DiscoTeam;231064 wrote:
if i post some pics will you let me know if some mushrooms are libertys? ive seen so many mushrooms that look similar on my walks and have avoided picking em! peeace
Shroomery has a good guide to identifying them, and although there aren’t any really dangerous look alikes in the UK you could still give yourself an upset tummy 🙁
Botanical Name: Psilocybe semilanceata
Common Name: Liberty Cap
Family: Strophariaceae
Description Slimy, narrowly conical, brown to tan cap with brownish gills and smooth, off-white stalk; in pastures and manured areas.
Cap 3/8″ – 1″ (1-2.5 cm) wide; sharply conical, often peaked, and not expanding; sticky, smooth; brownish, fading to tan, bruising blue on margin.
Gills Attached, close, broad; grayish, becoming dark brown. Stalk 2″ – 4″ (5-10 cm) high, 1/16″ (1.5 mm) thick; very thin, whitish.
Veil Partial veil evanescent.
Spores 11-14 X 7-8 microns; elliptical, smooth, with pore at tip. Spore print purple-brown.
Edibility Hallucinogenic.
Season Late August-November.
Habitat Scattered to numerous, in tall grass and grassy hummocks in cow pastures.
Range Widely distributed: common in Pacific NW (USA), also reported in Quebec (Canada).
Look-alikes The hallucinogenic Psilocybe pelliculosa and Psilocybe silvatica grow in wood chips or mulch, and have conical caps.
Comments This species is one of the most familiar on the Oregon coast.
To do a spore print, put the cap on a white piece of paper and in a couple of hours spores will fall onto the paper and make it change colour. This table was obviously written for North American users, but it’s the same species that grows here.
