Curious about hallucinogenic mushrooms? Also called magic mushrooms, these shrooms are a subset of fungi that have psychedelic effects due to the hallucinogens that contribute to their makeup. While they can easily be confused with poisonous mushrooms, this article is designed to help beginners learn about the panaeolus cinctulus strain, Including where to find it, how to identify it, and the effects of this magic mushroom strain! Want to learn the basics of panaeolus cinctulus psychedelic mushrooms? Read on. 

When was panaeolus cinctulus discovered?

Panaeolus cinctulus, syn. Panaeolus subbalteatus, commonly known as the banded mottlegil, weed Panaeolus or pan subbs, were originally discovered growing in a grassy field in the 1860s by mycologists Miles Berkley and Christopher Broome, and they were originally named panaeolus subbalteatus.

The discovery of these mushrooms originally led to the conclusion that they were poisonous, due to the effects experienced by those who consumed them. They were then rediscovered in 1916 by William Murril, and they began to be seen as producing not poisonous effects on consumers, but “magical” hallucinogenic ones! These extra special mushrooms have come to be known as banded mottlegill mushrooms, and they have numerous effects that are hard to find anywhere else. 

What are the effects of panaeolus cinctulus?

The effects of banded mottlegill mushrooms, like most others, depends on the dosage consumed by the user.  A good rule of thumb is that they are generally a weak to moderately potent psilocybin mushroom.

At a low dose (between 0.35 and 1.25 grams), these mushrooms have perceptual, emotional and physical effects, including the brightening of colors, hi-def visual distortions, objects moving and the experience of music and sounds possessing a different quality. They might also make you feel calm, experience a positive mood or increased appreciation for music, and some users experience anxiety. Don't fret if you experience slight nausea, dilated pupils or an increased heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature – these all contribute to what psychonauts like to call a light body high.

Jump up to a medium dose (between 1.25 and 3.5 grams), and the effects previously mentioned simply get stronger. You might begin to see geometric patterns layered over everyday sights and “tracers” or trails left behind as objects move through your field of vision (think long exposure photography). Some people even experience synesthesia on a medium dose of banded mottlegill mushrooms; this is essentially the experience of your senses mixing together, so you might hear colors or see sounds.

If you experienced calmness at a low dose, you might experience euphoria at a medium dose, along with boosted empathy, gratitude and peace of mind. If you experienced anxiety at a low dose, expect fear, dread or panic, along with a general sense of paranoia; These effects can come alongside nausea at the beginning of your trip, vomiting, noticeable sweating or muscle weakness, which all contribute to what we call a strong body high. It's important to keep in mind that these effects are normal and that it is very rare to experience long lasting negative effects from a psychedelic trip.

At a high dose of banded mottlegill mushrooms (3.5 to 6 grams), you may begin to lose touch with reality as the perceptual effects of the hallucinogenic mushrooms take hold of your consciousness. This can look like auditory hallucinations, visions, or seeing things morph right in front of you.

The emotional effects are the most powerful at a high dose, including ecstasy, bliss, boundless love, or a feeling of sacredness, which are sometimes accompanied by “intense states of dread or despair,” which occurs as a natural part of exploring consciousness. If you experienced a body high at a lower dose, the experience of that will be stronger and more intense at a high dose of the psychedelic mushrooms. You might also experience a loss of coordination, which is why it's important to have a trip sitter to keep you from getting into any dangerous situations.

Other reported effects include a feeling of unity or ‘oneness,’ and mystical effects like transcendence of time and space, often experienced as ineffability, which describes the state of being where you can't adequately describe your experience in words. When used carefully and correctly, the effects of psychedelic mushrooms can help in the processing and integration of major depression and treatment-resistant depression, end-of-life anxiety, addictions, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

While the effects can be extremely powerful and transformative, we encourage you to pursue this kind of feeling under the guidance of trip sitters. This will help ensure proper integration of your experiences, so that you may carry them forward in your life and understand them in a way that serves you.

Panaeolus cinctulus experience reports

You can read about peoples experiences with pan subbs over at the Erowid experience vaults. 

