727 articles
Polyporaceae
Polyporaceae, a family of bracket fungi in the order Polyporales (Basidiomycota), type genus Polyporus; largest polypore family with 103 genera and 1,170 species of wood-decaying, mostly white-rot fungi.
Polyporales
Polyporales: order of Basidiomycota fungi (formerly Aphyllophorales) of bracket fungi and wood decayers; saprophytic cellulose and lignin decomposers, 18 families per Justo et al. 2017, white and brown rot types, many medicinal species.
Polypore
Polypore, or bracket fungus, is a morphological group of Basidiomycete fungi with a poroid spore surface, mostly wood-decaying, spanning several orders including Polyporales; not a natural lineage, with about 400 European and 492 North American species.
Poria
Poria Pers. 1794, a historically broad, now illegitimate genus name for resupinate wood-inhabiting polypore fungi; type species Poria medulla-panis, current name Perenniporia; not the crustacean genus Poria Lang, 1965.
Psathyrellaceae
Psathyrellaceae is a family of Agaricales mushrooms, also called brittlestems and ink caps, proposed by Redhead et al. in 2001; type genus Psathyrella (400-600 species), with Coprinellus, Coprinopsis, Parasola, and Candolleomyces; Psathyrella is polyphyletic and deliquescence evolved repeatedly.
Pseudallescheria
Pseudallescheria is a genus of ascomycetous fungi in the order Microascales, found in soil, best known through Pseudallescheria boydii and synonymized under Scedosporium in 2014.
Psilocybe
Psilocybe (liberty caps, magic mushrooms) is a genus of psilocybin-producing agaric fungi, type species Psilocybe semilanceata, split from the non-psychoactive genus Deconica in 2007, with about 165 species and a psilocybin gene cluster that spread by horizontal transfer.
Psilocybe azurescens
Psilocybe azurescens (Stamets & Gartz, 1995) is a highly potent, bluing psilocybin mushroom native to Oregon and Washington, growing on wood chips and coastal sandy soils, with reported alkaloid content up to 17.8 mg/g.
Psilocybe cubensis
Psilocybe cubensis (basionym Stropharia cubensis Earle, 1906, Cuba) is the world's most cultivated psilocybin mushroom, a coprophilous subtropical fungus with an 11–22 kb Psi gene cluster and African sister species P. ochraceocentrata.
Psilocybe cyanescens
Psilocybe cyanescens (wavy caps), a bluing psilocybin mushroom described by Wakefield in 1946, wood-chip mulch dweller of the Pacific Northwest and Europe; psilocybin 3.0–15.6 μg/mg dry weight.
Psilocybe hispanica
Psilocybe hispanica is a hallucinogenic Psilocybe mushroom described by Guzmán in 2000 from the Aragonese Pyrenees, Spain, growing on horse dung in alpine meadows, and identified in a 6,000-year-old Spanish mural.
Psilocybe ochraceocentrata
Psilocybe ochraceocentrata, a 2026-described psychoactive African mushroom in Agrocybaceae, sister species to Psilocybe cubensis, found on cattle dung in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia grasslands.
Psilocybe semilanceata
Psilocybe semilanceata, the liberty cap (Agaricus semilanceatus Fr. 1818), is a small psilocybin-containing grassland mushroom of Europe and North America; caps 5–25 mm, psilocybin 0.33–15.77 μg/mg dry weight, poisonous with symptoms 20–60 minutes after intake.
Psilocybin and psilocin
Psilocybin and psilocin are tryptamine alkaloids responsible for the psychedelic effects of magic mushrooms. Psilocybin is a prodrug converted in the body into psilocin, the active molecule acting on serotonin receptors.
Psilocybin decriminalization in the United States
Psilocybin decriminalization in the United States: state and local reduction of criminal penalties for psilocybin, starting with Denver 2019, Oregon Measure 109 in 2020, and Colorado Proposition 122 in 2022, while psilocybin remains federally Schedule I.
