Psilocybin-containingPluteaceaeOceania
Pluteus velutinornatus
Psilocybin-active Pluteus recorded from New Zealand.
Regional status: native
- Cap
- Grey-brown, smooth to finely wrinkled
- Gills
- Free from the stem, white then pink
- Stem
- Whitish, free, without a ring
- Flesh
- Thin, often bruising blue where cut
- Spore print
- Pink to pinkish-brown
- Habitat
- Rotting native hardwood in damp forest
- Distribution
- New Zealand
- Season
- Autumn
- Bruising
- Stem base may stain blue-green in active species
- Odour
- Faintly radish-like
- Potency
- Unknown
Key features
- ▪Found on rotting native hardwood in damp forest
- ▪Spore print pink to pinkish-brown
- ▪Stem base may stain blue-green in active species
Field tests
- Take a spore print before any identification
- Check for blue bruising on the stem base
- Compare against deadly rusty-spored lookalikes
Edibility
Psilocybin-containing. Not a food species; legal status varies by country.
Warning
Photographs and app results can never establish that a mushroom is safe to eat. Deadly Galerina, Conocybe and Amanita species grow in the same habitats and can look near-identical in the field.
Photo and feature-based identification is probabilistic. Never consume a wild mushroom on the basis of an app result — confirm with an experienced mycologist.