Liberty caps are the most widespread psilocybin-containing mushrooms in nature.

I knew this for years before I finally started looking for them in 2020.

Up to that point I dismissed foraging as not for me.

Don't you need to be an expert mycologist, or at least initiated by some wise elder? Is it safe? What if I eat some deadly lookalike?

But I felt uncomfortable with buying mushrooms via ethically dubious supply chains. I could grow them instead, but that had its own practical difficulties.

So I decided to investigate.

Anyone Can Learn To Identify Liberty Caps

I learned that you should indeed approach mushroom identification with utmost caution, and never eat anything you're unsure of.

But I also found out that learning to identify liberty caps is well within reach of a motivated amateur.

So I pored over guide books and photos until I felt confident enough to venture outside.

If you're not sure where and when to look read How To Find Liberty Caps (An Evidence-Based Approach).

After a few hours, it was clear that many mushrooms live in the same grassland as liberty caps.

I found most of these easy to discard based on my preparation. Some looked a bit like liberty caps at first glance but didn't stand up to closer scrutiny (more on those below).

Eventually I spotted a glistening cap nestled within a tuft of grass. I moved closer and several more popped into focus.

In the years since, i've come to realise the best part of foraging isn't the free mushrooms. It's that it helps you set you up for a positive psychedelic experience by first connecting with:

• nature

• your body

• yourself and/or your companions

I explore the research supporting why foraging is therapeutic here.

How To Identify Liberty Caps

Liberty caps come in a range of shapes, sizes and colours.

You shouldn't rely on any single characteristic to identify them. For example, the liberty cap is famous for its nipple but this is not a unique feature.

You should instead consider all available evidence when identifying liberty caps. This includes the:

• cap – its shape and colour

• stem – its shape, colour and texture

• gills – their colour and the way they attach to the stem

I'd like to reiterate you should never eat a mushroom if you are unsure about its identity. As mycologist Paul Stamets puts it:

1. Cap

The cap is shaped like a cone or bell and taller than it is wide.

It usually has a small nipple-like protrusion (or umbo). But this is not always visible, especially in younger specimens.

The bottom of the cap (or cap margin) starts off rolled inwards and flares out with age. You can see this progression in the first row below.

The cap changes colour based on its state of hydration.

When wet, the cap is a chestnut or caramel brown. It is translucent such that you can see the gills running down the underside as in the first row above. The surface is also sticky due to a thin, transparent film which you can peel away.

As the cap dries out, it changes colour starting from the top down (second row) to ivory or cream (third row). It also becomes opaque so that you can only see the gills towards the bottom (if at all).

This colour-shifting can help you distinguish liberty caps from similar-shaped mushrooms. A wet liberty cap will not be light, and a dry one will not be dark.

2. Stem

The stem is ivory to pale brown and often darker towards the base.

It's usually a bit wavy rather than completely straight.

The surface of the stem is smooth but up close you'll see it's fibrous. This makes the stem more flexible than other mushrooms. It should bend or wrap around your finger without snapping.

3. Gills

The gills start off grey and turn to purplish-brown with age as spores get released. The gills slope upwards and only attach to the stem right at the top.

How To Avoid Lookalikes

I now turn to some similar-looking mushrooms that grow in the same grassland habitat as liberty caps. Although these can look similar at first glance, we can dismiss them by running through what we know about liberty caps from above.

These examples are by no means exhaustive, and similar-looking mushrooms may vary in your region.

1. Dung roundhead (Protostropharia semiglobata)

This dung-loving mushroom is very common in grazed grassland.

The cap is similar in colour to a dry liberty cap (not a wet one)

But you can see it's shaped more like a hemisphere than a cone or bell – hemispherical liberty caps are rare.

Other clues we're not looking at a liberty cap are:

• the absence of a nipple

• a thicker stem

• the way the gills attach to the stem below the top as shown in the third example

2. Panaeolus species

The stems of Panaeolus species are often brittle and will snap easily when bending.

In the first two examples below, the caps are dry but still dark in colour. In the second two examples, the caps are more rounded than pointy and lack distinctive nipples.

3. Conocybe species

Most Conocybe species have cone or bell-shaped caps like liberty caps. But they usually don’t have a nipple. Like Panaeolus species, the stems are often brittle and will snap easily when bending.

Both caps in the examples below lack nipples. The cap of the first (Conocybe apala) looks very fragile, and the cap of the second (Conocybe tenera) has strong orange tones. The gills of both these species start off pale brown and turn to rust or cinnamon brown as in the third example.

All the best for the week ahead,

Nick

p.s. The liberty cap is named for its resemblance to the liberty pole – a symbol of freedom originating in the Roman Empire. If you’re interested, Adrastos Omissi traces the etymology here. I like to imagine Nature is reminding us of our fundamental right to explore consciousness.