shroomverse

SPECIES ATLAS · COMPARE

Panaeolus cyanescens vs Psilocybe cubensis

Both turn up under the nickname “Blue Meanies”. iNaturalist lists it as the common name for Panaeolus cyanescens, while a 2025 study’s sample table has a strain called “Blue Meanies” that it assigns to Psilocybe cubensis.

The Shroomverse alien looking over terraced green tea hills in the highlands of Sri Lanka at evening.Panaeolus cyanescensSacc., 1887The Shroomverse alien with a specimen packet looking over palm-lined pastures in the Cuban countryside at golden hour.Psilocybe cubensis(Earle) Singer, 1948

A comparison of names and records, not an identification guide. No name, picture or description can show that a wild mushroom is safe, and poisonous mushrooms are mistaken for magic mushrooms. If someone may have eaten a wild mushroom, call a poison centre without waiting for symptoms: 1-844-POISON-X in most of Canada, 1-800-463-5060 in Quebec. Call 911 if they’re unconscious, not breathing or having a seizure.

Side by side.

Panaeolus cyanescensPsilocybe cubensis
GenusPanaeolusPsilocybe
NamedSacc., 1887(Earle) Singer, 1948
First published asAgaricus cyanescens Berk. & Broome (1871), replaced synonym (nom. illegit.)Stropharia cubensis Earle (1906)
Other names in the records2: Agaricus cyanescens Berk. & Broome (1871), Copelandia cyanescens (Sacc.) Singer (1951 [1949])10: Stropharia cubensis Earle (1906), Naematoloma caerulescens Pat. (1907) …
Type specimen fromSri LankaSantiago de las Vegas, La Habana, Cuba; type collected by F. S. Earle on 19 June 1904
Psilocybin recordconfirmed (several modern analyses)confirmed (several modern analyses)
Analyses on file4, 1 found nothing4
Analysed from1992 to 20261958 to 2025
World records (GBIF)1,7383,934
Most records fromUnited States, Mexico, AustraliaUnited States, Mexico, Colombia
Canadian records (GBIF)05GBIF held 5 Canadian records on 25 October 2026, all preserved specimens (3 British Columbia, 1 Ontario, 1 without a province).

From the atlas records, last checked . GBIF counts are occurrence records, not a measure of how common a mushroom is.

The psilocybin record, analysis by analysis.

Every analysis the atlas could verify, oldest first, including results that found nothing. No amounts are given: they vary between collections, and this is not a potency comparison.

Panaeolus cyanescens

  1. 1992

    Reported Psilocin, psilocybin, serotonin and urea in material of various origins (Stijve), cited by He et al. 2026 and Gotvaldová et al. 2022 as confirming psilocybin in the species Stijve 1992, Persoonia 15: 117-121 (cited in He et al. 2026)

  2. 2000

    Reported Psilocybin and psilocin measured in seized mushrooms identified by morphology; P. cyanescens had the highest levels in the sample Musshoff, Madea & Beike 2000, Forensic Sci. Int. 113: 389-395

  3. 2025

    Confirmed Psilocybin and psilocin measured in cultivated strains confirmed as P. cyanescens by ITS, including strains sold under other names Cohen et al. 2025, Sci. Rep. 15: 13822

  4. 2026

    Not detected Psilocybin not detected in a 29-year-old fungarium specimen (HMAS63187); the authors suggest sample age as the cause He et al. 2026, IMA Fungus 17: e167329

Psilocybe cubensis

  1. 1958

    Reported Psilocybin isolated from cultures of Stropharia cubensis (Heim & Hofmann, Comptes rendus 247: 557), as cited in Guzmán 1983 Guzmán 1983, The Genus Psilocybe (Beih. Nova Hedwigia 74), archive.org scan

  2. 2022

    Confirmed Psilocybin low or undetectable in most fungarium vouchers (one with psilocin); detected in cultivated mushrooms and mycelium Bradshaw et al. 2022, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 88: e01498-22

  3. 2022

    Confirmed Psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin, norbaeocystin and aeruginascin detected in four collections Gotvaldová et al. 2022, Int. J. Mol. Sci. 23: 14068

  4. 2025

    Confirmed Psilocybin and psilocin measured in cultivated strains confirmed by ITS, including strains labelled P. natalensis that sequenced as P. cubensis Cohen et al. 2025, Sci. Rep. 15: 13822

What the records don’t show.

Panaeolus cyanescens: The positive modern data come from cultivated strains, and the one wild specimen tested in 2026 showed none, possibly because of its age.

Psilocybe cubensis: Herbarium vouchers often show little or no psilocybin, and strain labels in commerce don't reliably match the species name.

Read further.