Two New Species Of Psilocybe Mushrooms Discovered In Southern Africa -- Stellenbosch University

Psilocybe maluti was found growing in pastureland on cow manure in the Free State and Kwa-Zulu Natal provinces of South Africa, as well as the highlands of Lesotho. Credit: Cullen Taylor Clark

Stellenbosch University -- Phys.org

July 2, 2024

Two new species of psychoactive mushrooms in the genus Psilocybe have been described from southern Africa, bringing the list to six known species indigenous to Africa.

Psilocybe species are among the most well-known and well-studied species of psychoactive mushrooms in the world, with around 140 described species.

In a paper published in the journal Mycologia this week, researchers from Stellenbosch University (SU) and citizen mycologists describe the two new species as Psilocybe ingeli and Psilocybe maluti.

Psilocybe ingeli was first found in 2023 growing in pastureland in KwaZulu-Natal by Talan Moult, a self-taught citizen mycologist. Psilocybe maluti was first found on a Free State small holding in 2021 by Daniella Mulder, who sent photos of the mushrooms for identification to Andrew Killian, one of South Africa's leading citizen mycologists, based in Somerset West.

In both instances, the unusual-looking specimens were sent to Breyten van der Merwe for DNA sequencing and analysis in the lab of Prof. Karin Jacobs in SU's Department of Microbiology. Van der Merwe, now a postgraduate student in chemical engineering at SU, is a trained mycologist and first author of the paper.

A single collection of Psilocybe ingeli was found in KwaZulu-Natal, growing in pasture land. Credit: Talan Moult

 

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