Pluteus is a genus of mushroom-forming fungi. Psilocybin is reported for several species in section Pluteus, such as Pluteus salicinus (Gotvaldová et al., 2022). The 2022 survey noted that two species it analysed had been assumed psychoactive only because they bruise blue.
Genes back up part of the story. A 2024 study placed Pluteus in the family tree of the psilocybin gene PsiD, among the genera that received the cluster by transfer (Bradshaw et al., 2024). A 2022 review covers its taxonomy alongside Psilocybe, Panaeolus and Gymnopilus (Strauss et al., 2022).
Names have moved here too: Species Fungorum records that Kummer transferred Agaricus salicinus, published by Persoon in 1798, to Pluteus in 1871 (Species Fungorum), and North American material is now often treated as a separate species, Pluteus americanus. Bluing is not a chemical test, and how many Pluteus species carry the genes is unknown. This entry gives no identification features.
Sources
- Gotvaldová et al., 2022, International Journal of Molecular Sciences
- Bradshaw et al., 2024, PNAS
- Strauss et al., 2022, Frontiers in Forests and Global Change
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