Updated for 2024: The 10 Best Magic Mushroom Strains to Journey With (or Grow)

Maybe you’re looking for something soft, subtle, or gentle. Maybe it’s a heady, visual, or mystical experience. Some might be looking for a laughter-filled experience rather than an out-of-body one. 

No matter what type of magic mushroom trip you want, our guide will break down the 10 most popular mushrooms people journey with nowadays. And for the uber-nerdy readers, we end with some science behind the genus and species of this mystical fungi. 

As a bonus to these popular strains’ effects, we also talk about growing 101s if you want to deepen your knowledge of fungi and your relationship with these sacred mushrooms.

If a video is more your style, you can watch Third Wave CEO and founder Paul F. Austin discuss five of the top mushroom strains in the video above.

Intro Level Insights on Psilocybe Cubensis

Most of the commonly used mushrooms today belong to the genus Psilocybe. That’s why the scientific name for psychedelic mushroom species often begins with a “P.” Other magic mushroom species come from the genus Gymnopilus or Copelandi. But for this article, we’ll be focusing exclusively on Psilocybe mushrooms.

Since cubensis mushroom strains grow naturally in tropical climates worldwide, it’s no wonder they’re so popular. However, our appreciation for psychedelic mushrooms isn’t new.

Evidence dating back to the Aztecs shows these psychotropic mushrooms have a long history of spiritual, ritual, and healing use across Mesoamerica.

Humanity’s relationship to magic mushrooms and other consciousness-altering substances is a storied one. So, as you find yourself ready to embark on your shroom journey, our guide will help you nail down the perfect magic mushroom for that moment.

Which Popular Shroom Is For You?

With a vast range of strains and species–each with its unique chemical makeup and effects–how do you decide which psychedelic mushrooms are right for you?

Whether you’re thinking about journeying with shrooms or growing them yourself, we’ve listed out some core aspects for you to consider: 

1. What’s their potency?
2. What are their unique effects?
3. What type of experience are you looking to have with mushrooms? Or what is your intention for your mushroom experience?  
   1. Insightful? Introspective? Somatic? Social? 
4. How easy are these mushrooms to grow?
   1. Beginners can consider shrooms that are disease-resilient and less sensitive to unideal growing conditions 
5. Do they produce a large yield (amount of product)?
6. How long do the shrooms take to grow? 
7. Can you recreate the ideal environment for this strain?

The Top 5 Psilocybe Cubensis Mushroom Strains

1. B+ Mushroom

B+ is pronounced “B Positive,” not “B Plus.” You’ll win a few psychonaut friends now that you know this.

B+ Effects

Users report the B+ mushroom experience as “middle-of-the-road,” with a benevolent and gentle nature that balances emotional, visual, and bodily sensations. Their average potency creates strong visuals and a sense of euphoria, sometimes leading to clarity and focus in the following days and weeks. However, there’s less introspection than other psilocybin mushrooms.

One downside of B+ is that, compared to other strains, it tends to cause more lethargy, although nausea is less common. However, this could be a perfect pair for a lemon tek, a modern phenomenon that can minimize physical discomfort.

Growing B+ Mushrooms

This strain’s high resilience, large fruiting bodies, and quickly germinating spores make the B+ strain extremely popular among growers. Their robust nature and capacity to grow well in less-than-ideal conditions make this a favorite among first-time cultivators and those struggling to grow magic mushrooms.

Most cultivators find that growing B+ shrooms produces a large first flush followed by subsequent smaller flushes.

2. Penis Envy

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell you how this shroom was named. This strain is also renowned for its potency. 

The strength of this shroom can be attested to thanks to the work done at the Psilocybin Cup, a competition where shroom growers enter samples of Psilocybe cubensis strains to measure their potency. In 2021 and 2022, Penis Envy strains have claimed three of the top five spots but have yet to wear the crown of most potent shroom in the competition.

