Ok so it's rained a good bit here in socal and I've found 3 different types of mushrooms while I was hiking... don't know if that's normal to see that many different types of shrooms bud I did.

so I know showing you pics isn't the best way to identify them, but I'm gonna share them anyway. I'm wondering what's tthe BEST way to tell if they're active or not. I read here that I could pinch the stem and see if it bruises blue, and then do a 'spore print', and if it yields dark blue or dark purple, there's a 98% chance they are of magical powers. Is this correct?

Candidate #1 - I was on a hilltop, saw some trash on the edge of the hill near a cliff. I'm a nature lover and always got a plastic bag in my backpack so I go down and pick up the trash, low and behold, mushrooms! Guess nature was rewarding me for picking up trash. Sorry the images are big but it's work to resize em and I'm lazy: pic #1 pic #2

Candidate #2 - on the same hike, I was off the hill all the way down in a forested area, I thought I might just be lucky to find more shrooms. I almost gave up when I noticed the all the leaves at my feet weren't leaves...they were mushrooms!!! Looked like 300 little mini shrooms, I only took a picture of 1/3 of them in the first pic (I so many of these): pic #3 pic #4

Candidate #3 - walking back happy as can be, not 5 minutes from the end of my hike, more mushrooms! pic #5

I took one mushroom from each of the mushrooms I saw except the first candidate. I currently have them in my fridge in a container. Just trying to see now what's the best way for me to identify them, as I stated earlier.

I know not to have too high of hopes but at least they're in nature and not some lawn shrooms like I've seen, which I know aren't the ones you'd wanna eat (most likely). I checked this link and some of the species there look somewhat like the shrooms I found.

Hell I figure 3 different shrooms was a pretty good find for my first time, one of em might be magic, right? Guess we'll see..

I would say at best this is an "aid" to identification.
Most Boletus and many other species turn purplish or blue.

Ok. How long do shrooms usually last in the wild? Since the shrooms I found are all small, I'm guessing they still have a little bit of time before they die off. How long is this usually? A couple weeks or 4 weeks or??

None of those are psilocybin containing.

A rule of thumb is that if it bruises a definite blue and has gills not pores or anything and a chocolate brown to purple spore print that it should be fine to eat, there are only a few that match that criteria and are not hallucinogenic but still safe to eat.

The closest looking ones to psilocybes are pics #3 and #4, they are NOT but do look somewhat similar to psilocybe cyanescens. You should do a bunch of research on ps. cyanescens and ps. cyanofriscosa, those will be likely candidates in your area. You can also look for panaeolus cintulus but they are of weak potency.

Ps. cyanescens and cyanofriscosa will be found in wood chips mostly around disturbed areas as well as on the beach in dune grass. Make sure you know what you are looking for though because they have a deadly lookalike called galerina. Familiarize yourself with all three of these mushrooms and make sure you know 100% before you eat anything!

ok, thanks! I've been seeing all sorts of shrooms hiking, prolly 3-4 species tho some are similar. I'm gonna do homework on local shrooms for sure.

so brown spore prints tend to be psilocybin as well?

ps sorry for the late post! completely forgot about my post..

Yes chocolate brown to purple usually but NOT rust brown!! There are exceptions to the rule, but just as a general guideline for not dying you should be able to follow that.

Oh okay.

I also found more species in my area from a shroomery doc, but the document was in the "outdated documents" section:


I'm guessing most of these are very low in psilocybin and not worth hunting, except for cyanfriscosa? or am I wrong?

i would assume all inocybe and panaeolus geni are worth munching.

I've heard G. Luteofolius as well as P. Ovoideocystidiata are very potent, they say the Gyms are really bitter but have a very enjoyable effect.

A really good source of hunting info here.
http://www.shroomery.org...flat.php/Number/17157489