Psilocybe azurescens
Stamets & Gartz · Psilocybe sect. Cyanescens
Flying saucer · Azzies · Blue angel
The most potent psilocybin mushroom reliably measured, roughly three times cubensis by dry weight. It is also the species most associated with severe temporary paralysis of the limbs during the experience, a real and specific effect not shared by the rest of the genus.
1 deadly look-alike. Galerina marginata can be mistaken for this species and causes irreversible organ damage. How to tell them apart.
Potency
- Psilocybin
- 1.1–1.8% of dry weight
- Psilocin
- 0.15–0.5% of dry weight
- Total tryptamines
- 1.3–2.5%
- Relative to cubensis
- 2.86×
Stamets' assay of 1.78% psilocybin plus 0.38% psilocin plus 0.35% baeocystin remains the highest credibly published for any species. A gram of this is roughly three grams of cubensis. Dose by weight of active, not by habit.
Dose ranges for this species
| Tier | Dried | Psilocybin | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Threshold | 0.11–0.35 g | 1.9–6.3 mg | Mild body load, slight colour and texture enhancement, mood shift. |
| Light | 0.35–0.61 g | 6.3–11 mg | Clear perceptual change. Surfaces breathe, emotions amplify, time distorts mildly. |
| Common | 0.61–0.88 g | 11–15.8 mg | Full psychedelic effect. Strong visuals with eyes closed, altered thought, emotional intensity. |
| Strong | 0.88–1.75 g | 15.8–31.5 mg | Ordinary self-reference goes. Marked visual distortion, time stops behaving. |
| Heavy | 1.75 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 pronounced persistent umbo, the 'flying saucer' outline, on a tough stem rooted in wood chips near the Pacific coast, with no ring.
- Cap
- 3–10 cm, conical to convex, flattening with a pronounced and persistent central umbo. Caramel to chestnut brown, hygrophanous, fading to pale buff.
- Gills
- Ascending, adnate, brown becoming darker and mottled.
- Stem
- 9–20 cm, white, tough and cartilaginous, with coarse white mycelial threads binding the substrate at the base.
- Ring
- Absent. A faint fibrous veil zone at most.
- Flesh
- Bruises strongly and quickly blue-black.
- Spore print
- Dark purple-brown
- Bruising
- Strong, rapid, blue-black
Habitat
- Substrate
- Deciduous wood chips, Driftwood, Dune grass debris, Alder and cottonwood
- Regions
- Pacific Northwest of the United States, Coastal Oregon and Washington, Introduced to parts of northern Europe
- Season
- September to January, peaking after the first hard rains
Strongly associated with coastal dune systems and river-mouth debris. Its native range is genuinely small; most reports outside it are misidentifications of P. cyanescens or P. allenii.
Look-alikes
Cultivation
Grown outdoors in wood-chip beds rather than indoors in tubs. Beds take a season to establish but then fruit annually for years with little intervention.
Cultivation guidesDuration note
Reports consistently describe a longer experience than cubensis, and a distinctive temporary loss of motor control in the limbs. Sit down before the peak.
Sources
- [1]Stamets, Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World (1996)