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Go to the NZFungi website for more indepth information on Psilocybe argentina. Psilocybe argentina

Synonyms

Deconica argentina

Biostatus

Present in region - Exotic

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Article: Johnston, P.R.; Buchanan, P.K. (1995). The genus Psilocybe (Agaricales) in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 33(3): 379-388 (http://www.rsnz.org/publish/abstracts.php).
Description: Pileus 10-25 mm diam., more or less subglobose, becoming convex to campanulate to somewhat flattened: slightly tacky: scattered veil remnants along edge of cap when young: dark orange-brown or reddish-brown, finely striate to margin, hygrophanous, drying to pale yellow. Gills broadly adnate to sub-decurrent: pale greyish yellow-brown, with white fimbriate margin. Stipe 20-40(-70) x 1.5-2 mm, light yellow-brown, slightly darker to base. Veil cortinoid, poorly developed, visible only in very young caps. Basidia 27-35 x 8-11 µm, more or less cylindrical, tapering suddenly to small base, sometimes slightly constricted near centre, 4-spored, clamped. Cheilocystidia 20-30 x 5.5-7.5 µm, ventricose-rostrate, with long, flexuous, unbranching neck, hyaline, thin-walled. Pleurocystidia rare, ventricose, 27-36 x 8.5-10 µm. Spores (13-)14-16(-18) x 8.5-10(-l 1) x 7.5-9 µm, average 15.3 x 9.4 x 8.4 µm, in face view broad-elliptic to subhexagonal to subhexagonal, in side view elliptic; wall brown, smooth, 1-1.2 µm thick, with apical pore.
Habitat: Dung of farm animals.
Distribution: New Zealand: Waikato, Bay of Plenty, North Canterbury. Reported as widespread in Central and South America, as well as occurring in the southern United States and Europe (Guzman 1983).
Notes: A new record for the country, the New Zealand collections closely match the description of this species given by Guzman (1983). Watling & Gregory (1987) considered the European collections cited by Guzman to be better placed in a separate species, P. merdicola Huijsman.