aeruginosus, Gymnopilus junonius, Gymnopilus luteofolius, Gymnopilus luteoviridis, Gymnopilus sapineus

Also known as Gyms can be found in the woods, Gymnopilus luteoviridis is the only Gym i have found so far but i have found them plenty of times on dead oaks.

Gymnopilus luteoviridis are said to be mildly psychoactive. I have not tried them so i cannot say how much would be needed, or if they are even safe to consume. Please if you find what you think are gyms look on the pins for bluing, the larger matured specimens showed no signs of bluing. Also look for the scales on top, and please PLEASE take pictures and have them identified before even thinking about consuming them, there are brownish look a likes that could kill you, and noobs tend to have a color problem when it comes to mushrooms.

For more information check out

The Ultimate Beginners Guide to: Hunting The Psilocybe cubensis

Shroomery search, and FAQ

Are you not in Texas and are still curious about what mushrooms grow in your area?

Chances are Panaeolus subbalteatus grows in your state. Subbedhunter's Complete Guide to Panaeolus subbalteatus

And to find which active mushrooms grow wild in your state or country check out Which mushrooms grow wild in my area?

Sources: You can do proper citing formats and what not if you want, just try to give the original person credit. Give yourself credit on anything you contributed if you want.

To find out what your or another Shroomery  members user profile URL is check out the Shroomery user list.

Wikipedia

implee's sources: (Work in progress)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Psilocybe-cubensis-range-map.png by Photohound.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Psilocybe-cubensis-range-map.png by Photohound.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybe_cubensis

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