Cap: 1.5-5 cm. Broad. Conic to convex expanding to broadly convex with a slight umbo. Stranslucent and striate when moist. Hygrophanous and caramel or olive brown fading in drying to a pallid brown to a dingy white. Older specimens usually with a few blue or greenish patches on the cap.
Gills: Adnate to annexed. Smokey-brown to purplish-brown.
Stem: 30-125 mm long by 2-5 mm thick. Hollow or pith-filled. Can be uniform and straight but usually with a slight twist. Slightly swollen at base. Bright white and fibrillose or pallid white with light brown marks depending on growth conditions. Predominantly distinguished from other woodloving mushrooms by blue streaks on the stem towards the base or the cap.
Spores: 10-15 by 6.6-8.5 microns. Long ellipsoid, smooth, with a distinct germ pore.
Sporeprint: Purplish-brown to Purplish-black
Habitat: Solitary to gregarious in complex habitats such as soils rich in woody debris, decaying piles of leaves and twigs, sandy woody soils, gardens and amongst bark chips from pine (Pinus radiata).
Distribution: Australia and New Zealand
Season: May through August
Dosage: 1 to 3 small mushrooms or one large mushrooms fresh. Dried 1 gram.
Comment: This species is macroscopically close to Psilocybe azurescens but without the definite umbo of P. azurescens. Also very close macroscopically to its allies P. aucklandii, P. australiana, P. tasmaniana and P. eucalypta. The macroscopic features of P. subaeruginosa vary considerably depending on geography and growing conditions, varying from small, gregarious and bulbous in maturity in colder climates or high altitudes to more 'classic' tall, solitary and slightly umbonate specimens.
Psilocybe subaeruginosa of the Blue Mountains
