Gymnopilus viridans

Gymnopilus viridans is a mushroom in the family Hymenogastraceae. It contains the hallucinogens psilocybin and psilocin. It is a rarely documented species, the last known collection being from the US state of Washington in 1912.

Gymnopilus viridans
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Agaricales
Family:	Hymenogastraceae
Genus:	Gymnopilus
Species:	G. viridans
Binomial name
Gymnopilus viridans (Murrill)
Synonyms
Flammula viridans

Gymnopilus viridans Mycological characteristics
	Gills on hymenium
	Cap is convex
	Hymenium is adnexed or adnate
	Spore print is yellow-orange
	Ecology is saprotrophic
	Edibility is psychoactive

Description

• Pileus: — 8 cm, thick, convex with a large umbo, ochraceous, dry, with conspicuous light reddish brown scales that are sparse but become denser toward the center; flesh firm, becoming green-spotted where handled.
• Gills: Adnate, broad, crowded, edges undulate, dingy brown to rusty brown with age.
• Spore print: Rusty brown.
• Stipe: — 6 cm in height, 2 cm in diameter, enlarging below, solid, firm, concolorous with the cap.
• Microscopic features: Spores 7 x 8.5 x 4 — 5 μm ellipsoid, not dextrinoid, minutely verruculose, obliquely pointed at one end, no germ pore. Pleurocystidia absent, Cheilocystidia 20 — 26 x 5 — 7 μm, caulocystidia 35 — 43 x 4 — 7 μm, clamp connections present.

Habitat and formation

Gymnopilus viridans is found growing cespitose on coniferous wood from June to November.