Phil Bendle Collection:Psilocybe weraroa (Globose pouch)

Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Strophariaceae
Genus: Psilocybe
Species: P. weraroa
Binomial name: Psilocybe weraroa
Synonyms: Weraroa novae-zelandiae, Secotium novae-zelandiae,
Common name: Globose pouch

Psilocybe weraroa is a saprotrophic, native, pouch fungus with a cap that is irregularly roundish to ovate, elliptical or even depressed-globose. It is 30-50 mm high and 15-30mm wide and with margins that are folded inwards. The flesh is white. Initially, the peridium is a light brown becoming pale blue-grey and often showing blue or blue-green stains with age. It can be slightly sticky when wet. The gleba (fleshy spore-bearing inner mass) is chocolate or sepia-brown, with  gill-like structures.
The bare stipe is >40 mm tall and 6 mm thick. It is a whitish to blue-grey colour and with a yellowish-brown base. It bruises blue when injured.
Psilocybe weraroa is found growing solitary to gregarious. It is hard to find as it is usually covered with leaf litter. It is found throughout the North Island and the upper South Island in the early winter and spring months. It grows on decaying wood buried in forest leaf litter in lowland mixed rain-forests. It is targeted by slugs.

[1]  

A sequence of images showing the growth of a cultivated specimen over 22 days with 2-3 days between images. The substrate was Pinus radiata sawdust/chip and native New Zealand tree fern fronds from Cyathea medullaris.
[2]

Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information:https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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