NZ find, psilocybe weraroa or weraroa sp.?

[fydesvindico]

stumbled across this little fella out on a walk this morning..

sorry, I didn't get a habitat shot as I didn't have my phone on me at the time, but this was found out in a wet coastal rain forrest, hiding amongst leaf litter on the east coast of the north island, new zealand..

may be a bit of wishful thinking going on here... but I thought it could posibly be a Psilocybe weraroa.. although theres a good chance its a Weraroa virescens or other kind of wearoa sp. i'm finding it difficult to find much info online about them.

theres a little bit of light blue staining happening but it's not really visible in the photos.. i'm waiting on a print now, although it doesn't look like it wants to happen. spores will rub off onto the finger as a light cinnamon brown colour... I will try to find another less damaged specimen for a better ID later today or tomorrow.

anyways, lettuce know what you think.

[solomon]

Score! looks like P. novae zelandiae!

there aren't really that many look alike pouch fungi you can confuse with (NZ) blue meanies

I have found both Psilocybe (Werarora) novae-zelandiae and its lookalike Psilocybe virescens.. Virescens is already blue when you find it and wont stain darker, blue meanies will be white and pale blue like yours and then stain darker blue.

You should go back to the spot, chances are there will be quite a few there.

Ask Inksi over at the shroomery to ID it, or PM the member projectzero on here and he can forward it to inksi

[fydesvindico]

ahh.. so these are your "blue meanies' everyone talks about over here? i'm used to the "blue meanies" term referring to panaeolus cyanescens in Aus.. I assume that your "gold tops" over here would also be referring to p. subaeruginosa rather then p. cubensis?

anyways, i'll cruise back to the spot tomorrow and see what else I can find.

cheers centipede.

[solomon]

all goods gimmie a pm when you settled down and gotta place for plants.

Kiwi mushie names (im guessing probably the same as in some other parts of the world):

Gold tops/goldies - p. subaeruginosa

Blue meanies/meanies - p. novae-zelandiae

Liberties - P. semilanceata

[Amazonian]

They don't seem quite as photogenic as P.subaeruginosa ?

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

Wow, the holy grail!

[TheExplorer]

I've always loved the look of these. You could probably get some spores (for microscopy) by doing a swab.

[solomon]

Great link, Therfore!

Shows the difference in colour between P. novae-zelandiae and P. virescens. Also the difference between fresh and dry P. novae-zelandiae.

[CβL]

Yeah, I think if you're in the Coromandel you probably are almost at the most northern area of the Weraroa habitat. Good find.

What I wonder is if there are any populations on any of the islands in the Hauraki gulf. I'll be checking a few this year, so would be nice to find something unexpected.

[solomon]

Bluntmuffin do you know how they disperse their spores?

I was told that they were primitive compared to subs etc becasue they spread there spores by snails eating the rotting pouch.

I don't see how the wind could spread their spores

Good luck with your hunt! I am quite jealous

Edit: UTFSE centipede you noob!

This is to do with P. virescens but I'm sure it applies to P. novae-zelandiae too.

Whenever I have found these fungi, they often appear to have been nibbled by some small animal - perhaps a snail or insect.

The pouch doesn't open to release the spores (a feature described as secotioid), so perhaps these fungi are dependent on small animals to release and spread the spores.

 

http://www.kaimaibush.co.nz/Fungi/Weraroa%20virescens.html

Edited March 24, 2012 by centipede

[fydesvindico]

cheers for the link Therefore,

Have had no luck with obtaining prints any regular way, i'd say 'Workman (of Sporeworks)' is onto it, with his technique.

They are quite bizarre little things aren't they.. haven't seen anything quite like it.

I will have a look around today; hopefully find some more, undamaged specimens for some better shots in their natural habitat.

βluntmuffin, cheers for that info.. so maybe if I look a little further down south over the coming weeks I should be able to find some more...

[CβL]

And I take it that you guys have heard of inksi's work identifying P. subsecotioides (sp?) ?

I think that this is the most interesting development of this nature for years.

Edited March 24, 2012 by βluntmuffin

[fydesvindico]

hey fydesvindico > ur not into doing agar work are you? Could take a nice sample from the inner stem perhaps.

Nice find

on it!

will update this thread with my progress, pics etc.

...P. subsecotioides looks like another interesting sp. i'll have to look into it a bit more.. cheers bluntmuffin.

[fydesvindico]

A few more finds from today in their natural habitat.. there was some gnarly bluing happening on some of the older specimens.. heaps more popping up too; should be plentiful in the coming weeks.

Edited March 29, 2012 by fydesvindico

[shruman]

Bloody bewdies mate, nice pics. Good find.

Therefore we discussed sub-secotoids a little bit here:

http://www.shaman-au...=1

Stuff on Psilocybe subsecotioides nom prov at shrooery here:

http://www.shroomery.../1/fpart/1/vc/1

I still dunno what to make of it.

Edited March 29, 2012 by shruman

[2meke]

nice find dude!

hey blunt the weraroa is definitely in auckland bro. come out my way for a hunt some time.

duno about the islands tho. worth a look see!

the sub sectoids are freaks. will have some spores for trade shortly.

[Zen Peddler]

schweet.

[Zen Peddler]

its like a blue elf's testicle

[obtuse]

I would also love a print of this species, or a incy wincy agar wedge.

But i can keep on dreaming i guess.

Its just stamp collecting i guess.

Cheers, Obtuse.

[myco]

You lucky fucken bastard therefore you better hit me up brotha haha

[myco]

It certainly is A sexy little fungi

That must have been a very hard one to get hold of

[CβL]

What's the story with those there?