Albino vs Leucistic Mushroom Strains: What’s the Difference?

By The Spore Source · Updated September 26, 2026

Intended use. Our albino and leucistic spore syringes, including Albino Penis Envy, Jack Frost, Leucistic A+ and Leucistic Golden Teacher, are sold for microscopy, taxonomy and educational use only. This guide explains what the words albino and leucistic mean, how the two groups differ in color, and what their spores look like under a microscope. It does not cover cultivation, effects, potency or dosing, and we do not answer questions about them.

In this guide

• Albino vs leucistic mushrooms: the difference in one test
• Where the words come from
• What “true albino” means for a cubensis strain
• Why “albino” and “leucistic” get mixed up
• What is known about the genetics
• Which strains fall in which group
• What the spores look like under a microscope
• Legal status
• Frequently asked questions
• Sources

Albino vs leucistic mushrooms: the difference in one test

A normal Psilocybe cubensis is pigmented all the way through. The cap is brown to golden, and the spores are dark: the gills turn purplish-black as the spores mature, and the ring on the stem usually picks up the same color from falling spores. White and pale strains lose some of that pigment, and the question that separates the two groups is whether the spores lose it too.

• Albino strains have white fruit bodies and spores that are white, clear or nearly colorless. The print is faint or hard to see, and a spore syringe of an albino strain often looks close to empty.
• Leucistic strains have pale, cream or white fruit bodies but keep dark spores. The print is purple-brown to black, and the syringe looks like one from any pigmented strain.

The cleanest statement of the rule came from the seller who first released Albino A+. His description, which appears in a June 2009 thread on the Shroomery forum, called it “a leucistic mutation” and added: “A true albino wouldn’t have dark spores. A+ does.” DoubleBlind’s 2023 profile of the strain makes the same distinction, describing Albino A+ spores as “pigmented purple or even black” and the spores of true albino varieties, such as Albino Penis Envy, as “white or transparent.”

Where the words come from

Both words were borrowed from animal biology. Albinism is a hereditary condition marked by an absence of pigment, and in animals the missing pigment is melanin. Leucism is a partial loss of pigmentation. The practical difference in animals is the eyes: an albino animal usually has pink eyes, while a leucistic animal keeps its normal eye color, as the University of Illinois Extension explains for birds.

The mushroom hobby borrowed both terms and gave them a working meaning of its own. In the hobby, the spores play the part that the eyes play in animals. If the body is pale and the spores keep their color, the strain is called leucistic. If the spores lose their color too, the strain is called albino. That is a convention, not a formal definition, and no mycological authority has set it. It is still a useful convention, because spore color is something anyone with a print or a microscope can check.

What “true albino” means for a cubensis strain

“True albino” is how hobbyists mark a strain whose spores are pale, as opposed to a pale strain with dark spores. The phrase is built into at least one strain name, True Albino Teacher, and it also appears in many strain descriptions.

The best-documented albino strain is Albino Penis Envy (APE). It was bred by John Workman, who crossed Penis Envy with an existing albino line called PF Albino, starting in early 2006. Another is Jack Frost, which the breeder Dave Wombat made by crossing APE with his own line of True Albino Teacher. DoubleBlind’s Jack Frost profile notes that true albinos “produce white spores,” and GreenState describes the strain’s print as a white dusting that looks like fresh snow.

Why “albino” and “leucistic” get mixed up

The main source of confusion is a single, very popular strain. Albino A+ was released under that name even though its own release description said it was leucistic and “not a true albino, just very pale.” The name stuck because it was the name on the syringe. Many sellers still list it as Albino A+, and we sell it as Leucistic A+. Our Leucistic A+ guide covers its history in detail.

There are two other reasons the words blur. First, “albino” is the more familiar word, and a pale strain is often called albino whatever its spores look like. Second, the hobby’s use of “leucistic” does not match the animal definition exactly. In animals, leucism can reduce every type of pigment, not only melanin, and it usually leaves the eyes their normal color. In mushrooms, it has come to mean only “pale body, dark spores.” We could not find any published work on which pigments a leucistic cubensis lacks.

Leucistic Golden Teacher is a good example of how little is written down. It is sold as a pale form of Golden Teacher, and almost nothing has been published about where it came from. With a strain like that, the label tells you how it is sold and the spores tell you which group it belongs to.

What is known about the genetics

Less is known than you might expect. We could not find a published study that identifies the gene behind albinism or leucism in any cubensis strain. The best evidence comes from breeding records. When Workman began crossing Penis Envy with PF Albino in January 2006, he wrote on the Shroomery forum that no albino caps were expected in the first generation, and added: “Apparently Penis shaped caps and Albinism are both recessive traits.” DoubleBlind’s 2024 account of the project says the same. In plain terms, albinism behaves like a recessive trait: hidden in a first-generation cross and visible again in later generations.

One other finding helps put this in context. A 2023 genome study in Current Biology, which compared cultivated and wild magic mushrooms, found that cultivated cubensis strains carry very little genetic diversity, so albino and leucistic lines are close relatives of the pigmented strains they came from.

