Psilocybe tasmaniana
Psilocybe tasmaniana | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Basidiomycota |
Class: | Agaricomycetes |
Order: | Agaricales |
Family: | Hymenogastraceae |
Genus: | Psilocybe |
Species: | P. tasmaniana
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Binomial name | |
Psilocybe tasmaniana Guzmán & Watling (1978) |
Psilocybe tasmaniana | |
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Gills on hymenium | |
Cap is convex or campanulate | |
saprotrophic | |
Edibility is psychoactive |
Psilocybe tasmaniana is a species of coprophilous agaric fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae.[2][3] It was described by Gastón Guzmán and Roy Watling in 1978 as a small tawny orange mushroom that grows on dung, with a slight blueing reaction to damage, known only from Tasmania and southeastern Australia.[1] It was likened to Psilocybe subaeruginosa although characteristics, appearance, and the association with dung were not typical for that species.[4] As a blueing member of the genus Psilocybe it contains the psychoactive compounds psilocin and psilocybin.
In 1992 an attempt was made to combine the name as a synonym of Psilocybe subaeruginosa.[5] This was unsuccessful but the species was not well known and it gained a reputation as invalid, and with a lack of authentic records the name fell out of use.[6]
In recent years it has been applied to a species in Australia and New Zealand which may or may not be the same species Guzmán and Watling described. There are similarities but it is not on dung, and there are departures from the described appearance and geographic range. It is reported most often from New Zealand.[3]
The holotype is deposited at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh but no DNA sequences are available for comparison with current records.[7]
Taxonomy
Psilocybe tasmaniana was first described in 1978 by mycologists Gastón Guzmán and Roy Watling as a dung-inhabiting species found in Tasmania and southeastern Australia.
The species was placed in the newly created
In 1992 botanist Yu Shyun Chang critically re-examined P. australiana, P. eucalypta, and P. tasmaniana, by this time reported from both Australia and New Zealand. He proposed combining them as synonyms of Psilocybe subaeruginosa, arguing that the described features and those of the specimens he examined overlapped in range, and characteristics such as habitat and elements of appearance were not enough to distinguish them.[5] Guzmán opposed the combination, calling the comparisons confused,[8] but it was accepted in 1995 by New Zealand mycologists Peter R. Johnston and Peter K Buchanan with the exception of P. tasmaniana which they removed from the synonymy. They did not consider the description of characteristic cheilocystidia and coprophilous habit to fit, and the single specimen examined, PDD 57404 from New Zealand, was examined again and found to be P. subaeruginosa that had been misidentified. They comment that "authentic records of Psilocybe tasmaniana are not known from New Zealand."[6]
In 2015-2016 photos of an unidentified Psilocybe species in Australia and another from New Zealand appeared online with similar characteristics to the description. The mushrooms were not on dung but other features fit, and both were determined as P. tasmaniana, leading to the current use of the name. There are some departures from the original concept, including appearance, habitat and geographic range. The species presence in New Zealand (biostatus) is listed as uncertain[9] and recorded in error.[10]
Etymology
The
Description
The
A moderate blueing reaction is observed in this species when handled or damaged. The spore print is purple-brown.[4]
Microscopic characteristics
Published description
The Genus Psilocybe (1983) is not the original publication but was authored by Guzmán, and contains Watling and Guzmán's descriptions, microscopy, drawings, information on placement into sections, and descriptions for related taxa. See pages 332–41.
Habitat and distribution
The fruitbodies were described growing on animal dung, some from kangaroo, or with wood and leaves intermixed with dung, in grasslands and Australian Eucalyptus forests. The growth pattern is solitary to gregarious in small groups (close together but not densely clustered).[4]
Under its current use this species is observed growing solitary to gregarious from soil mixed with woody debris, sticks and grasses, or in potting mix and in areas of landscaping from clay soil and decomposing bark mulch.
Described from Tasmania and southeastern Australia (New South Wales in part, and the Australian Capital Territory);[4] currently reported from New South Wales and, predominantly, New Zealand.
Watling collected the type material from the small rural farming and logging localities of Nugent and Buckland, approximately 50 kilometres northeast of the Tasmanian state capital of Hobart. Further collections came from Mount Field National Park in Tasmania, which ranges from temperate Eucalyptus rainforest to alpine moorland, and Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, a large, steep walled valley and mountain range near Canberra, now an IUCN Category II Protected Area and the traditional Country of the Ngunnawal people.
Similar species
Guzmán related Psilocybe tasmaniana with
Psilocybe alutacea is extremely similar, small and dung-associated. It was described from Tasmania and Australia in 2006. It has overlapping macroscopic and microscopic characteristics, although some differences seem to exist. Most notably the cheilocystidia of P. alutacea can be three-pronged, and pleurocystidia are reportedly rare, with long necks.[11]
Under the current use in New Zealand, P. tasmaniana may be confused with other Psilocybe species that share the same habitats. These include a mushroom related to P. stuntzii,[12] and P. angulospora; the three are similar in size and found in potted plants and landscaping. P. angulospora can be recognised by an often acute central papilla on the cap.[13]
See also
- List of psilocybin mushrooms
References
- ^ a b Psilocybe tasmaniana in MycoBank.
- ^ Psilocybe tasmaniana in Index Fungorum
- ^ GBIF. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
- ^ ISBN 3-7682-5474-7.
- ^ ISSN 0953-7562.
- ^ – via ResearchGate.
- ^ Watling, R. "Psilocybe tasmaniana holotype". Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
- ^ Guzmán, G.; Bandala, V.M.; King, C.C. (1992). "Further observations on the genus Psilocybe from New Zealand". Mycotaxon. 46: 161–170 – via CYBERLIBER.
- ^ "New Zealand Fungi". Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research - New Zealand Fungi.
- ^ Psilocybe tasmaniana in New Zealand Organisms Register (NZOR)
- ^ Chang, Y.S.; Gates, G.M.; Ratkowsky, D.A. (2006). "Some new species in the Strophariaceae (Agaricales) in Tasmania". Australasian Mycologist. 24 (3): 61–64.
- ^ "Psilocybe Mushrooms (Genus Psilocybe) Observation". iNaturalist. 17 May 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
- .
External links
- Psilocybe tasmaniana on iNaturalist
- Psilocybe tasmaniana on Mushroom Observer
- Landcare Research Manaaki Whenua New Zealand online fungarium records.
Media related to Psilocybe tasmaniana at Wikimedia Commons