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Edibility
Toxic
Lookalike Danger
5 / 5
Habitat
🪵 Wood chips, mulch
Season
Sep – Dec
"Caramel-brown wavy-edged cap on PNW wood chips and landscaping bark. Stem bruises deep blue. Schedule I — and lethally similar to Galerina marginata. Confirm the blue."
🌳 Host Trees & Plants
This species is found with or partners with the following hosts. Ectomycorrhizal hosts (green border) form a root-level partnership; ericoid / arbutoid shrubs (purple border) share the same mycorrhizal networks.
Wood-Chip Mulch
Hardwood mulch
Saprobic substrate
Landscape hardwood chip mulch — wine cap, bird’s nest fungi, dog-vomit slime mold. A great backyard cultivation substrate.
Caramel-brown cap with a distinctive wavy margin, growing in dense troops from wood chips, bark mulch, and decaying lignin. Contains psilocybin and psilocin; stem bruises a vivid indigo blue when handled. One of the most common and easily-encountered psychoactive fungi in the PNW.
Habitat
Landscaping wood chips and bark mulch in cool-temperate climates, especially the Pacific Northwest. Fruits in fall and early winter after the first sustained rains.
Look for this on the ground
Lawn and wood-chip edge
Manicured lawn meeting fresh hardwood mulch — suburban edge habitat.
Season Windows by Region
Region
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
North Cascades
WA · 1,500–8,000 ft
Central Cascades / Snoqualmie
WA · 1,500–7,000 ft
Olympic Peninsula
WA · 500–6,000 ft
Gifford Pinchot / South Cascades
WA · 1,000–8,000 ft
Mt Hood / North Oregon Cascades
OR · 2,000–8,000 ft
South Cascades / Klamath
OR · 4,000–9,000 ft
Northern Sierra / Tahoe
CA · 5,000–9,000 ft
Northwest CT Hills
CT · 400–2,380 ft
Willamette Valley / Columbia Gorge
OR · 200–1,500 ft
NW NJ / High Point
NJ · 400–1,803 ft
NJ Pine Barrens
NJ · 0–200 ft
Los Padres NF / Big Sur
CA · 0–8,831 ft
Shasta-Trinity NF
CA · 1,500–14,179 ft
Mendocino NF / Yolla Bolly
CA · 1,500–8,092 ft
Umpqua NF / Diamond Lake
OR · 1,000–9,173 ft
Siuslaw NF / Oregon Dunes
OR · 0–4,097 ft
Growing Requirements
Min Soil Temp
45°F
Moisture Need
rain 0.5in 7d
Drought Tolerance
low
Elevation Range
0–14,179 ft
Look-Alikes
Galerina marginata (Deadly Galerina)
DEADLY. Same size, same habitat (wood chips, decaying wood), similar caramel cap. Galerina does NOT bruise blue. Multiple fatalities have resulted from this misidentification — confirm the blue stain on cut/bruised stem before any handling.
Psilocybe allenii
West Coast counterpart, indistinguishable in the field — both contain psilocybin and the practical implications are identical.
Identification Tips
- ✓Bruise test: stem turns deep indigo blue within minutes of handling
- ✓Cap is genuinely wavy at the margin (not a flat disc)
- ✓Spore print: dark purple-brown
- ✓Legal status varies — possession is a federal crime in the US; some states (CO, OR) have decriminalized
Field Notes
Wood chips, mulch
Found Wavy Cap?
Photograph it and log your observation on iNaturalist. The community can help confirm your ID — always get confirmation before eating.
Safety: Never eat any wild mushroom without 100% certain identification from multiple sources. This page is for informational purposes only. When in doubt, throw it out.