Guest Fillyep Posted October 11, 2000 Does anyone know where i can find some magic mushrooms in melbourne? Thanx Fillyep Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rkundalini Posted October 17, 2000 Yes. You will have to wait until late May or early June. Then you will find Psilocybe subaeruginosa and/or related species growing in grassy soil (usually under trees so the soil has woody matter in it). Also last season I found them growing on woodchips/mulch in garden beds ... these may be a different species or subspecies to the woody soil lovers. Get Stamets' Psilocbin Mushrooms of the World and familiarise yourself with P. subearuginosa, eucalypta, australiana, cyanescens and azurescens. The latter two may not be found here but they look so similar to the woodchip ones that it's worth looking at the pics if you don't know what you're looking for. You probably won't get anyone to reveal a particular location because patches have a way of disappearing due to over picking once too many people find out about them. But anyway, spending a few mornings hunting for them is good mental preparation and a show of respect to the mushroom . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Silly Billy Posted October 18, 2000 we r european and me and my parents go on anual mushroom hunts (not magic)although a few times i did get some amanitas (taste like chicken) any way what we do instead of ripping them out we cut them out leaving the base of the stem in the ground this lets them re-grow after rains agian. also i am intreaged about the proper magic mushrooms and am egar to try any experiences or suggestions? in sydney when and in what conditions do they grow? thanx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billy Posted October 18, 2000 can't change my user name ! can anyone help ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Silly Billy Posted October 18, 2000 its ok billy i dont mind about the name they grow in cow shit did u say i always thought that was.. well... bulshit do they grow about now coz there are some cowpasture places around here as for identifing the good ones gose being european dosnt help much i only know the two speice in australia that u can eat Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rkundalini Posted October 19, 2000 From what I can gather, mushies people pick in Sydney are generally from the P. subaeruginosa complex as well, so my comments about Melbourne roughly apply to Sydney too. Re cow shit, as far as I knew the psychoactive "coprophage" species are (sub)tropical. Ie in northern NSW and qld people pick P. cubensis and Copelandia cyanescens on cow shit. I haven't heard of any found in temperate climates like melb and sydney. Where did you find them, billy? Re Stamets books yep they are expensive but for the picker Psilocybin mushrooms of the world really is worth it no matter what the price. Far, far more valuable than any other mushroom ID book. It is so extensive and packed with excellent colour photos. The Mushroom Cultivator and Gourmet Gourmet & Medicinal Mushrooms can probably be done without by most people except for serious growers... Oh and billy I think to "change" your username you gotta actually just create a new account from scratch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rkundalini Posted October 19, 2000 Oh yeah, you might also want to take a look at John Allen's Magic Mushrooms of Australia and New Zealand, online at http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online...ooms_aunz.shtml in my view not exceptional but worth a read. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ed Dunkel Posted October 20, 2000 If P. cubensis is a (sub)tropical coprophage then why is there a P. cubensis var. Tasmanian? They have Psilocybe semilanceata here in Vic don't they? I have seen some of them grow close to and grow through cow dung high up in the Pyrenees (France) once. They would be VERY different from P. cubensis but someone might not realise. E D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rkundalini Posted October 20, 2000 Aparrently we do have P. semilanceata here but they're not commonly picked by people down here. I was planning on looking for them last season but didn't get around to it. One of the problems is finding manured pasture without an attendant trespasser-hating armed farmer... Re cubensis in Tasmania yeah I had heard about that but always assumed it was an early incorrect assignment (e.g. really it's some other species of Psilocybe or Stropharia) because everything else refers to cubensis as a warm climate species. But maybe someone with Guzman's book can look it up for us... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest wira Posted October 22, 2000 The only Australian reference Guzman gives for cubensis is for Queensland [though of course we know it occurs in other places too ]. You might want to check out this cool site, I just found it today - http://www.rbgmelb.org.au/fungi/ It is an "Interactive Catalogue of Australian Fungi", which is being constantly updated. You can look up species and their synonyms, as well as the locations of recorded collections Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dutchie Posted October 22, 2000 Hiya all, interesting link there to the intereactive fungi catalogue.. Its seems they have lumped almost all of australias native psilocybes into the species subaeruginosa... weird... p.eucalypta, p.tasmaniana, and p.eucalypta. They also have a listing under cubensis of a "Psilocybe cubensis var. cyanescens"!!?? Anyone know of this collection.... I assume these guys have done this for ease of logging and I wouldnt assume that all of this info is true...although a great idea. please be sure to correctly ID any mushroom you are interested in, and YES, Stamets "Psilocybin Mushroom of the World" is a great ref. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rkundalini Posted October 23, 2000 Well, the separation of subaeruginosa into four distinct species was met with some skepticism but those doing the criticism were also criticized.... given that the differences are microscopic it doesn't really matter... although John Allen seems to think he can tell the difference from photos, he never responds to questions about how he knows it's not one of the other three... I suspect he bases the pronouncements on the location of the find, as if Guzman's listings of the ocurrence of each species is anywhere near complete. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ed Dunkel Posted October 24, 2000 Hey Dutchie, Were do your P. cubensis var. Tasmanian come from? Is there such a thing as a cool climate P. cubensis? E Dunkel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest beef_chicken Posted October 30, 2000 Hey fillyep, i live in frankston and there's quite a few P.Cubensis growing in various locations around here. The best place is called studio park, in langwarrin but you'll be hard pressed to find any at this time of year. I'm not a hundred percent but i think they're out of season. I've been checking after the rain for the past few weeks and can't seem to find any. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest wira Posted October 31, 2000 P. cubensis in Frankston?? Are you sure they were cubensis? This is a dung-loving subtropical species, I would be really surprised to hear of them growing as far south as Frankston. Just to be sure, this is Frankston, on the outskirts of Melbourne, that we're talking about? Do you have any photos of these fungi? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