Psilocybin mushroom
Psilocybin mushroom (magic mushroom, shroom), a Psilocybe or related fungus containing psilocybin and psilocin, serotonin 5-HT2A agonists causing 6-8 hour hallucinogenic effects; studied for depression and addiction, Schedule I in the US.
Psychoactive use of Amanita muscaria
The psychoactive use of Amanita muscaria, or fly agaric, comes from ibotenic acid and muscimol rather than psilocybin, with a long history of ritual use in Siberia.
Puccinia
Puccinia, the largest rust fungus genus (~4,000 species, Pucciniales), obligate plant pathogens with bi-celled teliospores; includes wheat stem, leaf, and stripe rust pathogens; polyphyletic per molecular phylogenies.
Puccinia horiana
Puccinia horiana, chrysanthemum white rust, is an autoecious microcyclic rust fungus of Chrysanthemum × morifolium producing only teliospores and basidiospores; an EPPO A2 quarantine pest originating in Japan, diagnosed by smooth in situ-germinating teliospores and ITS-based PCR.
Puccinia monoica
Puccinia monoica, a rust fungus (basionym Aecidium monoicum Peck 1879), infects crucifers like Arabis and Boechera stricta, inducing pseudoflowers that mimic buttercups to attract insects for fungal sexual reproduction; part of a four-species complex with cryptic species.
Puccinia sorghi
Puccinia sorghi, common maize rust fungus, heteroecious with Oxalis alternate hosts and five spore stages; overwinters in Mexico and southern U.S., wind-blown urediniospores infect corn in cool, humid weather; distinguished from southern rust by pustules on both leaf surfaces.
Pucciniales
Pucciniales, equivalent to the older name Uredinales, is the order of rust fungi, obligately plant-pathogenic Basidiomycetes with roughly 7,000 to 8,000 species, including the large genus Puccinia.
Puffball
Puffball, common name for gasteroid Basidiomycete fungi (Lycoperdon, Bovista, Calvatia, Vascellum, Morganella) whose spherical fruitbodies release trillions of internal spores in puffs through an apical pore; giant puffball Calvatia gigantea is a choice edible, unlike Amanita egg lookalikes.
Pycnoporus
Pycnoporus, also called cinnabar polypores, is a genus of four white-rot bracket fungi in Polyporaceae with bright orange fruiting bodies, known for overproducing high-redox-potential laccase and phenoxazine pigments like cinnabarinic acid for biotechnology.
Pyronemataceae
Pyronemataceae (Corda, 1842), synonyms Humariaceae and Otidiaceae, is the largest family of cup fungi in Pezizales, Ascomycota, with about 75–78 genera and 500–660 species, mostly temperate, saprotrophic or mycorrhizal, and not monophyletic as circumscribed.
R. Gordon Wasson
R. Gordon Wasson (1898–1986), American J.P. Morgan banker and ethnomycologist; his 1957 Life article 'Seeking the Magic Mushroom' and María Sabina velada introduced Mexican psilocybin mushrooms to the world; proposed Amanita muscaria as Vedic soma.
Radiotrophic fungus
A radiotrophic fungus is a melanized fungus that grows toward, and sometimes grows faster under, ionizing radiation, apparently using melanin; Cladosporium sphaerospermum from Chernobyl is the best-known example.
Red yeast rice (红曲米)
Red yeast rice (红曲米, Hongqu) is rice fermented with Monascus purpureus, containing monacolin K, identical to lovastatin. Meta-analyses show LDL-C lowering comparable to statins, but products vary widely and face FDA and EU restrictions.
Regional mushroom foraging traditions
Regional mushroom foraging traditions are place-bound cultures of wild mushroom picking, spanning Italian UNESCO-recognized truffle hunting, Slavic and Nordic household picking, and commercial matsutake chains.
Rhizocarpon
Rhizocarpon, map lichen genus (R. geographicum), crustose lichenized fungi on siliceous rock, ca 150 species, key tool of lichenometric dating; paraphyletic, revised into five genera in 2025.