SPECIES ATLAS · PSILOCYBE
Psilocybe semilanceata
Named by (Fr.) P. Kumm., 1871
Psilocybin record: confirmed (several modern analyses)Full article: Liberty Cap Mushroom: Name, History, Research
- 1871name published
- 6analyses on file
- 0found nothing
- 9,258world records (GBIF)
- 98Canadian records
A history of a name and a chemistry record, 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.
How it was named.
Fries published Agaricus semilanceatus in 1818, in Observationes mycologicae 2: 178. Kummer moved it to Psilocybe in 1871 (Führ. Pilzk.: 71). Species Fungorum lists the type as an illustration by Sowerby rather than a specimen, and lists synonyms in five other genera plus three later infraspecific names.
- Named
- (Fr.) P. Kumm., 1871
- First published as
- Agaricus semilanceatus Fr. (1818)
- Other names in the records
- Agaricus semilanceatus Fr. (1818), Agaricus callosus var. semilanceatus (Fr.) Weinm. (1836), Stropharia semilanceata (Fr.) P. Karst. (1879), Geophila semilanceata (Fr.) Quél. (1886), Coprinarius semilanceatus (Fr.) J. Schröt. (1889), Panaeolus semilanceatus (Fr.) J.E. Lange (1936), Psilocybe semilanceata var. microspora Singer (1969), Psilocybe semilanceata var. obtusata Bon (1985), Psilocybe semilanceata f. sterile E. Ludw. (2001)
- Type specimen
- Sweden (Species Fungorum, basionym record); the name is typified by an illustration, Sowerby's Tab. 240, figs 1-3 (as 'Agaricus semiglobatus') (Species Fungorum record 454300 (Agaricus semilanceatus); pin = Wikidata coordinates for Sweden (Q34))
- Name record
- Species Fungorum
The psilocybin record.
Every analysis we could verify, oldest first, including results that found nothing. No amounts are given: they vary between collections and this is not a potency guide.
- 1963
Reported Psilocybin reported from European material (Hofmann et al. 1963), as cited in Guzmán 1983
- 1977
Confirmed Baeocystin and psilocybin found, with traces of psilocin
- 1985
Confirmed Psilocybin found in a survey of more than 100 European fungi
- 2003
Confirmed Psilocybin and psilocin detected in Czech material
- 2022
Confirmed Psilocybin and psilocin detected in fungarium specimens; specimens over 20 years old had barely detectable levels
- 2022
Confirmed Psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin, norbaeocystin and aeruginascin detected in five collections
What the record doesn’t show: Levels fall in stored specimens, so herbarium results can understate what fresh material held, and the type is a drawing, not a specimen.
Records on file.
GBIF, the global biodiversity database, held 9,258 occurrence records under this name, 98 of them from Canada, when we checked on October 25, 2026. GBIF 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). Records include unverified observations and old misidentifications, so counts show where people have recorded the name, not where it grows.
Sources
- Species Fungorum name record
- Species Fungorum basionym record
- Species Fungorum synonymy
- GBIF species record
- GBIF occurrence counts by country
- GBIF Canadian records by province
- Guzmán 1983, The Genus Psilocybe (Beih. Nova Hedwigia 74), archive.org scan
- Repke & Leslie 1977 (Europe PMC record 556766)
- Stijve & Kuyper 1985 (Europe PMC record 17342589)
- Stříbrný et al. 2003 (Europe PMC record 14631713)
- Bradshaw et al. 2022, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 88: e01498-22
- Gotvaldová et al. 2022, Int. J. Mol. Sci. 23: 14068
- Wikidata, Sweden (pin coordinates)
Compiled from the sources above; last checked .