Penis Envy Effects

User reports from Penis Envy (PE) typically describe a fast onset, a more “wavy” visual experience than typical hallucinogenic mushrooms, and a minimal body load. Thus, having a profoundly introspective journey with this Psilocybe species is common.

There are numerous strains of PE, and some, like Albino Penis Envy, are more intense than others. Given the standard reports and the potency tests done at the Psilocybin cup, we’d recommend starting with a slightly lower dose of PE than usual as you learn how your body responds to this powerful strain.

Growing Penis Envy Mushrooms

Compared to other P. Cubensis mushrooms, Penis Envy mushrooms might be less resilient to contamination. So, they’re typically recommended for those with one or two successful grows in their back pocket. If it’s your first time, just move with extra cleanliness and caution to mitigate contamination.

3. Cambodian

Photo credit: RealitySandwich

Usually, it’s the mushroom effects that make a strain popular. However, Cambodian mushrooms are popular because they grow and produce very healthy flushes and are highly resilient in suboptimal growing conditions.

Cambodian Effects

Cambodian enthusiasts knock this strain because it has considerably weaker levels of potency. However, some say they’re above average and can even be heavy hitters. Like many other mushroom strains, the growing conditions heavily influence the potency of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

When it comes to Cambodian effects, it’s relatively mellow with minor visuals and body buzzing sensations. However, it’s common for people to have high amounts of energy after consuming these shrooms, with the effects lasting longer than the common six hours.

So, with all this mixed messaging, the cliche holds true. Start low and go slow. It’s better to build up to a strong magic mushroom experience than try and make an intense trip stop.

Growing Cambodian Mushrooms

Since Cambodian mushroom strains grow fast and abundantly with gentle psychoactive properties and contamination resilient, they’re favored among growers. These mushrooms also seem to prefer hotter-than-usual environments, with their first three flushes yielding impressive results, whereas there can be a steep drop-off by the fourth flush.

4. Golden Teachers

Golden Teacher Effects

The clarity and insight from these gentle-natured mushrooms can lend them the name “teachers.” The trips also tend to be more mental than physical or visual, leaving users with a sense of connection to the natural world. Many users report little to no feelings of anxiety and worry as they start to feel the effects of these mushrooms, making them suitable for first-timers.

Growing Golden Teacher Mushrooms

Golden Teachers fruit fast and produce large crops, making them great for growing. They’re quite resilient to disease and less sensitive to underoptimized growing conditions.

5. Tidal Wave

Photo credit: mycological.co

Tidal Wave is a shroom hybrid of Penis Envy and B+. In 2021, this strain also won the Psilocybin Cup for highest potency.

Tidal Wave Effects

The effects of these mushrooms emerge quickly and strongly, like a tidal wave. Common effects associated with this strain are an intense feeling of euphoria, strong visuals, and a steady current of mental clarity. It’s also been said that Tidal Wave produces feel-good sensations in the body, which allows users to connect deeper with themselves to combat mental struggles and mood disorders.

Growing Tidal Wave Mushrooms

These cubensis mushrooms are fast-fruiting and quite easy to grow because of their resilience to contamination that can arise within their environment. But don’t expect bountiful flushes from Tidal Wave spores.

Popular Magic Mushroom Psilocybin Species (other than P. cubensis)

While the Psilocybe mushroom species are the most well-known and easily sourced magic mushroom species, they are not the only ones. So, we’ll share five other popular magic mushrooms with varying potency levels, psychedelic effects, and growing specs.

6. Psilocybe azurescens (Flying Saucer Mushrooms)

Otherwise known as “Flying Saucer” mushrooms due to their broad, UFO-shaped caps, P. azurescens is a species native to North America.

Flying Saucer Mushroom Effects

With the highest psilocybin content out of all known Psilocybe species, at 1.78%, P. azurescens are incredibly potent. 

These often produce strong psychedelic effects characterized by intense waves of energy, powerful visuals with open or closed eyes, a heavy body load, and, at moderate to high doses, profound journeys into different realms of reality. The bonus is they often lead to euphoria. However, this is not a strain for first-timers and must be treated respectfully. 

