Sunday, 15 December 2024

Magic mushrooms found in Africa are a species new to science

 


Image courtesy of Cathy Sharp

Joel Kontinen

A fungus named Psilocybe ochraceocentrata is the closest relative of a widely cultivated psychedelic mushroom, giving clues to their evolutionary origins.

Can evolution bring up new species? However, the scientist have discovered a new species in Africa.  

Psychedelic mushrooms growing in southern Africa have been identified as a new species that is the closest relative of Psilocybe cubensis, the most well-known magic mushroom species. The discovery brings scientists a step closer to understanding the evolutionary origins of these psychoactive fungi.

But they were not brought about by evolution.

Alex Bradshaw at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and his colleagues have named the newly described species Psilocybe ochraceocentrata, because of the ochre colour in the centre of the cap. It was collected from multiple sites across Zimbabwe and South Africa between 2013.

Source:

James Woodford 2024 Magic mushrooms found in Africa are a species new to science | New Scientist 12 December