Deep in the grasslands of southern Africa, mycological history is being made. Two new psychedelic Psilocybe fungi have recently been scientifically described – expanding our understanding of these mushrooms and their cultural significance. The first, Psilocybe maluti, was found fruiting from bovine dung in South Africa’s Free State and neighbouring Lesotho in 2021. What makes this discovery groundbreaking is its documented use by traditional Basotho healers – the first concrete evidence of ceremonial psilocybin use on the African continent.
Psilocybe ingeli was found in manure-enriched pastureland in 2023 in the KwaZulu-Natal region, in a habitat and location that it shares with Psilocybe natalensis. It was first found by citizen mycologist Talan Moult, while clearing a plot for his beehives.
The vital role of citizen mycologists
These discoveries highlight the crucial role of amateur mycologists, who collected field samples for genetic analysis. The findings, published in Mycologia, emerged from collaboration between citizen scientists and Stellenbosch University academics. Professional researchers alone could never cover the ground these enthusiasts explored.
Citizen mycologists have a particularly important role to play in under-surveyed parts of the world, such as Africa. Cullen Taylor Clark.
Fungi remain science’s most underrepresented kingdom, with few mycologists studying its rich diversity – especially in regions like Africa. The continent’s fungal biodiversity remains largely unmapped, making partnerships with local experts who know their environments essential for discovery.
Historical usage of P. maluti
While P. maluti might be new to Western science, the Basotho people have long incorporated these mushrooms into their healing and divination practices. For decades, researchers speculated about psychedelic mushroom use by cultures worldwide, often relying on ambiguous art and artefacts. However, solid evidence of contemporary use outside Mexico remained elusive – until now. Ethnomycologist Cullen Taylor Clark documented these practices, bringing them into scientific recognition.
Two types of healers among the Basotho healers inhabiting Lesotho are known to use P. maluti. The linohea are diviners or soothsayers, who use the fungi and other agents such as medicinal plants to “foresee the future”, and ngaka-chitja, healers who possess an extensive knowledge of natural remedies but do not practice divination. The Basotho name for P. maluti is ‘koae-ea-lekhoaba’, with the mushroom used to induce a trance-like state. This practice of mushroom use goes back at least several generations, or a few centuries according to the Bathoso elders, but it is hard to pinpoint the age of this lineage, with transmission of such knowledge being passed down by word of mouth.
The preparation of these mushrooms is a ritual in itself. Healers steep them in warm water alongside the plant Boophone disticha – a plant used in traditional medicine containing scopolamine-like alkaloids found in plants like Datura. This combination creates a powerful brew called ‘seipone sa koae-ea-lekhoaba‘. During ceremonies, patients consume this before a mirror, vocalising their visions for interpretation by the healer – a practice paralleling iboga rituals in central Africa.
This doesn’t appear to be an isolated occurrence, and recently another group in South Africa (the Xhosa) have been documented using another mushroom (P. ochraceocentrata) as both a healing tonic and in a ceremonial context, with the mushroom perceived to act as a conduit to their ancestors from whom they receive insight and guidance.
Though their practices differ from Mexican indigenous groups like the Mazatec, all these traditions share commonalities – using mushrooms for insight and guidance with profound reverence. Yet these practices are waning globally.
Young people are departing rural areas and moving to cities in search of work opportunities or the fruits of a Western lifestyle, and there is a reluctance to learn the lore of using mushrooms as agents of healing and divination. This means such knowledge is being largely carried by the elder generations and is at risk of dying out, which may partly inspire a greater openness to share knowledge of mushroom lore with outsiders in some instances.
Fruiting Psilocybe maluti mushrooms. Cullen Taylor Clark.
The potent potential of P. ingeli
Psilocybe ingeli stands out for its remarkable properties, even without documented traditional use. It is highly potent, fairly easy to cultivate once its fruiting conditions are dialled in, and grows with impressive speed. Laboratory analyses of dried specimens have revealed extraordinary potency, with total alkaloid levels ranging from 2.3% to 3.2% by dry weight – making it substantially more powerful than the commonly cultivated P. cubensis.
