Psilocybe Azurescens - Habitat and Distribution

Habitat and Distribution

Cespitose (growing in tight, separated clusters) to gregarious on deciduous wood-chips and/or in sandy soils rich in lignicolous debris. The mushroom has an affinity for coastal dune grasses. Aspect collyboid, generating an extensive, dense and tenacious mycelial mat, Psilocybe azurescens causes the whitening of wood. Fruitings begin in late September and continue until "late December and early January."

Psilocybe azurescens has been cultivated in Germany, New Zealand and the United States (California, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania.).

This species occurs naturally in coastal dune grasses only along a small area of the West Coast of the United States. It has been regularly found as far south as Depoe Bay, Oregon, and as far north as Grays Harbor County, Washington. It is primarily clustered around the Columbia River Delta, with the first type collections being made in Hammond, Oregon, near Astoria. It is also quite prevalent north of the Columbia River in Washington, from Long Beach north to Westport. Some specimens have also been reported in Stuttgart, Germany. While infrequent, they can sometimes be found around decaying wood in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Cape Disappointment State Park, near Ilwaco, Washington, has a large population but harvesting is a potential felony that is enforced by local law enforcement agencies.