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landslide mushroom (Psilocybe caerulescens), photo
Photo
Psilocybe

Landslide mushroomPsilocybe caerulescens

Psilocybe caerulescens is a psychoactive mushroom containing psilocybin and psilocin. It occurs in central and southern Mexico. Its history includes María Sabina’s mushroom ceremonies and research on sacred mushrooms.[1][3][5]

Psychoactive: controlled substance in Mexico. For information only. Never eat a wild mushroom identified only from photos.

  • Season in Mexico
  • HabitatCloud and tropical forests
  • FamilyHymenogastraceae

How do you identify landslide mushroom?

landslide mushroom (Psilocybe caerulescens), features to identify it
Photo: Alan Rockefeller, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist (cropped) · Oaxaca, Mexico
Photo
landslide mushroom (Psilocybe caerulescens), features to identify it
Photo: Manuel Nicolás Madrigal Pérez, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist (cropped) · México
landslide mushroom (Psilocybe caerulescens), features to identify it
Photo: Manuel Nicolás Madrigal Pérez, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist (cropped) · México
Cap diameter
2 to 9 cm.[1]
Cap shape
Bluntly bell-shaped to convex, with an incurved margin at first; with age it becomes convex and rarely flat.[1]
Cap center
May have a small nipple-like bump or a central depression.[1]
Cap margin
Often bluish, with translucent lines.[1]
Blue bruising
The fruiting body may stain blue-green when bruised.[2]
Spore print
Dark purplish brown.[1]

What happens if someone eats landslide mushroom?

It is classified as a controlled psychoactive mushroom and excluded from food use. Ingestion can cause psychological crises; mistaken identification adds the risk of poisoning by another species.[13][16][19]

Where and when does landslide mushroom grow?

A saprotrophic mushroom of cloud forests and dry tropical forests; it favors high humidity.[1]

The sources consulted provide no month-by-month fruiting calendar specifically for Mexico.[1][2]

CONABIO records these states. Its range also includes the United States, Costa Rica, Trinidad, and Colombia.[1]

Baja CaliforniaBCSonoraSONChihuahuaCHHCoahuilaCOANuevo LeónNLBaja California SurBCSSinaloaSINDurangoDURZacatecasZACSan Luis PotosíSLPTamaulipasTAMNayaritNAYJaliscoJALAguascalientesAGSGuanajuatoGTOQuerétaroQROHidalgoHGOColimaCOLMichoacánMICEstado de MéxicoMEXCiudad de MéxicoCDMXTlaxcalaTLXVeracruzVERYucatánYUCGuerreroGROMorelosMORPueblaPUETabascoTABCampecheCAMQuintana RooROOOaxacaOAXChiapasCHP
States with records (5/32): Jalisco, Michoacán, Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca

See the mushroom map

History and traditional uses

UNAM includes P. caerulescens among the species used in Mazatec and Zapotec rituals. It also documents continuing ritual use of psilocybin mushrooms in Nahua communities. María Sabina used this species in her veladas in Huautla de Jiménez. R. Gordon Wasson publicized his experience in Life in 1957. Albert Hofmann and his team isolated psilocybin and psilocin from P. mexicana and published their results in 1958. Gastón Guzmán published his monograph of the genus Psilocybe in 1983.[3][5][6][7]

In Mexico, the Ley General de Salud lists psilocybin and psilocin in Article 245, section I; the psilocybin entry mentions hallucinogenic mushrooms. Articles 248 and 249 establish prohibitions and authorizations for scientific research. Psilocybin and psilocin appear in Schedule I of the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971. Mexico has a documented history of traditional ceremonial use.[19][20]

About the name

GBIF accepts P. caerulescens and includes P. caerulescens var. mazatecorum among its synonyms. Its classification places the genus Psilocybe in Hymenogastraceae.[8][9]

Fun facts

  • Murrill published the species description in Mycologia in 1923.[8]
  • Gastón Guzmán published a worldwide monograph of Psilocybe in 1983.[7]

Frequently asked questions

[1]

[13][16][19]

[19]

[5]

[2][16]

Sources

  1. Hongo derrumbe — Psilocybe caerulescens
  2. Las especies de Psilocybe conocidas de Jalisco (México) y descripción de dos nuevas especies
  3. Alcaloides en la cultura: plantas y hongos alucinógenos mexicanos
  4. Psilocybe caerulescens
  5. María Sabina
  6. Psilocybin
  7. Gastón Guzmán (1932-2016)
  8. Psilocybe caerulescens Murrill
  9. Psilocybe (Fr.) P.Kumm.
  10. Galerina marginata at Indiana Mushrooms
  11. Inocybe geophylla (MushroomExpert.Com)
  12. Chemistry and Toxicology of Major Bioactive Substances in Inocybe Mushrooms
  13. Tripping on shrooms: What does the science tell us?
  14. Human Hallucinogen Research: Guidelines for Safety
  15. Brazilian Psychiatric Association Consensus for the Management of Acute Intoxication: general management and specific interventions for drugs of abuse
  16. Mushroom poisoning: Don't invite "the death angel" to dinner
  17. Get help for a poisoning
  18. ¿Sabes cuál es la diferencia entre los números 088, 089 y 911?
  19. Ley General de Salud
  20. Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971
  21. Harm reduction practises for users of psychedelic drugs: a scoping review
  22. Protective Behavioral Strategies for Psychedelic Use: A Mini Review of the Evidence

Written with AI help from the cited sources. A second model checked every fact against those sources and removed what they did not support.

Image credits

Photos are under free licenses (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

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