A description of P. azurescens: Psilocybe azurescens Stamets & Gartz sp. nova
Pileo ochreato-brunneo, hygrophano, viscido, pellicula separabili intructo, conico dein convexo, plano 30-100mm lato, umbonato. Lamellis sinuato-adnatis, pallidis vel brunneo. Stipite albo, stricto, elongato, 90-200mm, fibrillis cum strigositate basis caerulescentibus. Carne caerulescente. Sporis 12-13,5 x 6,5-8.0 um. Cystidiis fusoid-ventricosis. Cheilocystidiis 23-28 x 6.5-8.0 um; pleurocystidiis 23-35 x 9-10 um.
Macroscopic Features: Pileus 30-100mm in diameter, conic to convex, expanding to broadly convex and eventually flattening with age with a pronounced, persistent broad umbo; surface smooth, viscous when moist, covered by a separable gelatinous pellicle; chestnut to ochraceous brown to caramel in color often becoming pitted with dark blue or bluish black zones, hygrophanous, fading to light straw color in drying, strongly bruising blue when damaged; margin even, sometimes irregular and eroded at maturity, slightly incurved at first, soon decurved, flattening with maturity, translucent striate and often leaving a fibrillose annular zone in the upper regions of the stem. Lamellae ascending, sinuate to adnate, brown, often stained info-black where injured, close, with two tiers of lamellulae, mottled, edges withish. Spore-print dark purplish brown to purplish black in mass. Stipe 90-200mm long by 3-6mm thick, silky white, dingy brown from the base or in age, hollow at maturity. Composed of twisted, cartilaginous tissue. Base of stem thickening downwards, often curved, and characterized by coarse white aerial tufts of mycelium, often with azure tones. Mycelium surrounding stipe base densely rhizomorphic, silky white, tenaciously holding the wood-chips together, strongly bruising bluish upon disturbance. Odor none to slightly farinaceous. Taste extremely bitter.
Microscopic Features: Clamp connections abundant. Ixocutis gelatinous, hyaline hyphae, 1.5 - 5.5um in diameter. Sub-pellis a brownish band, more highly pigmented than pileal trama. Lamellar trama regular, composed of hyphae 5 - 15 um in diameter, slightly encrusted with brown pigments; subhumenium a subcellular compact layer, 10um thick. Pileal trama 5 - 15um thick. Pleurocystidia abundant, fusoid-ventricose, tapering to a narrow but short neck, bluntly papillate, 23-35 x 9-10 um. Cheilocystidia forming a nongelatinized sterile band, nearly identical to pleurocystidia measuring 23-28 x 6.5-8.0 um. Basidia 4-spored, measuring 27-30.5 x 6.3-7.2 um. Spores 12-13.5 x 6.5-8.0 um, rich reddish brown in KOH and light purplish vinaceous in aqeous ammoniacal solutions. Wall thickness less than 1 um. Caulocystidia abundant above the annular zone and similar to pleurocystidia but thicker walled and more irregular, measuring 43um long with undulated necks. Cortial hyphae on stipe slightly thickened, almost subgelatinized walls, 3 - 5 um in diameter with clamps and brown intra-perital pigment. Caulocystidia absent below annular zone. Tissue notably awash with bluish tones.
Habit & Habitat: Cespitose to gregarious on deciduous wood-chips and/or in sandy soils rich in lignicolous debris. Aspect collyboid, generating an extensive, dense and tenacious mycelial mat, P. azurescens causes the whitening of wood. Fruitings begin in late September and continue until harsh frost, usually mid-November.
Distribution: Specimens were first collected on an alluvial plain along the Columbia river network near Astoria, Oregon in 1979. Fruitings of this species are known from Oregon and Washington. Holotype: A dried collection of fruitbodies cultivated on alder (Alnus rubra) wood-chips using the methods described by Stamets (1993) outdoors, harvested on 11/21/93 and deposited at WTU. Original clone used for propagation was from Astoria, Oregon on 10/30/79. Additional collections from Tillamook and Astoria, Oregon in October 1990 were collected by one of the authors (Jochen Gartz) and deposited in LZ.
Taxonomic Considerations: Psilocybe azurescens generally resembles Psilocybe bohemica Sebek, Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa Guzman & Stamets, Psilocybe cyanescens Wakefield, Psilocybe eucalypta Guzman & Walting, Psilocybe mairei Singer, Psilocybe serbica Moser & Horak and Psilocybe collybioides Singer & Smith. Complete reproductive barriers have been found be one of the authors (Jochen Gartz) between Psilocybe azurescens and P. bohemica as well as between P. azurescens and Pacific Northwest European collections of P.cyanescens.
