Grassland Habitats

Grassland habitats, especially wet swampy lowlands, support many of the tall, thin, small, conic-capped Psilocybes such as P.strictipes, P.liniformans, P.semilanceata, P.mexicana, and P.samuiensis. P.semilanceata successfully exploits the dying rhizomes of many field grasses, including fescues (Keay and Brown 1990). By implication, tryptamine-producing grasses could have a potentiating effect on the production of psilocybin and/or psilocin (Gartz 1989). Canary (Phalis) grasses, known for their high dimethytrptamine content, might make excellent companions for the co-culture of Psilocbyes.

Curiously, many of the grassland psilocybin-producing mushrooms also form sclerotia in culture. When dry, sclerotia look like hardened nutlike structures. In a dormant stage, they can survive environmental disasters – a protective mechanism for surviving recurring fires that tend to sweep over grassland environments. Some of the grassland species known to produce sclerotia are Psilocybe mexicana, P.semilanceata, P.tampanensis, and Conocybe cyanopus.

Grassland habitats include many of the humus loving species – those mushrooms thriving in a variety of soils, from red clays to dark loams. Those habitats pocked with islands of tall grass are usually easy to hunt in. The borders along forestlands are naturally cooler, are often the best places to pick, and have the longest fruitings, especially during drier weather. The types of grasses associated with Psilocybes are fescues, bent grasses, canary grasses, perennial ryes, sedges, and duneland grasses. For most species, grasslands grazed by sheep, horses, cattle, yaks, water buffalo, bison, llamas, or other domesticated animals tend to be more prolific.