Hi foragers,

I was out picking some libs today in a new little path I have found, it's not massive but I managed to find just over a 100 in a fairly small area and i'm quite sure it's not well known. Anyway, I picked a few straight out of what I thought was cow dung. What? Libs don't grow in cow dung, do they? No, from what I can gather they don't. So I wondered if they had gone through it but they're too small. They look like liberty caps, they have the gelatinous film on the cap, the base of the stem has bruised blue, but the stems are well thick and they were growing on cow dung!

I have attached a picture with an actual lib next to them to give an idea of the stem thickness. Does anyone able to identify them? Do they look like P. fimetaria?

Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa?

Those look very like P. semilanceata. They have only been recorded very rarely growing out of dung. Were the stem bases attached to the dung, or to the grass below? There is a similar species, Psilocybe fimetaria, which does grow on cow and horse dung, but it usually has a membranous annulus (ring) on the stipe (stem) and is rather rare.

I'm quite sure they were growing on the dung, they're quite small to be growing from the grass and then through it.

It's very likely they are simply outlier examples of P. semilanceata.

Do you recall the consistency of the cow dung? Was it, er, sloppy, or more dry and fibrous?

Hi

I have came across those before, with a much smaller nipple and thicker stem than liberties. Both have gelatinous film on the cap, black / dark purple black spores and grow in grassland areas.

I thought they might be a cousin of liberty caps?

Or maybe they are all liberty caps and the differences between them could be due to environmental factors?

They could be Psilocybe strictipes? Staments thinks Psilocybe strictipes are a intermediate form bridging the gap between Psilocybe semilanceata and Psilocybe pelliculosa (Psilocybin Mushrooms Of The World p.149)

I know they are just as active, I have dosed just them in the past, I love how fresh they look where sometimes liberty caps can look a bit haggared... They felt exactly the same?

EDIT : there is a thread on the shroomery discussing Psilocybe strictipes

P. Strictipes

I Hope this helps! inf <3