Psilocybe chuxiongensis T. Ma & K.D. Hyde, 2014

Psilocybe chuxiongensis T. Ma & K.D. Hyde , sp. nov. ( Fig. 4 View FIGURE 4 )

MycoBank MB805509

Differs from related Psilocybe species mainly by the absence of annulus and hemispheric to hemispheric-convex pileus without an umbo or papilla.

Type:— CHINA. Yunnan Province: Chuxiong City, Zixi Mountain , on cow dung, 25°01′05.5"N, 101°23′19.9"E, elevation 2237 m, 20 August 2009, Tao Ma CX026 ( IFRD414-010 , holotype!) GoogleMaps .

Pileus 26–38 mm diameter, at first conic or hemispheric-conic with incurved margin, then hemispheric to hemispheric-convex, not umbonate or papillate, dark yellow (4B4; Buff-Yellow) to yellowish brown (4B8; Aniline Yellow), sometimes darker in centre, often becoming paler towards the edge and almost whitish at margin, becoming beige when dry; surface smooth, slightly viscid when moist; margin even, entire, decorated with somewhat fugacious, white to bluing, membranous veil remnants; context yellowish (2A3,Celonial Buff). Lamellae adnate-sinuate, 4–6 mm high, close or subdistant, yellowish waxy-white when young, becoming pale grayish yellow with purple-brown (8E5) mottles when matured, then olive ochre (2C5) to dark brown, edges serrulate and remaining whitish, turning bluish during drying or when handled. Stipe 50–68 mm × 3.5–4.5 mm, equal, slightly flexuous, longitudinally striate, hollow and fragile, white with sheen, becoming beige when dry; surface somewhat bluish when touched or bruised, or on drying, covered with white floccose scales which become bluish when touched; base of stipe with white mycelium; annulus absent; context concolorous with that of pileus, whitish towards the surface. Odor mild. Some mycelium in centre of colony bluish in culture.

Pileipellis an ixocutis, 20–200 µm thick, made up of creeping, hyaline and colourless, subregular to interwoven, 1–4 µm wide filamentous hyphae, occasionally with dark or blackish finely incrusting pigments; subpileipellis dark yellow in KOH, composed of subregular, colourless to yellowish, filamentous to inflated, 2–16 µm wide hyphae. Subhymenium subcellular, composed of irregular vesiculose to subglobose cells, 3–13.5 × 2–12 µm, hyaline, colourless to yellowish, thin-walled to slightly thick-walled (about 0.5 µm). Hymenophoral trama regular, with cylindrical hyphae 2–13 µm diam, hyaline, colourless to yellowish, thin-walled to slightly thickwalled (≤1.0 µm). Basidia (24–) 30–44 (–53) × 8–14 µm, hyaline and colourless, occasionally yellowish, clavate to broadly clavate, narrowed in lower half or with a short to very long base 8–26 (–30) µm × 2–6 µm wide, 4- spored, sometimes 2-spored; sterigmata 3–6 (–8) µm. Basidiospores (241/5/2) (12–) 13–16 (–19) × (7–) 8–10.5 × 7.5–10 (–11) µm, often ellipsoid, elongate-ellipsoid to subhexagonal, occasionally ovoid, broadly ellipsoid, subrhomboid or subfusiform in face view, Q = (1.4–) 1.5–1.8 (–2.4), Q = 1.63±0.13; ellipsoid, subellipsoid to nearly oblong in side view, Q = (1.4–) 1.5–1.8 (–2.0), Q = 1.65±0.10, yellowish brown with purple tinge in water, yellowish brown in KOH, dark purplish brown in deposit; wall smooth, slightly thick to thick (0.5–1.5 µm), complex, with distinct 1–2 µm wide apical germ pore. Cheilocystidia 22–42 (–46) × 5–10.5 µm, hyaline, narrowly clavate, clavate or lageniform-clavate, sometimes lageniform or fusoid-ventricose, occasionally similar to pleurocystidia, but narrower, with a (2–) 3–11 × 1.5–4 µm subcapitate tip or neck, rarely forked. Pleurocystidia relatively rare and scattered, 24–42 (–48) × (8–) 9–15 µm, thin-walled, hyaline, ventricose to broadly clavate and fusoid-clavate, often narrower near the apex, obtuse to short rostrum (2–4 × 2–4 µm). Caulocystidia 23–54 × 6–10 (–14) µm, clustered at the upper part of the stipe, thin-walled, hyaline, some of them similar to cheilocystidia, narrowly clavate to lageniform, some oblong-subclavate, with short rounded rostrum, subcapitate apex or neck, 2.5–8.5 (–9.5) × 2–4.5 (–6) µm, sometimes irregularly branched. Clamp connections common in all parts of the basidioma.

Etymology:—Refers to the location Chuxiong, where the collections were found.

Distribution:—Chuxiong, Yunnan Province, China

Habitat:—Growing solitary to scattered and gregarious on cow dung or grassland where cattle have grazed in summer and early autumn.

Other material:— CHINA, Yunnan Province: Chuxiong, Wuding County, near a reservoir at road side in Bailu Village , on soil of grassland where cattle have grazed, 25°39′25.6"N, 102°05′30.0"E, elevation 2523 m, 24 Sep 2012, Xiao-Fei Lin WD007 ( IFRD414-011 !) GoogleMaps