Psilocybin-containingHymenogastraceaeEuropeNorth AmericaAustraliaNew ZealandAsia
Gymnopilus junonius
Laughing gym
Large golden wood-rotting mushroom in dense clumps at tree bases; some populations contain psilocybin, many do not.
Regional status: Widespread in temperate woodland
- Cap
- Convex to flattened, 50–200 mm, bright golden to orange-tawny, dry and fibrillose.
- Gills
- Adnate to decurrent, yellow then rusty orange.
- Stem
- 50–200 mm, stout, yellow-brown with a ring, club-shaped base.
- Flesh
- Yellowish, very bitter.
- Spore print
- Rusty orange-brown
- Habitat
- Clustered at the base of living and dead hardwoods and on stumps.
- Distribution
- Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Asia.
- Season
- Autumn
- Bruising
- No blue reaction.
- Odour
- Faintly aromatic
- Potency
- Variable
Key features
- ▪Large clusters at tree bases
- ▪Rusty orange spore print
- ▪Very bitter taste
Field tests
- Spore print is rusty, never purple-brown
- Bitter taste distinguishes it from honey fungus
Edibility
Bitter and unreliable; psilocybin content varies by population.
Warning
Confusable with deadly Galerina marginata when young and with honey fungus. Do not consume.
Photo and feature-based identification is probabilistic. Never consume a wild mushroom on the basis of an app result — confirm with an experienced mycologist.