Psilocybe medullosa

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Psilocybe medullosa

Psilocybe medullosa is a small, rare European mushroom with psychedelic compounds. It grows as a saprobe on decaying conifer litter in mossy, coniferous forests, often in groups.

What it looks like
- Cap: 1–2 cm, conical to bell-shaped, reddish-brown, slightly sticky, with faint radial striations at the margin.
- Gills: Pale brown with a white edge; moderately crowded.
- Stem: 5–8 cm long, 0.2–0.3 cm thick, hollow and slightly curving; pale brown with a paler tip; the lower three-quarters have white fibrils; base can have a tuft of mycelium.
- Odor: Faint radish-like.

Chemistry
- Contains psilocybin and psilocin, but at low levels.

Microscopic features (brief)
- Spores: 8–11 × 4.5–5.5 μm, ellipsoid-oblong in shape.
- Basidia: four-spored.
- Cheilocystidia: numerous, flask-shaped (25–40 × 8–12 μm).
- Pleurocystidia: absent.
- Cap cuticle: ixotrichoderm.
- Hyphae with clamp connections.

Ecology and distribution
- Habitat: Saprotrophic; grows among decaying conifer litter (needles and cone remnants) in mossy conifer forests.
- Distribution: Europe; rare.
- Notable notes: First described in 1898 as Naucoria medullosa by Giacomo Bresadola and later moved to Psilocybe in 2007 by Jan Borovička. Its American sister species is Psilocybe silvatica.
- Records: Although rarely reported, a 2012 collection from a mossy spruce forest in Trentino, northern Italy, helps define its southern Alpine distribution.