A newly identified ‘magic mushroom‘ species from southern Africa is giving researchers a clearer view of the origins of one of the world’s best-known psychedelic fungi.
In a study published in “Proceedings of the Royal Society B,” researchers reported that African mushrooms long mistaken for “Psilocybe cubensis” are in fact a separate species, now named “Psilocybe ochraceocentrata.”
The study was led by Alexander James Bradshaw of the Department of Biology at Clark University in the United States. Researchers said the discovery helps settle a long-running question about where Psilocybe cubensis came from and how it evolved.
Psilocybe cubensis is the most widely recognized psychedelic mushroom in the world. It is cultivated globally and is often linked to both recreational use and medical research.
For years, one popular theory held that the species had African roots and later spread to the Americas with cattle brought by European colonizers around the 1500s. The new study challenges that timeline.
New species of ‘magic mushroom’ reshapes an old theory
Using DNA from African specimens and type material from known Psilocybe species, researchers found that the African mushrooms were not P. cubensis. Instead, they belonged to a separate but closely related species.
Genetic analysis showed that P. ochraceocentrata and P. cubensis shared a common ancestor about 1.5 million years ago. That was long before cattle were domesticated.
That finding suggests P. cubensis did not simply appear in the Americas after cattle arrived there in the colonial period. Researchers said its history is much older.
The newly described species was found in Zimbabwe and South Africa between 2013 and 2022. It appeared on or near decomposing dung from large plant-eating animals. That habitat closely matches the lifestyle of P. cubensis, which is also tied to dung.
Researchers said this shared ecology likely goes back to their common ancestor. In other words, the trait that helped P. cubensis thrive on cattle dung today may have existed long before cattle entered the picture.
DNA evidence points to a much older split
The study also used climate-based modeling to examine where the ancestor of both species may have lived over the past 3 million years. The results pointed to suitable habitats across Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Researchers said the work also exposed a broader problem in mushroom science: misidentification. Public genetic records included samples that had been labeled incorrectly, including African material that was grouped under P. cubensis. The study argues that DNA from official type specimens is essential for sorting out those mistakes.
The discovery of P. ochraceocentrata adds a new branch to the Psilocybe family tree and gives scientists fresh genetic material to study. Researchers said it also sharpens the picture of how one of the world’s most familiar psychedelic mushrooms may have emerged in the wild.
