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CONTENTintroduction
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INTRODUCTIONRecent phylogenetic studies have shown that the non-hallucinogenic members of the genus Deconica are only distantly related to the hallucinogenic ones. Some authors even put them in different families. See for more information the interesting web page on this subject on mycoweb. For that reason, I will from now on use the genus name Deconica for the species formerly classified in Psilocybe sections Deconica and Coprophila. This page gives an overview of the species of Deconica. They grow on organic matter: herbaceous of woody debris, and as far as sect. Coprophilae is concerned, on dung of herbivores. It also includes two species formerly placed in the genus Melanotus. Experimental studies have proved that these are closely related to Deconica, and must be considered pleurotoid members of that genus only. |
DIAGNOSTIC CHARACTERS OF DECONICA:
1. Surface of pileus. Many species have a sticky, viscid surface. It is very important
to know whether the cuticle can be lifted of entirely as a thin, transparent pellicle.  |
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1. Habit crepidotoid |
2 |
1. Habit Mycenoid or collybioid |
3 |
2. Pileus leather-like, dry, not translucently striate, reviving after dry periods; on various substrates, such as wood, old newspaper, mats, etc. |
D. horizontalis |
2. Pileus soft, not leather-like, viscid, translucently striate; on culms of grasses, sedges, somtimes on herbaceous stems, etc. |
D. philipsii |
3. Spores small: 5.5-7.0 µm long |
4 |
3. Spores larger |
5 |
4. Spores without of with very small germ-pore; veil absent |
D. micropora |
4. Spores with distinct germ-pore; margin of pileus and often also stipe with remnants of veil |
D. xeroderma |
5. On dung; spores always longer than 10 µm |
6 |
5. On grasses, herbaceous plants or wood; not or very rarely on dung, then spores shorter than 10 µm |
10 |
6. Veil present as a small ring or annuliform zone on stipe, sometimes also as flocks at margin of pileus |
7. |
6. Veil absent |
9. |
7. Spores in frontal view ovate, not angular |
D. merdicola |
7. Spores in frontal view angular |
8. |
8. Ringzone fibrillose, often on lower part of stipe; spores 11.0-12.5 x 7.5-9.0 x 7.0-8.0 µm |
D. merdaria |
8. Ringzone membranaceous, rarely fibrillose, usually in uper part of stipe; spores 13-17 x 8.5-11 x 7.5-9.5 µm |
D. moelleri |
9. Spores six-angled in frontal view, 10-14 µm long |
D. coprophila |
9. Spores ellipsoid in frontal view, 15-19 µm long |
D. subcoprophila |
10. Spores in average 7 - 9 µm long |
11. |
10. Spores more than 9 µm long |
23. |
11. Pleurocystidia numerous; pileus and stipe finely floccose; spores strongly flattened, rhomboid |
D. flocculosa |
11. Pleurocystidia absent |
12. |
12. Spores with thin or slightly thickened walls, lamellae pale |
13. |
12. Spores with distinctly thickened wall, lamellae dark purple-brown to blackish brown when mature |
17. |
13. Pileipellis entirely peeling off as a thin, hyaline membrane; spores mitriform to rhomboid in frontal view |
14. |
13. Pileipellis not peeling off; spores ovoid to ellipsoid in frontal view |
15. |
14. On grasses and sedges; veil poor, usually only few fibrils at margin of pileus in mature specimens; spores in average 7.8-8.6 µm long |
D. inquilina |
14. On dead woody sticks and small branches; veil abundant; spores in average 6.0-7.6 µm long |
D. crobula |
15. Veil very distinct as a fibrillose to almost membranous cortina, later visible as flocks along margin of pileus and a ring or ring-like zone on stipe; spores often papillate; among Carex in subalpine marshes |
D. velifera |
15. Veil, if present, less pronounced; in other habitats |
16 |
16. Veil practically absent; on dead parts of grasses in nutrient, nitrophilous places; spores distinctly flattened |
D. subviscida var. subviscida |
16. Pileus dry; veil abundant as pruinose covering the entire pileus, later on also as flocks along the margin of pileus, especially in young and fresh specimens; in grasland; spores indistinctly flattened |
D. castanella |
17. Spores in majority mitriform to rhomboid in frontal view |
18. |
17. Spores ovoid, or in less than 50% mitriform or rhomboid |
20. |
18. Pileus viscid, glabrous except for some veil at margin |
D. phyllogena |
18. Pileus dry; fibrillose to flocculose with veil |
19. |
19. Pleurocystidia absent |
D. rhomboidospora |
19. Pleurocystidia present |
D. flocculosa |
20. Pileus with veil in form of flocks along and adhering to margin |
21. |
20. Pileus without veil |
22. |
21. Among moss on poor, sandy, acid soil |
D. montana |
21. Parasitic on Polytrichum in alpine zone |
D. chionophila |
22. On nitrogene rich places, often on herbaceous remnants, straw or very old dung; cheilocystiden attenuate |
D. subviscida var. velata (= D. bullacea |
22. Among mosses in moist grasslands on acid soil; cheilocystiden (sub)capitate |
D. magica. |
23.Pileus dry |
D. montana var. macrospora |
23. Pileus viscid with peeling pellicle |
24. |
24. Spores 8.5-11 x 4.5-6.5 µm, with moderately thick walls; on wood of (Picea) |
D. tenax |
24. Spores 8.5-12 x 6.0-7.5 x 5.5-6.5 µm, with very thick walls; among Elymus arenarius in coastal sand dunes |
D. pratense |
Synopsis of the accepted species in sections Deconica and Coprophilae | |
section DeconicaD. inquilina |
section Coprophilae
D. coprophila |