SPECIES ATLAS · COMPARE
Psilocybe mexicana vs Psilocybe tampanensis
Both are among the few Psilocybe species that form sclerotia, the compact masses sold as “magic truffles”. Truffles became well known after the Netherlands put psilocybin mushrooms under its Opium Act on 1 December 2008, when the government said sclerotia were not covered.
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 mexicana | Psilocybe tampanensis | |
|---|---|---|
| Genus | Psilocybe | Psilocybe |
| Named | R. Heim, 1957 | Guzmán & S.H. Pollock, 1978 |
| First published as | Its current name | Its current name |
| Other names in the records | 4: Psilocybe galindoi Guzmán (1978), Psilocybe armandii Guzmán & S.H. Pollock (1979) … | None listed |
| Type specimen from | Oaxaca | Florida |
| Psilocybin record | confirmed (several modern analyses) | reported (one or older reports) |
| Analyses on file | 4 | 1 |
| Analysed from | 1958 to 2022 | 2025 to 2025 |
| World records (GBIF) | 344 | 62 |
| Most records from | Mexico, Guatemala, United States | United States, Israel, Australia |
| Canadian records (GBIF) | 1GBIF held 1 Canadian record on 25 October 2026, a preserved specimen from British Columbia. | 0 |
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 mexicana
- 1958
Confirmed Psilocybin isolated in crystalline form, with traces of psilocin (Guzmán 1983's summary of Hofmann et al.) Hofmann, Heim, Brack & Kobel 1958, Experientia 14: 107-109
- 1958
Reported Title reports the demonstration of psilocybin and psilocin, in a study of fruit-body and sclerotium formation of P. mexicana in culture (Heim, Brack, Kobel, Hofmann & Cailleux) Heim et al. 1958, C. R. Acad. Sci. 246: 1346-1351 (Europe PMC record)
- 1959
Reported Psilocybin and psilocin named as two psychotropic compounds from Mexican mushrooms (title) Hofmann et al. 1959, Helv. Chim. Acta 42: 1557-1572
- 2022
Confirmed Psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin, norbaeocystin and traces of aeruginascin detected in one ITS-documented collection, consistent with Hofmann's findings Gotvaldová et al. 2022, Int. J. Mol. Sci. 23: 14068
Psilocybe tampanensis
- 2025
Confirmed Psilocybin and psilocin measured in cultivated strains confirmed as P. tampanensis by ITS, including strains sold as 'Mexicana' and as P. galindoi Cohen et al. 2025, Sci. Rep. 15: 13822
What the records don’t show.
Psilocybe mexicana: In a 2025 study, cultivated strains sold as 'Mexicana' and as P. galindoi sequenced as P. tampanensis, so commercial material under this name may not be this species.
Psilocybe tampanensis: When Guzmán wrote in 1983 the species had not been analysed (he wrote that it 'very probable contains psilocybin'), and the one analysis found is of cultivated strains, not of wild material.