Psilocybe montana

Deconica montana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Agaricales
Family:	Strophariaceae
Genus:	Deconica
Species:	D. montana
Binomial name
Deconica montana (Pers.) P.D. Orton (1960)

Deconica montana
Mycological characteristics
	gills on hymenium
	cap is convex
	hymenium is adnate
	stipe is bare
	spore print is purple-brown
	ecology is saprotrophic
	edibility: unknown

Deconica montana, commonly known as the mountain moss Psilocybe, is a common species of mushroom that is usually found growing in mossy areas, often in montane regions around the world. The appearance is that of a typical "little brown mushroom"—with a small, brown cap and a straight, thin stipe, growing separately or in clumps with others.

Psilocybe montana was formerly the type species of the mushroom genus Psilocybe. Because it does not contain hallucinogenic tryptamine derivatives like psilocybin or psilocin, it does not stain blue when handled, unlike other typical hallucinogenic members of this genus. Molecular studies in the late 2000s revealed that the genus was polyphyletic and consisted of two distinct clades separating the blueing species from the non-blueing species. However, dividing the genus would be problematic as the name Psilocybe was attached to P. montana and consequently to the non-blueing clade, leaving the hallucinogenic species without a generic name. Because the name is widely associated with the hallucinogenic species and considering the potential legal ramifications of changing their generic name, a proposal was made to conserve the name Psilocybe with P. semilanceata as the type. This left Deconica available as a name for the non-blueing species. The proposal was unanimously accepted by the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi in 2009.

The cap is 0.5–1.5 cm in diameter, initially convex in shape but flattening in age, sometimes with a broad umbo. The cap is moist, glabrous, hygrophanous, and has radial striations to the center; the color is brown to dark-brown. The gills are adnate to broadly adnate or sometimes very shortly decurrent, and of the same color as the cap. The stipe is 1.5–4 cm long, 1–2 mm thick, smooth, the same color as the cap, and brittle. Spores are typically 7.5–10 × 6–8 × 5–5.5 µm and – in shape with a thickened wall. A large spored variety (spore dimensions of 8.5–11 × 6.0–8.5 × 5.0–7.0 µm), Psilocybe montana var. macrospora Noordel. & Verduin (1999), has also been reported from the Netherlands. The spore print is dark greyish brown.

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Wikipedia