A Rare Psilocybe from South Africa



The Hawks Eye is pleased to be the first to bring a you a rare find from South Africa. Psilocybe mushrooms are thought to be almost non existent in South Africa. The last known species being the p.s. Natalensis has not been collected in many years. This past year some friends of ours discovered some psilocybes growing on the coast about 200 miles south of Durban, South Africa. They were growing under shady trees in cow pastures soaking up the ocean breeze. At first they did not think they were cubensis because they could not believe their eyes. Sure enough the mushrooms stained blue and later were grown out and showed to be cubensis. Of course our friends in South Africa wanted to share them with the world and a lof of effort has gone in to bringing these spores to the forefront. This is the only known psilocybe mushroom in circulation from South Africa!!

Its pretty early in the game for these so we dont have a lot to report yet. They are fast colonizers and very agressive mycelium. They do tend to develop a little overlay but eventually pin and fruit anyway. They do not produce large fruits but are very abundant fruiters giving off nice yields for a small amount of grain substrate. No telling how these will change over time as they become more domesticated. Our friend says the potency is very nice for a cubensis and is quite pleased with these South Africa gems. They tend to resist contamination well, especially green mold (trichoderma). Making these a real nice choice for beginning researchers or people having problems with contamination. A lot more to develop on these so stay tuned. Currently the spores we have are from 2nd generation mushrooms, so they are rather untamed. We usually dont release strains before they are domesticated, so we only have a limited amount of these 2nd generation spores of this strain. We look forward to your feedback of the South Africa cubies and we do hope you enjoy as much as our friends in South Africa wanted to bring them to you :)
Update: We have been getting a lot of reports back from people outside the U.S growing this one and saying they are extremely fast colonizers and resist contamination very well.

Pictures of 2nd generation South Africa cubensis

Mycelium on agar from original dried speciman
Pins among thick fluffy myclium with overlay
More pins among overlay
I just love this picture.It looks like these mushrooms are bathing in a bubble bath :) What your seeing though is the fluffy mycelium and overlay.
A close up of fruits with small caps
Another look
Picture of fruits among overlay mycelium
Fruits in development
More development
Caps open now
A different tray, caps open
Same tray, close up
Further in devopment, mature mushrooms ready to capture spores
2 trays one about 2 days ahead of the other

As you can see from the final picture they do get up to a pretty decent size for being rather undomesticated. These were all grown out on birdseed and cased with 50/50+ mix. More pics coming soon of these South Africa gems growing on dung based substrates.


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  • Disclaimer: Psilocybe mushroom spores do not contain any active (scheduled) drug, thus they are legal. The spores we sell can produce mushroom fungi if you put them in the right growing conditions and attempt to cultivate them. That mushroom fungi can potentially develop into mushrooms if you continue to grow them in just the right conditions. In the U.S. it is illegal to cultivate psilocybe mushrooms, but it is not illegal to posess spores and research them under a microscope. Just because our spore supplier/grower lives where it is legal to grow psilocybe mushrooms it is NOT our intention that you do so as well. Pictures are provided for informational and reference purposes only. It is NOT The Hawks Eye intent that you attempt to grow illegal (psilocybe) mushrooms. We sell spores for microscopy and identification purposes only. All information on this web site related to psilocbye mushrooms is protected under freedom of speech and we do not condone you partake in any illegal activities. What you do with the spores and information is up to you, but we do not condone you do anything illegal if you decide to purchase spores. Spores are sold for legal microscopy and identification purposes only. Please check your local laws regarding spores before purchasing them and most important, adhere to those local laws. Thank You.


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