Which strains fall in which group

Strain	Group	Fruit body	Spores
Albino Penis Envy	Albino	White to ivory, often blue-tinged, thick stem, small closed cap	Nearly clear and sparse
Jack Frost	Albino	White, wide wavy cap, gills turn blue at maturity	White to nearly clear
Leucistic A+ (“Albino A+”)	Leucistic	Very pale, almost white	Dark purple-brown to black
Leucistic Golden Teacher	Sold as leucistic	Pale form of Golden Teacher	Little published; check a print

For a close look at one albino strain next to its pigmented parent, see Penis Envy vs Albino Penis Envy.

What the spores look like under a microscope

Albino and leucistic spores have the same shape and size as any other cubensis spore. Published descriptions of P. cubensis give spores roughly 11 to 17 micrometers long, smooth and sub-ellipsoid (an oval flattened on one side), with a germ pore at one end. Only the color changes.

Leucistic spores look like normal cubensis spores: purple-brown against a clear background and easy to find. Albino spores are nearly transparent, so they are easy to miss on a slide, and an albino syringe often looks clearer than it is because pigment is most of what makes a syringe look cloudy. If an albino syringe looks empty, that is expected for the strain. Our guide to what a spore syringe is covers what the liquid should and should not look like.

This makes albino vs leucistic mushrooms one of the most useful comparisons for a microscopist. The fruit bodies can look equally white in photographs, and the slides look nothing alike.

Legal status

Albino and leucistic spores contain no psilocybin or psilocin, so under federal law and the law of 46 states they are not a controlled substance; the DEA confirmed the federal position in writing in January 2024. California and Florida restrict spores, Georgia and Idaho ban them, and we do not ship Psilocybe spores to those four states. Germinating spores is illegal under federal law everywhere. Laws change, so check the current law where you live. Our state-by-state legal guide has every statute.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between albino and leucistic mushrooms?

The difference is spore color. Both have pale or white fruit bodies, but albino strains have white or nearly clear spores, while leucistic strains keep dark purple-brown spores.

Is Albino A+ a true albino?

No. Albino A+ drops dark spores, so it is leucistic. The description it was released with said it was “not a true albino,” and we sell it as Leucistic A+.

Is Albino Penis Envy albino or leucistic?

It is albino. Its spores are very clear and hard to see, which is what makes a strain a true albino.

Is Jack Frost albino or leucistic?

It is albino. Both of its parents, Albino Penis Envy and True Albino Teacher, are albino lines, and its spores are white to nearly clear.

Why does an albino spore syringe look clear?

Pigment is most of what makes a spore syringe look cloudy. Albino spores have almost none, so the syringe looks clearer than one from a pigmented or leucistic strain. The spores are still there.

How can I tell if a pale strain is albino or leucistic?

Look at the spores. A dark print, or purple-brown spores under the microscope, means the strain is leucistic, whatever the label says.

Are albino and leucistic spores legal?

Yes, for microscopy, in 46 states. California, Florida, Georgia and Idaho have their own spore laws, and we do not ship to those four states.

Sources

• “Albinism,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, on albinism as a hereditary absence of pigment. britannica.com
• “Leucism,” Wikipedia, on leucism as a partial loss of pigmentation and its difference from albinism. wikipedia.org
• Garofalo A., “Leucism in Nature” (University of Illinois Extension, February 4, 2021), on eye color in albino and leucistic animals. extension.illinois.edu
• Brand D.S., “Albino A+ Mushrooms” (DoubleBlind Magazine, September 29, 2023), on Albino A+ as a leucistic mutation and on the spores of true albino varieties. doubleblindmag.com
• Shroomery forum archive (not linked): thread #10560039 (June 2009), with the release description of Albino A+ as “a leucistic mutation”; thread #5194890, started by Workman on January 18, 2006, with his same-day follow-up on albinism and the Penis Envy shape as recessive traits.
• Busby M., “The Origins of Albino Penis Envy, According to the Man Who Created It” (DoubleBlind Magazine, August 1, 2024; updated August 7, 2024), on Workman’s cross and the recessive traits. doubleblindmag.com
• Weiss S., “Jack Frost Mushrooms” (DoubleBlind Magazine, December 28, 2023; updated January 23, 2024), and Wietstock C., “Jack Frost mushroom” (GreenState, May 1, 2024), on Jack Frost’s parents, gill color and spores. doubleblindmag.com · greenstate.com
• “Psilocybe cubensis,” Wikipedia, and DoubleBlind Magazine, “How to Identify Psilocybe Cubensis Look-Alikes,” on normal cap and spore color and on spore size and shape. wikipedia.org · doubleblindmag.com
• McTaggart A.R. et al. (2023). “Domestication through clandestine cultivation constrained genetic diversity in magic mushrooms relative to naturalized populations.” Current Biology. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.059, with the Cell Press summary on ScienceDaily (December 4, 2023). sciencedaily.com
• DEA Diversion Control Division letter on the status of spores (January 2, 2024). PDF, and Marijuana Moment’s report on the letter. marijuanamoment.net