Mad Season said:

Mr.Caterpillar said:

All cubensis I've grown bruised blue - some more than others.  There are psilocybes that don't bruise blue, but the most potent, such as Azurescens, stain very dark blue.

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Why do people always come back to this to prove potency and bruising are related?

Mad Season said:

Homesteader said:

veryy cute! please explain to me further about the experiments you've conducted on the correlation between bluing and constituent active compounds?? Is it coincidental then that azures bruise extremely blue and are also the strongest variety?

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They can also barely bruise and still rock...

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Quote:

The common explanation is that the bruising is due to the oxidation of psilocin/psilocybin.  Wikipedia cites Stamets on that:

Quote:

The blue-staining species of Psilocybe are characterized by the presence of psilocin and psilocybin. This blue-staining reaction occurs after the fruit body has been injured, particularly near the base of the stalk.[19] This reaction is thought to be due to the oxidation of psilocybin after the outer surface of the fruit body has been breached.[20] The degree of bluing in a Psilocybe fruit body roughly correlates with the concentration of psilocin in the mushroom.[21]

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I don't think that any of the white molds; mycogone, scopulariopsis, sepedonium, etc. stain blue on their own.  If a blue staining is taking place when they are present in cubensis culture it is because the cubensis mycelium is being injured by the contaminant and what you are seeing is the cubensis mycelium turning blue.  Or are the molds assimilating the tryptamines?

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Well that's wrong with absolutely no evidence to back it up. The popular explanation was the earth was flat many years ago. Just because it's popular doesn't mean it's true. First off cubensis mycelium has almost no actives, so if it's bruising hella blue with no psilocin present, explain that. Secondly, there are quinones in cubensis.

When cubensis enzymes digest things, they also digest cubensis itself. This causes bruising in not only this species, but every species that bruises, even the non-actice ones. Perhaps it's a different pigment the enzymes are digesting, but this is undoubtably a pigment getting digested along with the mold said enzymes are attempting to digest.

Mad Season said:

stamets made a completely baseless statement with absolutely no evidence to back it up. You could have dug around much more than that dude. Cmon now.

Mad Season said:

IMO you just gotta try it all out yourself mate. Personally I've never done much light experiments besides prolonged direct sunlight. Which when done well has some very healthy looking fruits.

Pretty much everything involving bruising is up for debate because we don't have the equipment to test what sorts of shit is causing it. This post sums it up nicely. A psilocin solution does oxidize blue, but many indoles, amino acids, and enzymes in mushrooms that don't have psilocin but still bruise are inside cubensis mushrooms. Which actually could explain why there's different colors of bruising too.

Witch's hat for example bruises black because of L-DOPA, while boletes blue because of enzymes breaking down variegatic acid. Much like how cubensis enzymes are responsible for the breakdown of psilocin and psilocybin. Ive even seen it bruise green, I'd love to know if it's because of a different chemical.

The basic shit like fruiting conditions and surface area have already been covered, but a lot of the chemistry, and whatnot still needs a lot more research.

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Read this carefully. Including the link I linked.

Some of the most potent psilocybes barely even bruise.. bruising is DEFINITELY NOT a way to indicate potency.

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Mad Season said:

mogur said:

Bluing of non active Boletes, as RR mentioned, and non-bluing of some psilos, seems to go against the common belief that it is due to psilocin oxidation. However, right now, I have to toss my hat in with this 'urban legend'. Here's quote from Tom Volks about the bluing reaction in Boletes [check the cool bluing video on that page]-

Quote:

The blueing reaction is easily explained through biochemistry. A compound called variegatic acid remains colorless unless it is exposed to oxygen. The cell walls of Gyroporus cyanescens are easily broken, exposing the variegatic acid to the air. The oxygenase enzyme converts the variegatic acid to its quinone methide, which is blue. Interestingly, in many other boletes, in the absence of oxygen, variegatic acid is converted to variegatorubin, which is responsible to the red color found in many members of this group.

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Chemists have tried to identify the chemical responsible for the blue color in psilos, and suprisingly haven't been able to pin it down. A quinone is a likely candidate for this pigment also, since their their alternating single and double bonds trap certain wavelengths. However, that will be determined by some future study.

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Lol amazing what you can find on here. It's obviously a pigment involved here. Just like variegatic acid or L-DOPA.

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Quote:

Psilacetin is O-acetylated psilocin, whereas psilocybin is O-phosphorylated.

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