There are many mushrooms species which like to feed from manure -Coprophilous fungi-. Among them, there are Psilocybe, Paneolus, Coprinus, stropharia, etc. However, many species are apparently very similar. Then in the following photos you will see the main characteristics present in the most famous magic mushroom Psilocybe cubensis, and some other similar mushrooms that can generate cofusion, at least in my research área (Rionegro, Colombia):
Colombia is a non seasonal country, then mushrooms can grow almost all the year, after some rains. At the right part the of image below is the P. cubensis and at the left is another coprophilous unknown mushroom. can you tell the difference in gill colors?. In P cubensis those are blackish, in the other one are brown. in the little specimen there is a very disctinctive characteristic present in Psilocybes: blue bruising. This means that spcilocybin, the allucinogenic substance is oxidated to a blue color when the mushroom is injured
Is the image below logic???. ohhh yes, the animal in photo is a clear indicator that there may be P. cubensis. This mushroom likes to grow mainly in cow manure, at least in my country. Here, i´ve never seen this mushroom growing in other manure than caw´s, not even in horse´s. However, the great Mycologist Paul Stamets reports this mushroom growing in other type of manure like in Elephant´s.
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Here you can see three apparent Psilocibes. but guess what?
After observing details, the middle mushroom is not Psilocybe. This specimen shares many characteristics of Silocybe like the ring and pileus color and shape, but this is actually a Stropharia species, which is related to psilocybe. Can you tell the difference in gills colors?
Right: P. cubensis, Left: Stropharia semiglobata. both mushrooms were growing together in the same manure. note the longitude of the stipe compared to the size of the pileus, in both species this relationship is different.
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comments are welcome !!!