Czech Psilocybe (Psilocybe bohemica)
Systematics:- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Hymenogastraceae (Hymenogastric)
- Genus: Psilocybe (Psilocybe)
- Species: Psilocybe bohemica (Psilocybe Czech)
External description
Psilocybe bohemica (Psilocybe bohemica) belongs to the varieties of blue mushrooms of the genus psilocybe, which was described in the Czech Republic. Actually, this served as the basis for the creation of the name, which is still used today.
The cap of the Czech psilocybe is from 1.5 to 4 cm in diameter, is very fragile and has a bell-shaped shape in immature mushrooms. As the fruiting bodies mature, the cap becomes more extended, opens, but at the same time a slight bulge still remains. The surface of the mushroom cap is almost always bare. Up to 1/3 of the height, the fruiting body of the fungus is characterized by ribbing, covered with mucus. The flesh of the mushroom is creamy or light ocher in color, but if the surface is damaged it acquires a bluish tone.
The leg of the Czech psilocybe is very thin, fibrous, and has a creamy color; in young mushrooms it is dense and without voids. As the fruiting bodies mature, the stem becomes slightly wavy, tubular, from creamy color it turns into bluish. Its length varies between 4-10 cm, and its thickness is only 1-2 mm. The mushroom pulp has a slightly astringent taste.
The tubular hymenophore contains small spores characterized by a grayish-violet color, an elliptical shape and a surface smooth to the touch. The sizes of fungal spores are 11-13 * 5-7 microns.
Season and habitat of the fungus
In some parts of the terrain, the described fungus is quite common. It actively bears fruit only in autumn, from September to October. Czech mushroom pickers can find psilocybe on rotting branches of deciduous and coniferous trees. The fruit bodies of this fungus grow in mixed, coniferous and deciduous forests.
Edibility
The mushroom Psilocybe Czech belongs to the category of inedible and poisonous mushrooms, and its use by humans often leads to serious hallucinations.
Similar types and differences from them
The Bohemian Psilocybe mushroom looks very similar to another poisonous mushroom called the mysterious psilocybe (Psilocybe arcana). However, the latter is characterized by harder and denser fruiting bodies, a yellowish cap (sometimes with an olive tint), often located, adhered to the stem and creeping down along it.