In it's natural habitat, the general aspect of Psilocybe azurescens is most similar to Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa Stamets & Guzman but differs in several significant macroscopic features. Psilocybe azurescens has pleurocystidia whereas Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa has long necked, lageniform cheilocystidia, often forked, while Psilocybe azurescens has singly formed, fusoid ventricose cheilocystidia with short necks. Macroscopically P. azurescens is much larger in form and quickly bruises bluish to indigo-black upon handling. The bruising reaction in P. cyanofibrillosa is less intense and comparatively slow in appearing, which directly reflects it's low psilocybin content (Bocks, 1968; Stamets et al. 1980). Both species are characterized by non- undulating pileal margins.
Psilocybe azurescens also closely resembles a variety of Pacific Northwest Psilocybe widely reported as Psilocybe cyanescens Wakefield, a species originally discovered in the British Isles. This variety of Psilocybe cyanescens gained considerable notoriety in the mid-1970's (Weil, 1975, 1977; Pollock, 1975; Ott, 1975; Guzman & Ott, 1976; Guzman et al., 1976). Yet, this mushroom has probably been confused with other taxa. The mushroom portrayed in many popular field guides and identified as P. cyanescens (Arora, 1979 & 1991; Lincoff & Mitchel, 1977; Lincoff, 1981; Menser, 1977; Ott & Bigwood, 1978; Stamets, 1978) differs from the type in the relative number of surface cystidia.
In the Pacific Northwest, P. azurescens can be macroscopically distinguished from P. cyanescens by the following combination of features. P. azurescens has a cap margin characteristically even, not undulating and has a persitent, pronounced umbo at the disc when the pileus fully expands. The variety of P. cyanescens from the Pacific Northwest is characterized by distinctive, exaggerated undulating margin, resembling a sine-wave at maturity and is notably non-umbonate. In general, P. azurescens, as it is presently understood, is substantially larger than most collections of P. cyanescens. Microscopically, the pleurocystidia in P. azurescens are mucronate whereas the Pacific Northwest form P. cyanescens can become distinctly capitate at maturity. Otherwise, the microscopic features of P. azurescens are largely coincident within the range reported for the Pacific Northwest P. cyanescens.
Krieglsteiner (1984, 1986) extensively studies collections of Psilocybe from Europe, some of which were determined to be Psilocybe cyanescens. He proposed that Psilocybe mairei Singer, Psilocybe serbica Moser & Horak and Psilocybe bohemica could be conspecific with Psilocybe cyanescens Wakefield because these taxa could not be delineated microscopically. However, one significant feature which characterizes Psilocybe bohemica and separates this species from these aforementioned taxa and from Psilocybe azurescens is that the pilei of P. bohemica become white upon drying. Furthermore, one author (Jochen Gartz) has found complete reproductive barriers between 80 random pairings of monokaryons from Psilocybe azurescens, Psilocybe cyanescens and Psilocybe bohemica. Since monokaryons from single spore isolates from each of these species have proved to be incompatible, these taxa appear to be auto- nomous. Former research (Gartz, 1993) has also shown that complete repro- ductive barriers exist between Pacific Northwest strains of Psilocybe cyanescens and Czechoslovakian collections of Psilocybe bohemica. Mating studies paired single spore isolations and clamp connections failed to form, an indication of incompatibility. Furthermore, monokaryons from a collection of Psilocybe cyanescens (non-pleurocystidiate form) from Austria in October of 1992 also failed to form dikaryotic mycelia when paired with strains of Pacific Northwest Psilocybe cyanescens (pleurocystidiate form), Psilocybe azurescens and Psilocybe bohemica, respectively.
A closely related species is Psilocybe eucalypta Guzman & Watling. Psilocybe eucalypta has smaller and narrower cheilocystidia, only 15-25 x 4.4-6.6 um in comparison to P. azurescens cheilocystidia which measure 23-28 x 6.5-8.0 um. Furthermore, P. azurescens produces a more massive fruitbody, with a pileal diameter of 30 to 100 mm whereas P. eucalypta is smaller, falling within a range of 15-38 mm. P. eucalypta has thus far only been reported from the region centering around eastern Australia. Lastly, Psilocybe serbica Moser & Horak (1968), a temperate species, can be easily separated from P. azurescens by it's lack of pleurocystidia and it's non-umbonate form. Another related species, Psilocybe collybioides Singer & Smith, known at present from Argentina, shares many features common to P. azurescens save for it's exceptionally small spores, measuring only 5.5-10 x 3.5-6.5 um. These com- binations of features separate P. azurescens from the aforementioned taxa. Psilocybe azurescens is being named for the soft blue tones present on the mushroom, before handling or damage, especially along the cap margin and in the basal mycelium. Additionally the name also honors the son of one of the authors (Paul Stamets).
From http://www.tacethno.com/info/psilocybe/astoria.txt .
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