Vietnamese

The Vietnamese cubensis is a varietion of the Psilocybe cubensis mushroom and is currently one of the most popular and commonly available natural psychedelics. This species is known under several other names such as Stropharia cubensis, Stropharia cyanescens or Stropharia caerulescens, often referred to as the ‘Mexican mushroom’, and popularly known as magic mushrooms or shrooms. This mushroom is relatively easy to grow, and therefore it is one of the most widely used hallucinogenic mushrooms all over the world. In smartshops, they are often called ‘magic mushrooms’.

More than 180 species of fungi are recognized as containing the tryptamine alkaloids psilocin and/or psilocybin. They are Agaricales and include the genera Psilocybe (117 species), Gymnopilus (13 species), Panaeolus (7 species), Copelandia (12 species), Hypholoma (6 species), Pluteus (6 species), Inocybe (6 species), Conocybe (4 species), and Agrocybe, Galerina and Mycena (one each). Concerning the distribution of Psilocybe, the majority of the species are found in the subtropical humid forests of Mexico and New Guinea. Mexico has the highest number of neurotropic fungi (76 species), of which 44 belong to Psilocybe (39% of the world).

The name of the genus “Psilocybe” comes from the Greek words psilos (bare) and kube (head), warped into New Latin to form “psilocybe”. Literally translated, this means “bald head”, which supposedly comes from their appearance.