While P. cubensis occasionally attains similar potency, this comes after decades of selective breeding, while P. ingeli delivers this naturally. P. cubensis has dominated cultivation circles since the McKenna brothers introduced it from the Colombian Amazon over half a century ago, but cultivators are now exploring other species such as P. ingeli for genetic and experiential diversity.
To put the potency of P. ingeli into context, most clinical studies involving psilocybin use a (high) dose of 25mg of the pure compound. At these potency levels, this means that a gram of dried mushroom material could harbour this dosage of psilocybin (or more), so newcomers to this mushroom should dose with caution (and perhaps not exceed a dosage of 0.5g of dried mushroom material for a first-time experience). Like all psilocybin mushrooms, potency can vary widely, as can individual sensitivities. One way of accounting for potency variation is to powder the dried mushrooms from a given flush and encapsulate them, which should provide a more consistent form of dosing.
Experienced psychonauts often prefer potent species like P. ingeli because they require consuming less fungal material – minimising the digestive discomfort or “body load” that comes with larger quantities of mushrooms needed with less potent varieties.
P. ingeli is a member of Section Zapotecorum. Other related species that are part of this same group include P. zapotecorum and P. subtropicalis, which are held in high shamanic regard by indigenous groups in Mexico. However these species take a while to grow, shifting into slow motion when fruiting, when using P. cubensis as a reference, and they can be more challenging species to cultivate than P. ingeli. P. ingeli is a fast fruiter in comparison to these species, fruiting on a similar timeframe to P. cubensis, with the added bonus that it is easier to grow and to take spore prints from than these other Section Zapotecorum species can be.
P. ingeli has been described as “basically Zaps that fruit as fast as cubes and under similar low maintenance conditions” by chemist and researcher Julian Mattucci of Imperial Labs. Given the combination of its various qualities, P. ingeli could be a species of great importance to the psilonaut cultivator community, and beyond.
Cultivating P. ingeli
P. ingeli appears to be easy to cultivate, not much more challenging than P. cubensis to grow. It appreciates high humidity levels and a saturated substrate during fruiting, in addition to higher levels of fresh air exchange than P. cubensis to ensure healthy fruiting. These conditions can easily be dialled in using a diffuser tub fruiting chamber setup. Once the grain is inoculated and colonised by mycelium, coco coir makes a good bulk substrate ingredient. The mushrooms can still grow with less fresh air exchange, but they will take on a more noodly form with underdeveloped caps.
P. ingeli will grow and fruit readily at room temperature, but will also fruit at higher and lower temperatures. It is crucial that high humidity levels are maintained and that the substrate does not dry out during fruiting; otherwise, mushrooms will abort, even at an advanced stage of fruiting. Applying a casing layer is necessary during fruiting rather than optional, as when fruiting P. cubensis or P. ochraceocentrata. Growers can expect the first pins to appear in around two weeks once the colonised bulk substrate is placed into fruiting conditions.
Indoor fruiting Psilocybe ingeli mushrooms. Tyler Wagner.
Expanding fungal frontiers
These African Psilocybe discoveries mark a turning point in our understanding of psychoactive fungi and human-fungal relationships. They reveal how much remains undiscovered across Africa – a continent likely harbouring countless unknown fungal species.
The documented use of P. maluti by Basotho healers expands on the previously Mexico-centric narrative of Psilocybe usage by traditional cultures, while P. ingeli’s exceptional properties offer new possibilities for those using these mushrooms for recreational, therapeutic or spiritual purposes, and for clinical research.
At their core, these findings highlight the invaluable role of citizen mycologists, whose passion and local knowledge uncover what professional science might miss. As traditional knowledge systems fade with urbanisation, documenting these practices becomes increasingly urgent.
Africa’s mycological frontier remains wide open. What other fungal treasures lie hidden across its diverse ecosystems? What ancient human-fungal relationships await discovery? And what might these connections teach us about our own relationship with the fungal kingdom? The answers await those willing to explore with curious minds and watchful eyes.
