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Stropharia and Psilocybe  

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Strophariaceae . . . ]

Taxonomy in Transition: ...  > Agaricales > Stropharioid Clade +

by Michael Kuo

The mushrooms in Stropharia and Psilocybe get shifted around so frequently that there's no keeping up with the names. Maybe we should just create "Psilopharia" and have done with it--except that the name wouldn't reflect any natural grouping, since it turns out that what is now called "Psilocybe" actually represents two very different groups of mushrooms, neither of which is as closely related to Stropharia as they are to Hypholoma and Pholiota (see the Strophariaceae page for details).

"Psilopharias" are saprobes on dung, woody debris, or grass. They have purple-brown to purplish black spore prints, and partial veils. In Stropharia, theoretically, the partial veil is more likely to leave a ring, while species of Psilocybe are more likely to have ring zones--but this idea breaks down pretty quickly as soon as one starts trying to identify the mushrooms.

Some of the species bruise blue, especially near the stem base, and these belong to Psilocybe--or, they used to belong to Psilocybe; now mycologists aren't sure where to put them because their DNA marks them as completely separate from the other, non-bluing species of Psilocybe and Stropharia. Some species of Stropharia are large and brightly colored, but these traits are not unheard of in Psilocybe. Most species of Stropharia feature "chrysocystidia" on their gills (cystidia that stain yellowish in KOH when fresh, or appear filled with amorphous granular contents when revived from dried mushrooms), while most species of Psilocybe do not . . .

 		 

Stropharia thrausta

Stropharia ambigua

Stropharia ambigua
Chrysocystidia

. . . and so on. I say we should just use the same strategy they recommend for merging onto the Interstate: pick a spot, accelerate, and get on the highway. Call it a Stropharia or a Psilocybe, either one, but don't sit there on the ramp crying about the traffic, because we've got places to go and mushrooms to see when we get there!

My collecting experience with species of Stropharia leads me to believe that the application of KOH to the cap surface results in some fairly distinctive color reactions. Perhaps this is an area of Stropharia identification that should be explored.

The mushrooms in Psilocybe and Stropharia are not good edibles, with the possible exception of Stropharia rugosoannulata. As for the rest: some of the species are edible but insipid; some of the species are poisonous; and some of the species are hallucinogenic. I do not recommend experimenting, for culinary or other purposes, with any of them.



  Key to about 20 North American Stropharia Taxa

Note: Stropharia identification can be unsatisfying. While the number of "species" described for North America is thankfully fairly small, the number of collections one makes that do not quite fit the named species is frustratingly high and one is often forced into a "close enough" identification decision. Fortunately, several North American mycology graduate students are currently working on Stropharia, and the genus may be better understood in the near future.


1.Fresh cap scarlet to orange.
2

1.Fresh cap otherwise colored (brown, tan, yellow, wine red, purplish, white, green, blue).
3


2.Found in woodchips, landscaping areas, waste places (and so on) in coastal California (perhaps elsewhere?); stem smooth to finely hairy.

2.Found in woods across North America; stem shaggy.


3.Cap with blue or green colors (if stem bruises blue, see Psilocybe).
4

3.Blue or green colors absent.
5


4.Cap dark green to dark blue when young, often fading to yellowish; widely distributed.

4.Cap bluish or greenish when young, becoming whitish with faint bluish tints; reported from the Pacific Northwest.
Stropharia pseudocyanea
= S. albocyanea
(photo only)


5.Mature cap medium sized to large; regularly greater than 5 cm in diameter.
6

5.Mature cap small; rarely greater than 5 cm in diameter.
12


6.Cap without scales, typically wine red when young, becoming brownish--but occasionally brownish when young, or in one form white in all stages of development; ring prominent and well developed, with distinctive bent-back scales or "claws" on its underside; growing in woodchips, landscaping areas, mulch, and so on; spores 10-15 x 6-9 µ.

6.Not completely as above.
7


7.Found in western North America (especially northern California and the Pacific Northwest); tall (mature stem 8-15 cm long); cap slimy and yellow, fringed with drooping white veil remnants on the margin.

7.Not completely as above.
8


8.Stem conspicuously scaly, especially when young.
9

8.Stem smooth, fibrillose, or slightly shaggy when young, but lacking conspicuous scales.
11


9.Cap yellow and dry, innately scaly ("scales" not merely veil remnants; not easily rubbed off); spores not longer than 8 µ.

9.Not completely as above.
10


10.Young cap purple brown to reddish brown; stem 1-2 cm thick; chrysocystidia present on gill faces.

