Panaeolus cinctulus
(Bolton) Sacc. · Panaeolus
Banded mottlegill · Weed Panaeolus · Subbs
Extremely common worldwide, often growing in compost heaps and lawns in enormous numbers, and inconsistently active. Some collections contain useful psilocybin and others essentially none. That inconsistency is the defining fact about it.
Potency
- Psilocybin
- 0–0.6% of dry weight
- Psilocin
- 0–0.2% of dry weight
- Total tryptamines
- 0–0.7%
- Relative to cubensis
- 0.56×
Genuinely variable between collections, including inactive populations. A dose that worked from one compost heap may do nothing from another a mile away. Treat every new patch as unknown.
Dose ranges for this species
| Tier | Dried | Psilocybin-equivalent | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Threshold | 0.54–0.9 g | 1.9–3.2 mg | Mild body load, slight colour and texture enhancement, mood shift. |
| Light | 0.9–1.8 g | 3.2–6.3 mg | Clear perceptual change. Surfaces breathe, emotions amplify, time distorts mildly. |
| Common | 1.8–4.5 g | 6.3–15.8 mg | Full psychedelic effect. Strong visuals with eyes closed, altered thought, emotional intensity. |
| Strong | 4.5–9 g | 15.8–31.5 mg | Ordinary self-reference goes. Marked visual distortion, time stops behaving. |
| Heavy | 9 g and above | 31.5 mg and above | Complete disruption of the ordinary sense of being a person in a place. |
Scaled from the standard dried-cubensis tables by this species’ representative alkaloid content. Because that content varies between flushes, treat every figure as an estimate and start below it. Open the full calculator.
Identification
Easiest way to tell: A dark marginal band on the cap and mottled black gills, with a jet-black spore print.
- Cap
- 2–5 cm, convex to plane, cinnamon-brown drying tan, with a persistent darker band around the margin, the 'banded' character.
- Gills
- Mottled, greyish becoming black. Mottling is the Panaeolus signature.
- Stem
- 4–10 cm, reddish-brown, fragile, bruising blue weakly if at all.
- Ring
- Absent.
- Flesh
- Bruising is weak or absent even in active collections.
- Spore print
- Jet black
- Bruising
- Weak or absent
Habitat
- Substrate
- Compost, Manured lawns, Straw, Horse dung
- Regions
- Worldwide in temperate and subtropical zones
- Season
- Spring through autumn
One of the most widely distributed mushrooms on the planet. Compost heaps and racecourse verges are classic sites.
Look-alikes
Compare every mushroom look-alike of Panaeolus cinctulus side by side, or read the full look-alikes guide.
Cultivation
Grows readily on composted straw, but there is little point given the potency inconsistency.
Cultivation guidesMedication interactions
These interactions come from psilocin itself, so they apply to every species; a more potent species means a larger dose of it. These medications are graded dangerous, caution, increases or not studied on Fungodex. Not listed here does not mean safe; check the full checker covers 24.
- LithiumDangerous
- MAOIs (irreversible)Dangerous
- TramadolDangerous
- Moclobemide and other RIMAsCaution
- Harmala alkaloidsCaution
- BupropionCaution
- Tricyclic antidepressantsCaution
- St John's WortCaution
- StimulantsCaution
- AntipsychoticsCaution
- DextromethorphanCaution
- AlcoholCaution
- CannabisIntensifies
- TriptansNo data
- 5-HTP and L-tryptophanNo data
- MAO-B inhibitorsNo data
Sources
- [1]Stamets, Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World (1996)
- [2]Beug & Bigwood, 'Psilocybin and psilocin levels in twenty species' (1982)
How we research this: sources, evidence grading, review and updates.