Growing Flying Saucer Mushrooms

If you’ve got a serious green thumb and experience with mushroom growing, these might be worth the cultivation challenge.  

This is mainly because maintaining the indoor conditions to grow these potent shrooms is incredibly difficult to keep up with. And beyond the challenges of staying up with the changing needs of Flying Saucer mushrooms, the yields are typically poor, at best. Even though a little goes a long way with this powerful magic mushroom, it’s best to start somewhere else when growing your mushrooms.

7. Psilocybe semilanceata (Liberty Caps Mushrooms)

P. semilanceata has long, thin stems and notable, convex, bell-shaped caps–hence their nickname “Liberty Caps.”

Liberty Caps might be the most widespread psilocybin-containing mushrooms. These mushrooms grow abundantly in Europe but can also be found in North America, Canada, South Africa, Chile, Northern India, Australia, and New Zealand.

Since these mushrooms are tough to grow, most people get hold of P. semilanceata by foraging in the wild. However, foraging must be done with extreme caution since misidentifying P. semilanceata with the poisonous look-alike species Galerina marginata, can have fatal consequences.

Liberty Cap Effects

Users have described Psilocybe semilanceata as more “head” than body high, with intense visual hallucinations. Given this strain is known for its high potency, it’s common to have strong psychedelic experiences.

Growing Liberty Cap Mushrooms

If you’re thinking about growing these, stop now. Few, if any, have successfully grown these with consistent results. So, if you want to cultivate Liberty Caps, head out into nature and get ready to dry and store these delicacies.

You can learn more about foraging and identifying magic mushrooms in our “How To Find Mushrooms Guide.”

8. Psilocybe cyanescens (Wavy Caps)

As a saprophytic mushroom–meaning that it decomposes dead material–P. cyanescens can grow on rotting wood in forests, wood chip mulch, and sawdust in urban areas. Even though harvest can be extremely fruitful as they’re aggressive colonizers, there are a few deadly lookalikes. So make sure, if you forage, to do so with an experienced guide.

Wavy Caps Effects

In high doses, users describe effects similar to DMT journeys, including mystical experiences and meeting entities. Even though it can be a mystical experience, it’s not as common to have euphoric experiences. They’re also known for being more psychedelic at moderate levels, too.

Growing Wavy Cap Mushrooms

While it can be challenging to cultivate these mushrooms indoors, it’s recommended to cultivate them outdoors. Given their prolific fruiting, aggressive colonization habits, and strong contamination resilience, growing these magic mushrooms outside doesn’t take much work.

9. Psilocybe tampanensis (Philosopher’s Stone Mushrooms)

Photo credit: Wikipedia

These are average-looking little brown mushrooms. It’s not the fruiting body of interest but compact mycelial masses produced by the fungus, known as sclerotia or truffles.

The psychoactive truffle-like sclerotia formed by P. tampanensis are known and sold under the nickname “Philosopher’s Stone” due to their spiritual and intuitive effects.

Philosopher’s Stone Mushroom Effects

This magic truffle (yes, not technically a magic mushroom) impacts our mental experience, often on existential levels that can support someone releasing the pressure their mind can create. This pleasant and subtle experience balances its effects well, as any great philosopher might.

These are great for people who want to learn about themselves and reality and gain clarity on other big questions they’ve been holding onto. It’s also known to give good bouts of laughter and mild visions.

Better yet? Research is showing that microdosing magic truffles can make you more creative.

Whether at micro or macro levels, these magic truffles could be exactly what you’re looking for.

Growing Philosopher’s Stone Mushrooms

Growing magic truffles is quite similar to growing magic mushrooms. This strain can take up to 12 weeks to form dense nut-like structures.

Although these dense structures are more resilient to suboptimal conditions, contamination, and temperature fluctuations, they take longer to form. So, if you have the patience to do so, these are worth growing.

