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heyowana

Unknown small brown mushrooms of the Psilocybe genus fruiting in NSW.

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After receiving 150mm from an East coast low pressure system, I noticed small white capped mushrooms. These were growing on my property at 870 meters elevation.

The rain event had finished on 6th April. About a week later I started seeing the mushrooms.

Thinking that they were of the Mycena genus I didn't pay much attention to them.

The temperature had started to dtop indicsted by finding the first P.subaeruginosa on April 7th.

On Friday 7th April at 4pm I walked past the white capped mushtooms.I had a closer look and in amongst them were brown coloured psilocybe mushrooms. The white capped ones were older specimens of the same species.

Habitat was a clearing on level ground in eucalypt forest. There is a track running down the hill to this clearing. A bulldozer had widened it 2 years ago scooping a shallow drain for runoff.

Prior to the rain event wallabies had been cropping the native grasses growing in the drain extensively.

During the rain leaves from New England Blackbutt trees had been washed into piles. They were in a pattern as the water level had receded into the drain.

Each mushroom was fruiting through the mud. Their stipes had a white woolly tuft at the base. Each base was covered with a eucalypt leaf. I found a bunch of ten later with no leaves covering the base of their stipe. See photo.

The fresh caps were a dark brown colour matching the colour of the wet leaves. Turning red brown then fawn until whitening in drier specimens.

Caps ranged in size from half a centimeter to one and a half centimeters across on average. The largest were closer to 2cm.

The stipe averaged 3 - 4 cm in length. Sinewy and curving. Colour matched cap colour. Longest stipe was 6cm in length.

Gills were greyish lavender with white cystidia? along gill edges.

These mushrooms continued ti flush on and off over the next 2 months in the wet drainage area.

Photos to follow.

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The photos are being uploaded off 2 galleries.

One has some photos of P.subaeruginosa mixed in.

They are the ones with the gold caps and pale blue stems.

Just thought I'd point that out so no one can say he just found a bunch of subs.

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Hayowana's mushrooms.



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Edited by pimento
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Heyowana's mushrooms



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Edited by pimento
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I've noticed wrong info already.

It was Friday 17th April that I worked out they were psilocybin mushrooms.

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great find.

will be very interesting to know what exactly they are.

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beautifull finds. They do very much look like rather chubby miniature version of P. semilanceata on the photos. On some shots some are looking exactly like P.semilanceata. The brownish colour and average size is unusual for the semilanceate I see over here however.

The circle mushroom on this picture looks like a lookalike, I think Marasmius

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Edited by kapitän kamasutra

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Thanks kapitan kamisutra. I thought the same about being a P.semilanceata look alike.

It was explained to me that the cap becomes too convex with age though.

The circled mushroom shows bluing on the stem.

It has to be blown up a bit with magnification.

If you go to shroomery and type in Antonio7865 you can find the photo and blow it up. I just checked it to make sure.

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Some of those pics resemble Psilocybe Bohemica, species growing on decaying wood and plant material. They are common in Europe, don't know about Australia though.

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I'll try not to sound like I know any more than anyone because I don't. If you guys had access to them I'm sure you would have found out more than me.

P.bohemica has the bluing reaction of a wood grower. P.alutacea grows on dung. It also has a different bluing reaction to these.

Yes one popped up today.

I've made an observation about their habitat.

The Blackbutt leaves have nothing to do with these mushrooms I would think in their natural habitat. This is a transition zone opportunistically colonisef by these mushrooms.

I have noticed the ones with more leaves around them are always smaller and more fragile.

The ones coming out of the mud with no leaves are the biggest most robust looking.

Looking.at the mycellium here is my guess why.

The ones with the leaf covering have that woolly tuft exposed to the air. The ones in the mud have it buried under the mud.

I think it is easier for them to transmit nutrients if they are constantly wet. The water in the drain has gone over them countless times in the last two months. They sure love water.

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Having made the above observation I make a hypothesis.

A river around here floods its banks. An arm of that river that doesn't normally have water because its just there for flooding gets cut off.

The water slowly recedes.leaving lots of mud and debris. Depending on the slope there would quite possibly be arms of rivers that match my drain where they are growing.

So I'll start checking rivers out. They would be hard to find there if it wasn't for the white caps when the weather is sunny.

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are you on the shroomery theres lots of people over there who I'm sure would be very very interested in putting a couple of specimens under the microscope for a better chance at a more positive id

thats a very interesting find you have there I'd love to know what they are :)

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Thanks myco. Yes I have a thread with them in it over there. They don't know.

Alan Rockefeller has some for DNA sequencing.

TimT is studying them now. He will then lodge them with Melbourne herbarium.

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I had a message from A.Rockefeller. He is going to Mexico for several months. He suggested that I get them DNA sequenced elsewhere but I still need him to interpret the results.

Looks like there isn't much point being excited.

Psilocybe mysterious is going to remain that way for a while yet.

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if you have samples that are dried, not over 30 deg, then its possible to get them DNA sequenced.

It will cost money. Im willing to put in a share of the $ to have the work done, we can raise the coin easy.

maybe the specimens who begin pinning under the leaf litter are the largest as they have a micro climate which maintains moisture levels allowing the fruit bodies to develop fully.

they interest me as they are a cold weather fruiting psilocybe species, and they are active.

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Thanks pimento. I sent all the dried samples down to Melbourne.

Once they are in the herbarium they are there forever.

I'll let you know what happens with the DNA sequencing.

The one that came up yesterday looks a bit bent today. I think the lyrebirds or bush turkeys have been scratching around it.

Larger fungi near or in a clearing don't last long.

They never seem to eat them. Just peck them and knock them over.

Any rivers or creeks down your way? Because they might be fruiting there.

I'm betting that like the other psilocybe species here they are widespread.

Just have to work out their habitat.

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Are there cystidia images of this mushroom? I think its a new species myself. Ive seen alutacea and I dont think these are that although some of them do look quite similar. A characteristic I remember of alutecea was the very strong lines on the cap margin that really stood out.

Great find and really great documenting of the macroscopic features.

If I were you id get a gill fragment to Inski in NZ as he can post some great photos of the cystidia which some believe are important for identification (DNA of course being the best and its great that Alan is sequencing these).

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