"I was completely overcome with hallucinations. The hallucinations were most decidely Indian in nature. I felt as though I were in some distant Jungle, and watched as the shimmering outlines of black snakes slithered around me. Out of the corner of my eye, I witnissed my nearby desk transform into a black, stone statue of a panther that appeared to be half alive. Faces, hordes and hordes of faces, cascaded my field of vision like some otherworldly waterfall, each of them tormenting me with their sinister smiles and cartoonish expressions. At this point I tried to put the mental clarity of the mushroom high to good use, and essentially tried to kill my panic with rational thoughts. 'Why are you scared, why? Enjoy this, its not harmful, you're in no harm, enjoy it! See that snake over there? Isn't it cool? Look at how perfectly molded it is, impressive isn't it?! Look at those distorted, cartoonish faces...fascinating how your mind is generating all of this! Don't be afraid!'"

"It’s pretty clear now that my brain can only really handle the present. Sensory perception is way off scale. If I run up the stairs I feel light; my mind assuming I should still be going up. If I run back down them I feel heavy, assuming that I should still be going down. If I sink into my bed a little, I continue to sink into it. By now whatever I am stating is starting to become the truth. At this point, my mind is accepting both imagination and sensory information as fact. I can push my skin around like puddy if I only feel it. If I state that everything wants to ‘fall to the right’, then I am pulled in that direction. If I state my hand is heavy, it drops down like a weight. There is immense potential in this. I take twenty minutes to finally complete my task of getting a cigarette and deciding where best to smoke it, being distracted by all the mes being reflected everywhere and what I have to say to myself. I am constantly looking at the clock, each time elated that I still haven’t peaked."

"We walked to the beach, which was about 4 blocks from the coffee shop. Walking had become floating. I didn't feel my feet hit the sidewalk. Everywhere I looked, things were moving. Mailboxes, fire hydrants and even houses, they were moving. But they were no getting up and walking around, it looked as if they were breathing. 'Holy crap! Everything is alive!' I shouted in excitement. We got to the beach and the trees were warping. They were bending and shifting. The grass was ten times greener, the rain was a thousand times wetter and there were random shapes floating in the ocean before me. This moment at the beach was the single coolest moment of my life."

Where can you find panaeolus cinctulus? 

Panaeolus cinctulus are often nicknamed “weed panaeolus,” due to their propensity to grow in mushroom beds with other cultivated edibles. This is because they are often seen as contaminants when they grow alongside other species fond of dung/animal waste; farmers often pick them because they have been considered weeds and are not salable, until the recent shift in perception of these mushrooms as valuable. You might also see them called girdled panaeolus, banded mottlegills, and red caps.

These mushrooms quite often grow alongside others, specifically in piles of horse manure or areas of cultivation that include horse manure in their fertilization tactics. Therefore, it's likely to find these mushrooms in rural farm lands, growing alongside other mushrooms and crops.

This strain of mushroom is likely to grow in farm lands, specifically where there are horses, and often on the bails of hay that get left out in the weather of the area. It’s also common to find them in grassy areas that are tended to and full of nutrients. These mushrooms are widely distributed, and have been reported across North and South America, Europe, mid-Siberia, Africa, and the Hawaiian islands.

How do you identify panaeolus cinctulus?

It's important to be careful when attempting to forage for banded mottlegill mushrooms, because there are a large number of mushrooms that look like psychedelics, but are actually poisonous. These mushrooms are known as banded mottlegills due to their orange-brown or cinnamon-brown centers that fade into tan and then dark brown rings around the cap.

At maturity, these mushrooms are 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter, with three tiers of gills that are brownish with white edges when young and black edges when mature. The spores are lemon shaped when looked at from the side, and leave black deposits. 

When learning to identify mushrooms, it's crucial that you understand patterns of bruising and what they indicate. Panaeolus cinctulus bruising can appear at the base of the mushroom, but the stems are often too dark in color to reveal any obvious bruising. 

Be sure to double and triple check your identifications before consuming mushrooms that could be psychedelic, because they often have poisonous look-alikes. Many psychedelic mushrooms fall into the category of “little brown mushrooms” or LBMs,  which can be very easy to mistake for each other. Some LBMs are great for cooking, others are psychedelic, but there are also some that are poisonous, and without careful attention, you might unknowingly consume a poisonous fungus that could kill you.

Moral of the story? Be vigilant in your identifications, and if you're unsure, consult a professional and get multiple opinions. 

If you're planning a trip and want some guidance on what the ideal dose is, check out our shroom dosage calculator and this handy guide.