shroomverse

SPECIES ATLAS · COMPARE

Psilocybe cubensis vs Psilocybe semilanceata

“Liberty cap” is a common name for Psilocybe semilanceata, a name first published in 1818. Most named cultivated labels, Golden Teacher among them, belong to Psilocybe cubensis.

The Shroomverse alien with a specimen packet looking over palm-lined pastures in the Cuban countryside at golden hour.Psilocybe cubensis(Earle) Singer, 1948The Shroomverse alien studying an antique hand-coloured botanical book by lamplight in an old library.Psilocybe semilanceata(Fr.) P. Kumm., 1871

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.

Psilocybe cubensisPsilocybe semilanceata
GenusPsilocybePsilocybe
Named(Earle) Singer, 1948(Fr.) P. Kumm., 1871
First published asStropharia cubensis Earle (1906)Agaricus semilanceatus Fr. (1818)
Other names in the records10: Stropharia cubensis Earle (1906), Naematoloma caerulescens Pat. (1907) …9: Agaricus semilanceatus Fr. (1818), Agaricus callosus var. semilanceatus (Fr.) Weinm. (1836) …
Type specimen fromSantiago de las Vegas, La Habana, Cuba; type collected by F. S. Earle on 19 June 1904Sweden
Psilocybin recordconfirmed (several modern analyses)confirmed (several modern analyses)
Analyses on file46
Analysed from1958 to 20251963 to 2022
World records (GBIF)3,9349,258
Most records fromUnited States, Mexico, ColombiaUnited Kingdom, Sweden, Norway
Canadian records (GBIF)5GBIF held 5 Canadian records on 25 October 2026, all preserved specimens (3 British Columbia, 1 Ontario, 1 without a province).98GBIF held 98 Canadian records on 25 October 2026, mostly from British Columbia (39), New Brunswick (20), Newfoundland and Labrador (15), Nova Scotia (11) and Prince Edward Island (6).

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.

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

Psilocybe semilanceata

  1. 1963

    Reported Psilocybin reported from European material (Hofmann et al. 1963), as cited in Guzmán 1983 Guzmán 1983, The Genus Psilocybe (Beih. Nova Hedwigia 74), archive.org scan

  2. 1977

    Confirmed Baeocystin and psilocybin found, with traces of psilocin Repke & Leslie 1977, J. Pharm. Sci. 66: 113-114

  3. 1985

    Confirmed Psilocybin found in a survey of more than 100 European fungi Stijve & Kuyper 1985, Planta Med. 51: 385-387

  4. 2003

    Confirmed Psilocybin and psilocin detected in Czech material Stříbrný, Borovička & Sokol 2003, Soud. Lék. 48: 45-49 (Europe PMC record)

  5. 2022

    Confirmed Psilocybin and psilocin detected in fungarium specimens; specimens over 20 years old had barely detectable levels Bradshaw et al. 2022, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 88: e01498-22

  6. 2022

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

What the records don’t show.

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

Psilocybe semilanceata: Levels fall in stored specimens, so herbarium results can understate what fresh material held, and the type is a drawing, not a specimen.

Read further.