Psilocybe cubensis
Species of fungus
Why this is trending
Interest in “Psilocybe cubensis” spiked on Wikipedia on 2026-02-25.
Categorised under Science & Nature, this article fits a familiar pattern. Science and technology topics tend to trend after breakthroughs, space missions, health announcements, or widely shared research findings.
GlyphSignal tracks these patterns daily, turning raw Wikipedia traffic data into a curated feed of what the world is curious about. Every spike tells a story.
Key Takeaways
- Psilocybe cubensis , commonly known as the magic mushroom , shroom , golden halo , cube , or gold cap , is a species of psilocybin mushroom of moderate potency whose principal active compounds are psilocybin and psilocin.
- It is the best-known psilocybin mushroom due to its wide distribution and ease of cultivation.
- In 1907, it was identified as Naematoloma caerulescens in Tonkin (now Vietnam) by French pharmacist and mycologist Narcisse Théophile Patouillard, while in 1941, it was called Stropharia cyanescens by William Alphonso Murrill near Gainesville in Florida.
- The synonyms were later also assigned to the species Psilocybe cubensis .
- Cubensis means "coming from Cuba", and refers to the type locality published by Earle.
Psilocybe cubensis, commonly known as the magic mushroom, shroom, golden halo, cube, or gold cap, is a species of psilocybin mushroom of moderate potency whose principal active compounds are psilocybin and psilocin. It belongs to the fungus family Hymenogastraceae and was previously known as Stropharia cubensis. It is the best-known psilocybin mushroom due to its wide distribution and ease of cultivation.
Taxonomy
The species was first described in 1906 as Stropharia cubensis by American mycologist Franklin Sumner Earle in Cuba. In 1907, it was identified as Naematoloma caerulescens in Tonkin (now Vietnam) by French pharmacist and mycologist Narcisse Théophile Patouillard, while in 1941, it was called Stropharia cyanescens by William Alphonso Murrill near Gainesville in Florida. German-born mycologist Rolf Singer moved the species into the genus Psilocybe in 1949, giving it the binomial name Psilocybe cubensis. The synonyms were later also assigned to the species Psilocybe cubensis.
The name Psilocybe is derived from the Ancient Greek roots psilos (ψιλος) and kubê (κυβη), and translates as "bare head". Cubensis means "coming from Cuba", and refers to the type locality published by Earle.
Singer divided P. cubensis into three varieties: the nominate, which usually had a brownish cap, Murrill's cyanescens from Florida, which generally had a pale cap, and var caerulascens from Indochina with a more yellowish cap.
Content sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0
