What are Psilocybe cubensis varieties?
Many individuals get confused when learning about the different Psilocybe cubensis varieties that exist. Varieties are also known as Strains. MushroomManMycology has dozens of P. cubensis varieties, as spore prints and swabs and as spore syringes/culture syringes; many customers are confused about what the differences are between varieties. See below for more information to help understand P. cubensis varieties.
Are Psilocybe cubensis varieties different species?
No. Psilocybe cubensis is the species. All varieties are still P. cubensis; however, there are some genetic differences that are concentrated in different varieties.
A great way to think of P. cubensis varieties are like dog breeds. All dogs are the same species (Canis lupus familiaris- forgo the detail that domestic dogs are themselves a subspecies of the gray wolf Canis lupus); however, different breeds have vastly different phenotypes. A phenotype is how an organism presents physically based on their underlying genetics.
So even though a Teacup Chihuahua is considerably smaller and has different body proportions to a Great Dane, they are both the same species and can breed together. All breeds of dogs are selected through domestication to fit some purpose- whether it is physical or temperament. Some breeds are bred to be small enough to fit in badger burrows, and others are bred to protect their family/livestock. The underlying genetics are different enough in these breeds to cause differences during development that lead to the body and brain proportions found in any specific breed. There are concentrations of fixed alleles (the genetic component of a gene that can vary among individuals of a given species/group) in different breeds.
So, like dog breeds, P. cubensis varieties can have vastly different phenotypes, even though they are all technically the same species. And like dogs, many P. cubensis varieties we know today are the result of human domestication efforts.
Can different Psilocybe cubensis varieties breed?
Yes. Psilocybe cubensis varieties are all the same species and can breed together. The genetics of P. cubensis are different from mammals, but do have similarities. A single spore has its own set of genetics, and will eventually grow to meet another single spore with its own genetics. These will eventually fuse using clamp connections, and share DNA. The mushroom fruit body (the reproductive structure of fungi) can then form following the fusion of these genetics. The fruit body appearance will be a phenotype that is a mix of the genetics present from its two parent spores.
Fixed alleles, like brown spore color, can be passed from generation to generation and can be used as markers for breeding lineages.Other common alleles that are of interest to the mycology community are leucism (incomplete loss of canonical pigmentation), albinism (complete loss of canonical pigmentation), fruit structure, bluing and potency. These can be passed between lineages through selective breeding. The below section and Figure 1 are great examples of some fixed alleles.
I hope to include a link to a future blog post about breeding techniques and more about genetics here- so stay tuned 🙂
Where do Psilocybe cubensis varieties come from?
Psilocybe cubensis varieties originally began as wild genetics from distinct geographic locations. Many of the first varieties that were domesticated early on came from places like Brazil, India, Thailand, the USA etc. Wild genes would be taken and then exposed to certain growing conditions, those spores would be used and then selected, etc. Overtime, the varieties became domesticated and got better at growing under human production circumstances; however, different genetics from different locations retain variability in genetic alleles. These can lead to differences in growth, appearance, contamination strength etc.
Currently if a wild cubensis is cloned or printed, the resulting new variety is often called a “landrace”. After 7-8 generations of similiar growth conditions and breeding pressure, characteristics can become fixed and will be passed down everytime. This can be interrupted through breeding (new alleles come into place) or random mutations that “break” the fixed allele.
Overtime, humans have begun selecting for the mutations that arose in low frequency through early breeding efforts. Soon red spore mutants, leucism, albinism, inverted gills and many other traits were selected and bred into a fixed allele. These new varieties often came from domestication efforts elsewhere, and overtime become their own separate lineage – aka variety- with phenotypes that could be reproduced reliably.
New varieties are also the result of breeding efforts within the community. A textbook example is RustyWhyte (Figure 1 below). RustyWhyte was the result of crossing 2 different varieties that had fixed traits. Colombian Rust Spore with the red spore fixed allele, and ‘Albino’ A+ (which is actually a leucistic A+) with the leucism fixed allele. This meant that PastyWhyte, the creator, could use our understand of genetics to select from the original mating, the descendents that had both red spores and leucism. Due to how genetics work in this case, the double mutant with red spores and leucism, was only seen in the F2 generation.
To allow this variety to be fixed for both alleles PastyWhyte bred the resulting generation to itself and only selected red spore leucistic fruits to breed. After F7, RW was released and has not reverted with proper care. MMM’s supplier was one of the first to receive the F7 and MMM offered F8s years ago. This same lineage has been bred by MMM’s supplier for years and MMM now has the RustyWhyte F12 generation from the original PastyWhyte release available. Hopefully F13’s will be coming late in 2025!
Figure 1. The MushroomManMycology collector’s card for RustyWhyte F11.
Note the leusicm in the left picture (white fruits) and the red spore color in the right spore print photo. Similarly, the red spores can be seen on the caps in the left photo. RustyWhyte is an example of a variety that was created through breeding 2 separate varieties.
What other Questions do you have?
Feel free to post questions in the comments! I would love to add more to this article as well as answer separate but relevant questions in a future blog post. So feel free to ask away!