Panaeolus cyanescens

(Berk. & Broome) Sacc. · Panaeolus (Copelandia)

Blue meanie · Copelandia · Hawaiian

Extreme potency

Not a Psilocybe at all, but among the most potent psilocybin mushrooms in the world, comparable to azurescens and roughly two to three times cubensis. Small, thin-fleshed and pale, so a strong dose weighs very little.

Photo: Alan Rockefeller, CC BY, source.

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Potency

Psilocybin: 0.17–0.95% of dry weight
Psilocin: 0.16–1.19% of dry weight
Total tryptamines: 0.5–2.1%
Relative to cubensis: 2.38×

Unusually high psilocin relative to psilocybin, which means fast onset and poorer keeping qualities. The thin flesh is the trap: a dose that looks like a large handful is far less material than the same handful of cubensis.

Dose ranges for this species

Tier	Dried	Psilocybin-equivalent	What to expect
Threshold	0.13–0.21 g	1.9–3.2 mg	Mild body load, slight colour and texture enhancement, mood shift.
Light	0.21–0.42 g	3.2–6.3 mg	Clear perceptual change. Surfaces breathe, emotions amplify, time distorts mildly.
Common	0.42–1.05 g	6.3–15.8 mg	Full psychedelic effect. Strong visuals with eyes closed, altered thought, emotional intensity.
Strong	1.05–2.1 g	15.8–31.5 mg	Ordinary self-reference goes. Marked visual distortion, time stops behaving.
Heavy	2.1 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: Mottled black gills and a jet-black spore print, on a pale small cap growing directly from dung.

Cap: 1.5–4 cm, hemispherical to convex, pale grey to off-white or light tan, often cracking in dry weather. Never strongly coloured.
Gills: Adnate, mottled grey becoming black, the mottling is a Panaeolus character and is diagnostic against Psilocybe.
Stem: 6–12 cm, very thin, pale grey to pinkish, bruising blue-green.
Ring: Absent.
Flesh: Bruises blue-green readily.
Spore print: Jet black
Bruising: Blue-green, readily

Habitat

Substrate: Cattle and horse dung, Well-manured pasture
Regions: Tropical and subtropical worldwide, Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Central America, Southern United States, Australia
Season: Warm wet months, year-round in the tropics

A dung specialist of warm climates, often in the same pastures as cubensis.

Look-alikes

Compare every mushroom look-alike of Panaeolus cyanescens side by side, or read the full look-alikes guide.

Panaeolina foeniseciiHarmless
Spore print: Dark brown with a reddish tone, neither purple nor black

Cultivation

intermediate

Grown on manure-based substrate. Fussier than cubensis about humidity and fresh air, and more prone to contamination, but well documented.

Cultivation guides

Medication 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.

Sources

[1]Stamets, Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World (1996)

How we research this: sources, evidence grading, review and updates.