Discovery of a new caerulescent Psilocybe mushroom in Germany: Psilocybe germanica sp.nov.

Abstract

Sixty years ago, the ethnomycologist R. G. Wasson discovered an ancient mushroom cult in Oaxaca, Mexico. The famousmycologist R. Heim classified the psychoactive mushroom species in the genera Psilocybe and the eminent natural product chemist Albert Hofmann published the isolation, structural elucidation and synthesis of the new alkaloids psilocybin and psilocin in 1958. These indole derivatives were also found in a number of other Psilocybe species encountered in Asia and Europe and it is now known that other psychoactive species exist in the genera Pluteus, Panaeolus, Inocybe andGymnopilus. Hallucinogenic mushrooms of the main genus Psilocybe are known from countries with a wet climate. Besides the cultivation of subtropical species such as Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Singer, a range of other naturally growing species are commonly found in Europe. They deserve increasing attention because some species can yield up to thousands of fruiting bodies in relatively small spaces. The species Psilocybe semilanceata (Fr.) Kummer contains comparatively high amounts of psilocybin (around 1% dry weight) and some baeocystin, which is the monomethyl analogue of psilocybin, whereas the phenolic compound psilocin is only found in traces in these mushrooms (Figure 1). This small species usually grows in only scattered patterns on pasture. In recent decades, however, the psychoactive mycoflora of Europe has been transformed deeply. In 1946, E. Wakelfield described a new species from Kew Gardens (London, UK) that became known as Psilocybe cyanescens Wakefield. This mushroom typically exhibits strong blueing behaviour after bruising and also spontaneously during ageing. This species grows on wood chips and rich compost derived from plant residues. It has been suggested that these mushrooms grew adventitiously in botanical gardens following importation of plant material from foreign countries. In 1962, this species was also found in the Pacific Northwest, USA and Kubicka first discovered other blueing mushrooms in woods near Sazava (Czech Republic) in 1942. The species was named Psilocybe bohemica Sebek and further descriptions are available in the Czechmycological literature. Krieglsteiner shed new light a variety of mycological collections obtained from wood debris about 30 years ago It is now clear, however, that Psilocybe cyanescens was not in this collection. One of the present authors (J. G.) has studied these mushrooms since 1986 and found genuine Psilocybe bohemica in the Czechoslovakia in 1986 and later in 1989. It appears that the distribution of Psilocybe cyanescens has been expanding in Germany, and possibly other European countries, during the last 30 years. The reason for