Tips for Safely and Sustainably Foraging Psychedelic Mushrooms in the Wild

And a few words of warning about some commonly believed myths

Image credit: Julia Volk, Pexels

Shorter days of cool, rainy weather are approaching in many parts of the US. Many excited psychedelic users know that mushroom hunting season is approaching. If you are interested in foraging for psychedelic mushrooms, here is some advice on finding and identifying them in the wild, as well as some tips on avoiding poisonous varieties.

First, let clear up some commonly believed myths about psychedelic, edible, and poisonous mushrooms

• Only psilocybin mushrooms bruise blue: This is partially true; the presence of psilocin causes psilocybe species mushrooms to bruise blue, as well as produce a blue tinged spore print. But what many people don’t know is that some toxic, non-psychedelic varieties like boletes also bruise blue. This property can help point you in the right direction, but should never be used as a sole test of whether foraged mushrooms are safe to consume.
• There are no poisonous species that closely resemble psilocybin species: This is another commonly believed myth that is far from true. Some highly toxic mushroom species like Gallerina and Cortinarius look like psilocybin mushrooms. There have been documented renal failure deaths…