Psilocybe semilanceata

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Psilocybe semilanceata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Hymenogastraceae
Genus: Psilocybe
Species:
P. semilanceata
Binomial name
Psilocybe semilanceata
(
P.Kumm.
(1871)
Synonyms[1][2]
  • Agaricus semilanceatus Fr. (1838)
  • Geophila semilanceata (Fr.) Quél. (1886)
  • Panaeolus semilanceatus (Fr.) J.E.Lange (1936)
  • Panaeolus semilanceatus (Fr.) J.E.Lange (1939)
Psilocybe semilanceata
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Gills on hymenium
Cap is conical or umbonate
Hymenium is adnate or adnexed
Stipe is bare
Spore print is brown to purple
Ecology is
saprotrophic
Edibility is psychoactive

Psilocybe semilanceata, commonly known as the liberty cap, is a species of fungus which produces the

psilocybin mushrooms in nature, and one of the most potent. The mushrooms have a distinctive conical to bell-shaped cap, up to 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter, with a small nipple-like protrusion on the top. They are yellow to brown, covered with radial grooves when moist, and fade to a lighter color as they mature. Their stipes tend to be slender and long, and the same color or slightly lighter than the cap. The gill attachment to the stipe is adnexed (narrowly attached), and they are initially cream-colored before tinting purple to black as the spores mature. The spores are dark purplish-brown in mass, ellipsoid in shape, and measure 10.5–15 by 6.5–8.5 micrometres
.

The mushroom grows in

saprobic species that feeds off decaying grass roots. It is widely distributed in the temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in Europe, and has been reported occasionally in temperate areas of the Southern Hemisphere
as well. The earliest reliable history of P. semilanceata intoxication dates back to 1799 in London, and in the 1960s the mushroom was the first European species confirmed to contain psilocybin.

The possession or sale of psilocybin mushrooms is illegal in many countries.

Taxonomy and naming

A small conical cream-colored mushroom on a long, spindly stipe, amid long grass
A marble bust of a curly-haired boy wearing an edgeless conical cap with the rounded peak bending forward
The mushroom gets its common name from its resemblance to the Phrygian cap.

The species was first described by

synonym.[5][6] According to the taxonomical database MycoBank, several taxa once considered varieties of P. semilanceata are synonymous with the species now known as Psilocybe strictipes:[7] the caerulescens variety described by Pier Andrea Saccardo in 1887 (originally named Agaricus semilanceatus var. coerulescens by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke in 1881),[8] the microspora variety described by Rolf Singer in 1969,[9] and the obtusata variety described by Marcel Bon in 1985.[10]

Several

The mushroom takes its

specific epithet comes from Latin semi 'half, somewhat' and lanceata, from lanceolatus 'spear-shaped'.[21]

Description

A collection of brown mushrooms laid on a rock. The mushrooms' caps are small, conical, and variably rounded. Their stipes are long, spindly, and irregular.
A collection from Norway

Microscopic characteristics

In

cystidia on the gill edge) measure 15–30 by 4–7 μm, and are flask-shaped with long thin necks that are 1–3.5 μm wide. P. semilanceata does not have pleurocystidia (cystidia on the gill face). The cap cuticle is up to 90 μm thick, and is made of a tissue layer called an ixocutis—a gelatinized layer of hyphae lying parallel to the cap surface. The hyphae comprising the ixocutis are cylindrical, hyaline, and 1–3.5 μm wide. Immediately under the cap cuticle is the subpellis, made of hyphae that are 4–12 μm wide with yellowish-brown encrusted walls. There are clamp connections present in the hyphae of all tissues.[2]

Spore Print
Spores under microscope (x1000)
Microscopic characteristics

Other forms

The

mycelia. The conidia formed are straight to curved, measuring 2.0–8.0 by 1.1–2.0 μm, and may contain one to several small intracellular droplets.[25] Although little is known of the anamorphic stage of P. semilanceata beyond the confines of laboratory culture, in general, the morphology of the asexual structures may be used as classical characters in phylogenetic analyses to help understand the evolutionary relationships between related groups of fungi.[26]

Scottish mycologist

Similar species

Lookalikes include P. mexicana (left) and P. pelliculosa (right).

There are several other Psilocybe species that may be confused with P. semilanceata due to similarities in physical appearance.

subtropical grasslands in Mexico. It has somewhat smaller spores than P. semilanceata, typically 8–9.9 by 5.5–7.7 μm.[28] Another lookalike species is P. samuiensis, found in Thailand, where it grows in well-manured clay-like soils or among paddy fields. This mushroom can be distinguished from P. semilanceata by its smaller cap, up to 1.5 cm (0.6 in) in diameter, and its rhomboid-shaped spores.[29] P. pelliculosa is physically similar to such a degree that it may be indistinguishable in the field. It differs from P. semilanceata by virtue of its smaller spores, measuring 9–13 by 5–7 μm.[18]

P. semilanceata has also been confused with the toxic muscarine-containing species Inocybe geophylla,[30] a whitish mushroom with a silky cap, yellowish-brown to pale grayish gills, and a dull yellowish-brown spore print.[31] Other similar species include P. cubensis, P. cyanescens, and Deconica coprophila.[22]

Ecology and habitat

Psilocybe semilanceata is a saprobic grassland species.

