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Liberty Cap Mushrooms: Your Ultimate Guide

July 15, 2022 | by Ramreiso Kasar

If you are one of theeditors of this guide it should copy everything, but if you’re not, itwill only copy the licensed content. The legality of possessing Liberty Caps varies widely depending on location. In many jurisdictions, psilocybin is a controlled substance, making the possession of Liberty Caps illegal.

Can Liberty Caps be confused with other Psilocybe species?

  • The liberty cap stem is usually between 2 and 4 inches in height and 0.04 to 0.14 inches in diameter.
  • This mushroom is touted for its unique psychoactive properties.
  • The gills of the liberty cap are narrow, densely formed, and an olive gray hue.
  • Mushrooms themselves, including liberty caps, are the fruiting body, or reproductive organ, of a fungal organism that is mostly underground.

It is named for the ancient region of Phrygia, located in modern-day Turkey (2). Liberty cap mushrooms are psychedelic mushrooms, which means they contain psilocybin and, under federal law, are illegal in most states. Often, the nipple on liberty caps can be a different colour to the rest of the cap. The cap shape of liberty caps is pretty distinctive, but can also vary somewhat.

Liberty Cap Mushrooms: Look-Alikes, Identification & More

Growing liberty cap mushrooms is incredibly difficult because they require decaying grass roots in order to grow. Ultimately, creating the ideal environment to grow liberty cap mushrooms is a challenging task, so foraging for them in grassy patches of land is much easier. If you don’t plan to use the mushrooms later, drying them is a common method for long-term storage. Once dried, liberty caps are more potent per gram than their fresh counterparts because water weight has been removed.

Are Liberty Caps legal to possess?

The small stature of Psilocybe semilanceata can make it extremely difficult to find, especially in the long grass. However, once you find a good mushroom habitat, your eyes will tune in, and you’ll easily spot them from far distances. It’s important to leave a few big ones as well — don’t go picking the whole field. You should leave nature to do what it does best and allow some shrooms to sporulate and die naturally. This will secure the Liberty Cap’s population for future generations. There’s also no problem in picking some of the smaller ones, but leave “pins” (small shrooms) and one or two slightly larger little shrooms.

  • Some Panaeolous species are mildly psychoactive, but they generally contain lower concentrations of psilocybin and do not produce the same intensity of effects as liberty caps.
  • In terms of the weather, Liberty Caps begin to fruit when there’s a drop in temperature — this is why they can be found in the autumn months.
  • Additionally, it does not contain psilocybin and is not psychoactive.
  • The cap of the first (Conocybe apala) looks very fragile, and the cap of the second (Conocybe tenera) has strong orange tones.
  • Dried shrooms can be eaten whole or prepared in the ways mentioned above.

You can also fill the capsules to the brim if you want to use them to trip with. Due to the potency of this shroom, you’ll definitely feel something after ingesting one or two packed capsules. This is a great option for those of you that can’t stomach the taste of magic mushrooms.

When do liberty caps grow?

After the first five or six hours, you’ll already notice them start to shrink and lose moisture. At this point, it’s a good idea to turn them all over — this will prevent the mushrooms from sticking to your paper as they dry. Even the largest Liberty Cap mushrooms are small, especially when compared to Psilocybe cubensis shrooms. The thin stems and small caps hold very little moisture, and they can be dried efficiently, even without using a dehydrator. If you’re lucky enough to find a lot, you’ll need to know how to dry, store, guide to liberty cap mushrooms and prepare them.

Many psilocybes develop this ring-like band that breaks apart as the mushroom cap grows and expands (1). However, it’s best to double check what you’ve foraged before you consume it. There are a number of Subreddits where you can post photos of your shrooms for a quick ID by experienced foragers.

Some can be slightly wider than they are tall, but will still have some height to them. If a cap is more like an umbrella than a cone, it’s not a liberty cap. You may need to search several locations until you find one that is overflowing with liberty caps.

How strong are liberty caps?

In terms of the weather, Liberty Caps begin to fruit when there’s a drop in temperature — this is why they can be found in the autumn months. It’s almost always useless heading out the morning after a heavy frost; they shrivel up and become unnoticeable very quickly. They grow in grassland, so pastures grazed by horses, cows, sheep, or other livestock can be great places to look. Ideally, look for a pasture that’s out of rotation (without grazing animals currently feeding).

Liberty caps are one of the most potent psilocybin mushrooms that exist. Liberty caps grow solitarily or in groups on rich and acidic soil, usually in grasslands, such as meadows, pastures, or lawns. You can often find these mushrooms in pastures, where sheep and cow dung fertilize the soil. However, the mushrooms do not grow directly on the dung as Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms do. As well as resembling the famed cap, there are other aspects of the appearance of liberty caps that you should know about.

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In general, expect to feel the effects within 30 minutes, which can last anywhere from 3-6 hours (4). You’ll maximise your luck by going out the day after a night of light rain. You may even want to check the same locations more than once as mushrooms can spring up overnight. They generally appear alone or in small clusters on rich soil in pastures, meadows and parkland.

As the cap dries out, it changes colour starting from the top down (second row) to ivory or cream (third row). It also turns opaque such that the gills can only be seen towards the bottom (if at all). When wet, it is a chestnut or caramel brown and translucent such that the gills can be seen running vertically down the underside (first row).

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