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There are three main species of fungi that contain psilocybin: the butterfly cap (panaeolus papilionaceus), the bell-shaped cap (panaeolus sphinctrinus) and the lanceolate coot (psilocybe semilanceata). Of the three, the most interesting species is, of course, the lanceolate coot, which is the easiest to identify and find. It contains the highest amount of psilocybe, and is the easiest to recognize and find. How to do it? The answer to this question (and many others) is in the article below!
- What does the lanceolate baldcypress look like?
- When to collect lanceolate thistles?
- Where does the lanceolate baldcypress grow?
- Is lanceolate baldcypress legal in Poland?
What does the lanceolate baldcypress look like?
How do you recognize that a mushroom found by someone is a lanceolate coot? For experienced users of psilocybin mushrooms, this will not be anything difficult, but beginners may have a bit of trouble with this.
Hat appearance
The cap of the lanceolate thistle changes its coloration when exposed to moisture (rain, fog, general humidity). When it is humid, then covered with a thin layer of mucus, the hat usually turns brown, dark olive or grayish brown. When dry, the hat remains smooth, white, yellowish or yellowish brown, sometimes olive green. The diameter of the hat of the lanceolate thistle is one-half to one and a half centimeters, while the height is one to two. It should be noted that the hat can take on different shapes, but is usually conical, bell-shaped or pointed like a lance (hence also the name of this mushroom). At the top of the hat there is a characteristic button or papilla, sometimes there is only a small protuberance. Smooth hats are extremely rare. Older fruiting bodies may have wrinkled edges. The cap blades are sparsely distributed, are quite wide and are usually somewhat overgrown and strongly adhered to the stem. Their color changes quickly and turns purple, brown, and finally black.
Leg/shank/flesh
The foot of the lanceolate baldcypress is quite slender, but very strong and hard, but also flexible. It is impossible to break it, so when harvesting, use scissors, eventually your own fingernails. The thickness of the leg ranges from a millimeter to a maximum of three, while the leg itself is cream-colored, light yellow or brownish yellow, while at the base it turns blue with dots of white. The foot is firmly stuck in the ground thanks to its greenish-blue mycelium. It is worth noting that the leg of the lanceolate thallus will never be straight, as it will be slightly thicker in one place and slightly narrower in another. Uniformity of leg size is characteristic of other mushroom species, not of the coot! It is also important that the shank of the coot is never hollow inside. The flesh is thin, pale, white, with no distinct taste, although some say it resembles radish in taste. Odor: delicate mushroom smell, somewhat reminiscent of mustiness. The spores are dark brown with a purplish tint.
Lanceolate baldcypress: a map of where baldcypresses occur and where they grow
Psilocybin mushrooms in Poland are quite common, but in a specific environment. The famous lanceolate coot is common -. psilocybe semilanceata - A map to find it will not be needed by anyone. It is also not true that this fungus grows only in the mountains frequently visited by rains. There, of course, it will be much easier to find it (especially in the Bieszczady Mountains, which are known for the fact that coots grow very often and very densely in their area, and there is not a shred of exaggeration in the statement that they can be collected with bags), but the lanceolate coot will also appear on the Vistula River, in Mazury and Podlasie or in Mazovia, and even at the very seaside.
Lance-leaved coot: when to harvest? A word about the period and range of occurrence
This fungus appears at a certain time of the year. It would be a huge mental shortcut to say that it occurs from summer to autumn, so it is worth elaborating on this statement a bit. Of course, coots will appear very often and in large clusters even in summer (and sometimes in spring with favorable weather), but only in the Bieszczady Mountains and other mountainous parts of Poland, where the microclimate is rainy, humid, not too warm, not too dry. In other parts of the country, in the lowlands, by the sea, coots appear in September, most often at the end of this month and in early October. Their appearance is usually preceded by heavy rainfall of several days. These mushrooms can be collected almost until the end of November, and in the mountains until the first snowfall.
So what heralds the start of the 2023 season? Cold, because when it gets autumnal enough outside that it is difficult to go out in the evening without warm clothes, then you can talk about the beginning of the season - 2023. It is worth waiting for a period of heavy rainfall this 2023, preferably one that occurs several days in a row. The phloem mycelium needs moisture to grow, so it is not worth going out to look for it when it is dry. After that, you can already start collecting. Morning will be the most suitable time, because the earlier you go out to look for mushrooms, the easier it will be to find them. Temperature and humidity in the morning, morning mists, coolness: these are ideal conditions for the growth of coots.
Where to look for lanceolate coots -. psilocybe semilanceata? Which places are worth visiting?