10.Young cap yellow to orangish brown; stem .5-1 cm thick; cystidia absent.
Stropharia squamosa
at Roger's Mushrooms


11.Found in eastern North America; cap dull brownish yellow; ring thin but persistent and membranous; spores 6-7 µ long; chrysocystidia present on gill faces.

11.Found in western North America; cap yellowish to whitish; ring fragile, soon disappearing or remaining only as a zone of fibrils; spores substantially longer than above; cystidia not present on gill faces.


12.Young cap wine red; reported from piles of hardwood debris in flooded lowlands in Illinois and Indiana.

12.Cap otherwise colored; distribution and ecology various.
13


13.Stem shaggy-scaly; cap slimy, dull yellow to orangish; found in woods; spores 12-14 µ long; cystidia absent.
Stropharia squamosa
at Roger's Mushrooms

13.Not completely as above.
14


14.Growing in woods.
15

14.Growing in grass, on dung, in woodchips, in gardens, and so on.
17


15.Found in western North America; mature cap 3-5 cm across; spores 11-15 µ long; cystidia on gill faces absent.

15.Not completely as above.
16


16.Cap whitish (sometimes with a yellowish center); fresh stem dry; reported from Michigan and California.
Stropharia albonitens
at Roger's Mushrooms

16.Cap honey yellow; fresh stem with a slimy sheath; reported near Seattle "among leaves in woods" and from Oregon "on humus under spruce."
Stropharia semigloboides


17.Ring fairly persistent, usually remaining throughout development.
18

17.Ring ephemeral, usually disappearing with maturity or persisting merely as a zone of fibrils.
19


18.Fresh, young cap yellow to yellowish; spores 7-11 x 4.5-5.5 µ.
Stropharia coronilla
~ = S. bilamellata

18.Fresh, young cap whitish; spores 10-13 x 6.5-8 µ.
Stropharia melanosperma


19.Fresh stem with a slimy sheath; cap convex to nearly round, but not bell-shaped; spores 15-19 µ long.

19.Not completely as above.
20


20.Found in western North America; cap 3-5 cm across, yellow becoming whitish; spores 11-15 µ long; cystidia on gill faces absent.

20.Not completely as above.
21


21.Cap 1-2.5 cm across, bell-shaped, yellowish brown with a darker center; spores 17-19 µ long.
Stropharia umbonatescens

21.Cap slightly larger than above, convex to planoconvex, paler than above; spores shorter.
22


22.Stem about 2 mm thick; widely distributed in North America.
Stropharia siccipes

22.Stem about 5-10 mm thick; apparently eastern in distribution.
Stropharia melanosperma



References


Arora, D. (1986). Mushrooms demystified: A comprehensive guide to the fleshy fungi. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. 959 pp.

Atkinson, G. F. (1906). Two new species belonging to Naucoria and Stropharia. The Journal of Mycology 12: 193-194.

Bas, C. & M. E. Noordeloos (1996). Notulae ad floram agaricinam neerlandicam XXIX: Two new species of Psilocybe. Persoonia 16: 239-44.

Guzman, G. (1980). Three new sections in the genus Naematoloma and a description of a new tropical species. Mycotaxon 12: 235-240.

Guzmán, G. (1983). The genus Psilocybe. Germany: J. Cramer. 439 pp.

Kauffman, C.H. (1918). The gilled mushrooms (Agaricaceae) of Michigan and the Great Lakes region, Volumes I and II. New York: Dover. 924 pp. (1971 Reprint.)

Murrill, W. A. (1912). The Agaricaceae of the Pacific Coast: III. Mycologia 4: 294-308.

Noordeloos, M. E. (1995). Notulae ad floram agaricinam Neerlandicam–XXIII. Psilocybe and Pholiota. Persoonia 16: 127-129.

Noordeloos, M. E. (2001). Studies in Psilocybe sect. Psilocybe. Osterr. Z. Pilzk. 10: 115-180.

Smith, A. H. (1937). Notes on agarics from the western United States. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 64: 477-487.

Smith, A. H. (1951). North American species of Naematoloma. Mycologia 43: 466-521.

Smith, A. H., Smith, H. V. & Weber, N. S. (1979). How to know the gilled mushrooms. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown. 334 pp.

Stamets, P. E. (1978). Psilocybe mushrooms and their allies. Seattle: Homestead Book Company. 160 pp.

Stamets, P. E., M. W. Beug & J. E. Bigwood (1980). A new species and a new variety of Psilocybe from North America. Mycotaxon 11: 476-484.

Stamets, P. (2003). Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World: An Identification Guide. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.



Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2007, October). Stropharia and Psilocybe. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/stropharia.html

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