Psilocybe cf. tasmaniana / Psilocybe sp. 'tasmaniana'
Pileus/Cap: 10mm - 50mm, conical (triangular or cone-shaped) when young, convex to subcampanulate, becoming disc-like or plane with age, sometimes umbonate (with a small bump in the centre) and usually lacking a significant central pointed papilla (in contrast with Psilocybe angulospora). Extremely hygrophanous, changing colour markedly from wet to dry. Subviscid - somewhat sticky or tacky to the touch when moist. Can be tawny orange brown, dark brown, caramel, olive/psilocybe-brown, tan, orange or gold, drying pale straw coloured or dingy yellow and unremarkable. Translucent-striate to the margin (radially lined at the edge of the cap when wet), often with whitish remnants from the veil.
Lamellae/Gills: Adnate (joined to stem by most of the width of the gill), deep and fairly widely spaced, mottled, at first either pale greyish brown or concolorous with the cap then darkening purple-brown as spores mature, with the edges remaining whitish.
Stipe/Stem: 40mm to 65mm by 4mm to 7mm. Silky fibrillose, white to nearly concolourous with the cap. Sometimes having a scaled appearance towards the base, hollow or otherwise stuffed with fibres, flesh inside caramel or brownish. Partial veil well developed, finely cortinate, soon disappearing. Fine pieces of the partial veil are occasionally attached, giving the appearance of a faint ring remnant around the stem. Blue staining may present towards the base, around broken areas or on the faint annular zone, and also where damaged.
Bruising and spore print: Bruises blue when handled or damaged but usually very subtly, sometimes at the gill edges or towards the base of the stem. Spore colour purple-brown, visible on the gills and stipe beneath the cap.
Distribution and habitat: Fruits from April to July but sporadically throughout the year in favourable microclimates. Solitary to gregarious. Found in potted plants and wood chip gardens, especially those with a higher bark content, rather than heartwood. It can also fruit directly from clay soils and dung. Most commonly found from Waikato north, occasionally found elsewhere where potted nursery plants have been planted.
Comments: Psilocybe tasmaniana was originally described in 1978 as a small, tawny orange mushroom, without umbo or papilla, always on or associated with dung, from Tasmania and the ACT. Whether the name is correctly applied to what we are currently calling Psilocybe tasmaniana is disputed.
