Woodland Habitat for Shrooms
Consider this from Shroom - A Cultural History by Andy Letcher." ...let us consider the ecology of the Liberty Cap Psilocybe semilanceata. You will recall that this mushroom favours acid upland pastures and grows in the kinds of conditions where the only viable form of agriculture is sheep- or cattle-farming. However for much of its prehistory Britain was covered not in pasture but in dense forest, so the mushroom here would have been uncommon, or rare. It could only have been with the introduction of agriculture and the gradual clearance of the forests from the Neolithic onwards, from around 5000 BCE, that pastures of sufficient size would have been established to make psilocybin mushroom use in Britain plausable. It would be quite wrong of us to assume that just because a magic mushroom is abundant now it has been so throughout all of human history and prehistory."
A valid argument against the idea that shrooms have had a long and established cultural use in Britain, as many people would like to think. It is more likely that these mushrooms have only found acceptance and understanding in the last couple of genearations, meaning that our generation and maybe one or two before it are the real Shroom Genearation.
This category is the most expansive of the range of habitats. Altitude, temperature, and rainfall broadly delimit the different sylvan ecosystems. There are temperate versus subtropical, climates, each encompassing a diverse array of deciduous and coniferous trees. Psilocybin mushrooms are rarely found in the deeper forests of the Pacific Northwest, but occur with frequency in the pine forest of Mexico and elsewhere to the equatorial subtropics. Curiously, comparatively few psilocybin mushrooms grow in the woodlands of the true tropics – at least as is presently known.
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Some Psilocybe mushrooms can find ideal habitat on the edge of woodlands. Paul Stamets says in Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World "The borders along forestlands are naturally cooler, are often the best places to pick, and have the longest fruitings, especially during drier weather."
Deciduous trees, especially cottonwoods (Populus), alders (Alnus), willows (Salix), box elders (Acer), sweet gums (Liquidambar), hornbeams (Carpinus), and similar trees thriving in moist soils along streams, ponds, and lakes support Psilocybe. In central Europe, Psilocybe serbica grows in deciduous forests interspersed with European beech (Fagus sylvatica), much as Psilocybe caerulipes does in the north central to northeaster United States in forests with American beech (Fagus grandifolia). However, Psilocbyes are generally rare in these environments, unless the activities of collectors or cultivators result in localised population surges. As described previously, deciduous woodlands devastated by recurring cataclysms tend to be better habitats for psilocybin fungi that those in stasis.
Coniferous forest, depending upon the region of the world, can be good habitats for Psilocybes. P.baeocystis and P.pelliculosa, also shares a strong affinity for the needles of Douglas Firs. P.cyanescens has been seen fruiting from Monterey pine. Gaston Guzman (1983) reports that the Mexican Psilocybe muliercula grows exclusively in Abies and Pinus forest at elevation of 3150-3500 and 2600-2800 meters respectively.
Discover about other habitats magic mushrooms like.
Grassland Habitat
Grassland habitats are perhaps the very best places to seek out magical mushrooms. Click here or the image above to learn more about these fascinatin environments and the shrooms that grow there.
Disturbed Land
Areas where land has been disturbed, roads through a forrest, or where the edges of woodlands meet grasslands, can provide suitable habitats for a variety of magic mushrooms. Click here or the image above to learn more about these interesting habitats.
Dung Habitat
Dung can provide an ideal habitat for shrooms. We probably wouldn't be where we are without it. Learn more here