Psilocybe semilanceata fruits solitarily or in groups on rich

grasslands,[35] such as meadows, pastures,[36] or lawns.[23] It is often found in pastures that have been fertilized with sheep or cow dung,[23] although it does not typically grow directly on the dung.[34]

P. semilanceata, like all others species of the genus

saprobic fungus,[37][38] meaning it obtains nutrients by breaking down organic matter. The mushroom is also associated with sedges in moist areas of fields,[23] and it is thought to live on the decaying root remains.[39][40]

Like some other grassland

sclerotia, a dormant form of the fungus, which affords it some protection from wildfires and other natural disasters.[35]

Laboratory tests have shown P. semilanceata to suppress the growth of the soil-borne

antimicrobial susceptibility tests, Psilocybe semilanceata was shown to strongly inhibit the growth of the human pathogen methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The source of the antimicrobial activity is unknown.[43]

Distribution

Psilocybe authority Gastón Guzmán, in his 1983 monograph on psilocybin mushrooms, considered Psilocybe semilanceata the world's most widespread psilocybin mushroom species, as it has been reported on 18 countries.[44] In Europe, P. semilanceata has a widespread distribution,[45] and is found in Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Channel Islands, Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, the Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,[46] the United Kingdom and Ukraine.[47] It is generally agreed that the species is native to Europe; Watling has demonstrated that there exists little difference between specimens collected from Spain and Scotland, at both the morphological and genetic level.[27]

The mushroom also has a widespread distribution in North America. In Canada it has been collected from British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Quebec.

Panaeolina foenisecii.[48] P. semilanceata is much less common in South America, where it has been recorded in Chile.[47] It is also known in Australia (where it may be an introduced species)[27] and New Zealand, where it grows in high-altitude grasslands.[49] In 2000, it was reported from Golaghat, in the Indian state of Assam.[50] In 2017, it was reported from Charsadda, in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[51]

Psychoactive use

Stropharia semiglobata
.

The first reliably documented report of Psilocybe semilanceata intoxication involved a British family in 1799, who prepared a meal with mushrooms they had picked in London's

pupil dilation, spontaneous laughter and delirium.[52] The identification of the species responsible was made possible by James Sowerby's 1803 book Coloured Figures of English Fungi or Mushrooms,[53] which included a description of the fungus, then known as Agaricus glutinosus (originally described by Moses Ashley Curtis in 1780). According to German mycologist Jochen Gartz, the description of the species is "fully compatible with current knowledge about Psilocybe semilanceata."[54]

In the early 1960s, the Swiss scientist

LSDchemically analyzed P. semilanceata fruit bodies collected in Switzerland and France by the botanist Roger Heim. Using the technique of paper chromatography, Hofmann confirmed the presence of 0.25% (by weight) psilocybin in dried samples. Their 1963 publication was the first report of psilocybin in a European mushroom species; previously, it had been known only in Psilocybe species native to Mexico, Asia and North America.[33] This finding was confirmed in the late 1960s with specimens from Scotland and England,[55][56] Czechoslovakia (1973),[57] Germany (1977),[58] Norway (1978),[39] and Belgium and Finland (1984).[59][60] In 1965, forensic characterization of psilocybin-containing mushrooms seized from college students in British Columbia identified P. semilanceata[61]—the first recorded case of intentional recreational use of the mushroom in Canada.[62] The presence of the psilocybin analog baeocystin was confirmed in 1977.[58] Several studies published since then support the idea that the variability of psilocybin content in P. semilanceata is low, regardless of country of origin.[63][64]

Properties

Several studies have quantified the amounts of hallucinogenic compounds found in the fruit bodies of Psilocybe semilanceata. In 1993, Gartz reported an average of 1% psilocybin (expressed as a percentage of the

P. bohemica.[70] however this data has become obsolete over the years as more potent cultivars have been discovered for numerous species, especially panaeolus cyanescens which holds the current world record for most potent mushrooms described in published research. According to Gartz (1995), P. semilanceata is Europe's most popular psychoactive species.[36]

Several reports have been published in the literature documenting the effects of consumption of P. semilanceata. Typical symptoms include visual distortions of color, depth and form, progressing to visual

arrhythmia, and suffered myocardial infarction after ingesting P. semilanceata frequently over the period of a month. The cardiac damage and myocardial infarction was suggested to be a result of either coronary vasoconstriction, or because of platelet hyperaggregation and occlusion of small coronary arteries.[73]

Danger of misidentification

One danger of attempting to consume hallucinogenic or other wild mushrooms, especially for novice mushroom hunters, is the possibility of misidentification with

myocardium.[76] A polymerase chain reaction-based test to specifically identity P. semilanceata was reported by Polish scientists in 2007.[77] Poisonous Psathyrella
species can easily be misidentified as liberty caps.

Legal status

The legal status of psilocybin mushrooms varies worldwide. Psilocybin and psilocin are listed as

cannabis coffee shops and smart shops, laws were instituted in October 2008 to prohibit the possession or sale of psychedelic mushrooms—the final European country to do so.[79]
They are legal in Jamaica and Brazil and decriminalised in Portugal. In the United States, the city of
Oregon Ballot Measure 109, making Oregon the first state to both decriminalize psilocybin and also legalize it for therapeutic use.[81] Ann Arbor Michigan, and the county it resides in have decriminalized magic mushrooms, possession, sale and use are now legal within the county. In 2021, the City Councils of Somerville, Northampton, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Seattle, Washington, voted for decriminalization.[82]

Sweden

The Riksdag added Psilocybe semilanceata to Narcotic Drugs Punishments Act under Swedish schedule I ("substances, plant materials and fungi which normally do not have medical use") as of 1 October 1997, published by Medical Products Agency (MPA) in regulation LVFS 1997:12 listed as Psilocybe semilanceata (toppslätskivling).[83]

See also

References

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