The coot is not a forest fungus. Many species of mushrooms grow in the forest, but not the coot. This species of psilocybin mushroom is found in rural clearings, meadows and former pastures (where sheep, goats, but also cows or horses grazed). Coots do not like solitude, so they are often found in groups of a few individuals (less often a dozen or so, but it depends on the place and region) in the grass, in wet places (more often), but also dry places (a little less often), and along village paths.
Look for coots in clumps of grass that resemble moody nests. That's where you'll find the most of them, so it's worth searching carefully. You should visit regularly mowed meadows or those that are not covered with grass taller than a few tens of centimeters.
It should be emphasized that where one coot has been found, there are bound to be more, as single specimens are almost non-existent. Thus, if one finds a single specimen, it may mean that in that place the mushrooms have already been collected by another mushroom picker, or that this specimen is not a coot, but, for example, a cap or so-called "dogwood." Visiting meadows surrounded by coniferous forests, where pines and spruces predominate, is a good idea. It's also a good idea to venture into wet meadows or those next to rivers or other bodies of water, and to scour ditches along paths, as the humidity is highest there, and coots love moisture, so they grow quite abundantly in ditches.
Is it possible to find coots in other places than those described above? Of course, but such occurrences are rare, so it is not worth wasting time on them.
Lanceolate baldcypress - Occurrence
Psilocybe semilanceata is a species of fungus found in temperate climate zones, mainly in meadows, pastures and areas rich in organic matter. It occurs from late summer to autumn, when moisture and temperature conditions are favorable. It prefers acidic soils, overgrowing grassy areas, where it often remains difficult to spot, due to its small size and colors that merge with its surroundings.
Observing the lanceolate coot in its natural habitat, without disturbing the ecosystem, can provide an exciting experience. An interesting way to explore its characteristics is through macrophotography, a technique that involves taking photographs at close range, so that extremely detailed elements of the fungus' structure can be captured. This allows you to look at the cap, lamellae and the entire structure of the mushroom, which are normally invisible to the naked eye.
Macrophotography is also an ethical form of documenting nature - instead of collecting mushrooms, it allows you to preserve their appearance and beauty in photographs. With a magnifying glass and specialized equipment, you can get closer to the natural world and admire the lanceolate coot not only through the prism of its psychoactive properties, but also as a fascinating element of the ecosystem.
Lanceolate baldcypress: legal status
Neither the Anti-Drug Addiction Law nor any of its appendices lists psychoactive mushrooms on the list of banned substances. This does not mean that it is legal to possess or sell lanceolate snapdragons. These mushrooms contain psilocybin in them, and psilocybin (and psilocin) is on the list of banned substances (in Group I-P). This means that collecting, possessing, storing, processing and selling lanceolate coots is illegal. Some are nevertheless interested in the price of lanceolate thistle. Lanceolate coot - psilocybe semilanceata price - is from 20 to 80 zloty per gram of dried mushrooms on the black market - it is also often sold by the piece. This information is totally just as a curiosity. We do not encourage you to buy such mushrooms. You never know if it's definitely just a lanceolate coot (as mentioned above - it's easy to confuse it with other mushrooms - and especially when it's dried).
Interestingly: the spores of this fungus were not banned, as psilocybin is not present in them. An analogous situation exists for the possession and sale of cannabis seeds.
Cuban coot: a relative of the lanceolate coot
The Cuban coot was first described in 1906 by Franklin Sumner Earle, an American mycologist who came across this species of psychoactive fungus in Cuba. Representatives of this species were later found in Vietnam, India or Florida. In 1949, German mycologist Rolf Singer gave this fungus the name by which it is still known today: psilocybe cubensis.
Cuban baldcypress is larger than lanceolate baldcypress and has different coloration. Stem psilocybe cubensis It is quite thick, white, and the whole is crowned by a hat, which is bright orange in color. There is, of course, psilocybin throughout the mushroom.
In a word of conclusion: about other psilocybin mushrooms
Other psilocybin mushrooms worth mentioning are, for example:
- Mexican coot (psilocybe mexicana): occurs naturally from Guatemala to Mexico and loves an environment contaminated with animal feces (coprophagy);
- psilocybe azurescens: found in North America on the shores of the Pacific Ocean and is the most abundant psilocybin and psilocin mushroom in the world;
- psilocybe cyanescens: a psilocybin and psilocybin-rich fungus that is found in North America over the Pacific, New Zealand and western Europe.
Sources:
https://hyp****l.info/talk/ lance-leaf-is-as-nice-t14491.html
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybe_mexicana
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybe_azurescens
"Will psychedelics save the world?" by Maciej Lorenc