10. Psilocybe natalensis (Natal Super Strength)

Copyright: © lizziepop 

Known as “Natal Super Strength,” P. natalensis contains active levels of the hallucinogenic compounds psilocybin, psilocin, and baeocystin.These mushrooms are closely related to Psilocybe cubensis genetics but are typically more potent.

Natal Super Strength Effects

There are a lot of similarities between this strain and P. cubensis, as their chemical makeup is similar.

That said, psilonauts say Natal Super Strength delivers a friendly, uplifting, and smooth psychedelic journey without a big body load, which is why they’re gaining so much buzz.

Growing Natal Super Strength Mushrooms

Mycelial enthusiasts notice the ease of cultivation with this strain, as it’s slightly more mold-resistant than popular Psilocybe cubensis species.

Classifying Popular Psilocybin Mushroom Strains

You’ve probably heard that mushrooms are neither plant nor animal. Metabolically speaking, they’re more similar to humans as they take in oxygen and give off CO2. Structurally, mushrooms are more similar to plants than to animals because they have rigid cell walls made from sugars.

Discussing the different types of popular magic mushroom psilocybin strains can help to understand some classification terms.

Most of the commonly used today belong to the genus Psilocybe. That’s why the scientific name for psychedelic mushroom species often begins with a “P.” Other magic mushroom species come from the genus Gymnopilus or Copelandi.

Within each genus of psilocybin mushrooms are different species, indicated by the lowercase letter when written scientifically, e.g., P. cubensis. Within each species are different strains with distinct chemical compounds and psychoactive experiences.

For most magic mushrooms, these compounds consist of three tryptamines:

• Psilocybin
• Psilocin
• Baeocystin

However, some species may also contain other, rarer psychoactive compounds.

For example, when identifying components in the Inocybe aeruginascens mushroom, chemist Jochen Gartz discovered aeruginascin–a tryptamine that causes euphoria.

Another example is the toadstool mushroom, Amanita muscaria, which contains no psilocybin, psilocin, or baeocystin but rather the psychoactive neurotoxins ibotenic acid and muscimol.

The Best Magic Mushroom For You

If it’s your first time journeying with mushrooms, you may also choose a low-potency strain to avoid having a stronger-than-expected effect and potential bad trip.

As we shared, your mushrooms’ effect profile should align with your intention and personal preferences. For instance, are you looking to gain knowledge and insight? Do you particularly enjoy the visual components of psychedelics?

When growing your mushrooms, we recommend a strain more resilient to contamination to decrease the likelihood of infections killing your crop. Plus, you’ll want to account for yield and potency factors.

For example, if you’re planning on microdosing, having a large yield may be less critical than if you’re planning to have one or more high-dose psychedelic experiences.

If you’re ready to grow your own magic mushrooms, connect more with this medicine, and create a consistent, reliable, and convenient stream of your favorite shrooms, Third Wave’s Mushroom Grow Kit is beginner-friendly and has everything you need to begin. 

From a video course to a digital community of fellow growers, mycologists, and all the proper equipment, we support you every step of the mushroom way. While we don’t include shroom spores for legal reasons, we recommend places to buy psilocybin spores within the Grow Kit. 

Accounting for these factors, we’ve shared the most popular strains of psychedelic mushrooms, from effects to growing conditions, to support you whether you’re sourcing shrooms or growing them yourselves.

References

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3. Dickinson, Kevin. (2018, October 29). Magic truffles increase creativity, new study finds. Retrieved from https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/magic-truffles-increase-creativity/ 
4. Science Learning Hub. (2008, November 9). All about fungi. Retrieved from https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/590-all-about-fungi 
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8. Voynova, M., Shkondrov, A., Kondeva-Burdina, M., & Krasteva, I. (2020, November 26). Toxicological and pharmacological profile of Amanita muscaria (L.) Lam. – a new rising opportunity for biomedicine. Retrieved from https://pharmacia.pensoft.net/article/56112/