Psilocybe stuntzii
Guzmán & J. Ott · Psilocybe sect. Stuntzae
Blue ringer · Stuntz's blue legs
A weak Pacific Northwest lawn species, and the single most dangerous psilocybin mushroom to learn on. It has a ring, it grows in the same places as the deadly Galerina marginata, and the two have been picked together from the same patch.
2 deadly look-alikes. Galerina marginata, Pholiotina rugosa can be mistaken for this species and cause irreversible organ damage. How to tell them apart.
Potency
- Psilocybin
- 0.02–0.36% of dry weight
- Psilocin
- 0–0.12% of dry weight
- Total tryptamines
- 0.05–0.45%
- Relative to cubensis
- 0.48×
Weak, roughly half cubensis at best, and often far less. The risk-to-effect ratio is the worst of any species on this site.
Dose ranges for this species
| Tier | Dried | Psilocybin-equivalent | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Threshold | 0.63–1.05 g | 1.9–3.2 mg | Mild body load, slight colour and texture enhancement, mood shift. |
| Light | 1.05–2.1 g | 3.2–6.3 mg | Clear perceptual change. Surfaces breathe, emotions amplify, time distorts mildly. |
| Common | 2.1–5.25 g | 6.3–15.8 mg | Full psychedelic effect. Strong visuals with eyes closed, altered thought, emotional intensity. |
| Strong | 5.25–10.5 g | 15.8–31.5 mg | Ordinary self-reference goes. Marked visual distortion, time stops behaving. |
| Heavy | 10.5 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 ring plus blue bruising plus a purple-brown print. Every one of those three must be confirmed, because Galerina marginata matches on the first and can grow in the same square metre.
- Cap
- 1–5 cm, convex to plane, olive-brown to chestnut, drying yellowish, with a translucent striate margin and a separable gelatinous pellicle.
- Gills
- Adnate, pale becoming purple-brown.
- Stem
- 2–6 cm, pale, bruising blue-green particularly at the base.
- Ring
- Present, a thin membranous ring or ring zone. This is why it is dangerous: Galerina also has one.
- Flesh
- Bruises blue-green.
- Spore print
- Dark purple-brown
- Bruising
- Blue-green at the stem base
Habitat
- Substrate
- Lawns, Wood-chip mulch, Newly landscaped ground, Bark
- Regions
- Pacific Northwest, British Columbia to Oregon
- Season
- August to December
University lawns and municipal landscaping. Galerina marginata occupies exactly this habitat and has caused fatal poisonings among people collecting stuntzii.
Look-alikes
Compare every mushroom look-alike of Psilocybe stuntzii side by side, or read the full look-alikes guide.
Cultivation
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.
- 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.