Quick answer: This Psilocybe cubensis strains list covers all 38 named strains we carry, from Golden Teacher and B+ to newer lines such as Machine Elf and Golden Halo. Every one of them is the same species, Psilocybe cubensis. A strain is a named line within that species, kept separate by hobbyists because of its look, and most strain histories come from forum posts and breeders rather than from any formal record. Where a history is documented, we give it in a sentence or two. Where it is not, we say so.
Spores of every strain here are legal to buy for microscopy in 46 states. Germinating them is not, which is why nothing on this page is about cultivation.
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We ship Psilocybe cubensis spore syringes the same business day. Each syringe is a 10 cc syringe. Orders over $100 ship free, and our spore syringe packs save you up to 40%.
Intended use. Our Psilocybe cubensis spore syringes are sold for microscopy, taxonomy and educational use only. This list covers each strain’s documented history and appearance. It does not cover cultivation, effects or dosing, and we do not answer questions about them.
In this guide
- How to read this Psilocybe cubensis strains list
- Alphabetical index
- Classic strains
- Strains with regional names
- The Penis Envy family
- Albino and leucistic strains
- Newer named strains
- Mystery and Unreleased syringes
- Legal status
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources
How to read this Psilocybe cubensis strains list
There is no official registry of cubensis strains, no type specimen for any of them and no DNA test that certifies a name. A 2025 review in the Journal of Fungi noted that almost everything known about named strains comes from “non-academic, community-based reports.” A 2023 genome study in Current Biology sequenced 86 commercial strains and found them low in genetic diversity and descended from related founders, so the genetic distance between two named strains is often small.
That shapes how we wrote each entry on this Psilocybe cubensis strains list. We only state a history when at least two separate accounts agree on it. When accounts conflict, we say that they conflict. When nothing reliable exists, the entry says so in one line and links the syringe. Strains with a full guide on this site link to it, and those guides go into much more detail.
Under a microscope, every pigmented strain on this list makes the same spores: smooth, purple-brown ovals about 11 to 17 by 7 to 11 micrometers. The differences between strains are in the mushroom, and in the albino lines, in the pigment of the spores.
Alphabetical index
Classic strains
These are the long-running names most people start with, along with a few related lines.
- Golden Teacher: one of the oldest named strains still in circulation, in hobbyist spore lists by the late 1980s and usually said to come from Florida, though no collector or date has been documented. It is named for its golden-caramel cap. Our Golden Teacher guide has the full history.
- B+: a 1990s strain that forum lore credits to a Florida seller known as “Mr. G.” It has large caramel caps, tall pale stems and a heavy purple-brown spore print. The old claim that it is a hybrid with another species is a myth, as our B+ guide explains.
- Blue Meanie: a cubensis line generally described as an Australian collection, known for bruising deep blue-green where handled. The same common name also belongs to a different mushroom, Panaeolus cyanescens; our Blue Meanie guide sorts out the two.
- Jedi Mind Fuck (JMF): a strain with big golden-brown caps whose origin stories disagree on who made it, when and how. It is also the strain a nonprofit research lab in Arizona chose for an FDA-cleared clinical trial. See our JMF guide.
- Stargazer: small reddish-brown to gold caps in tight clusters. The popular story that it came from Machu Picchu and appears in Paul Stamets and J.S. Chilton’s 1983 book The Mushroom Cultivator is false; the book never mentions it. Our Stargazer guide covers what is actually known.
- Hillbilly: a wild-collected line named for the member of the Mycotopia forum, known as “Hillbilly,” who is said to have found it in Arkansas in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Accounts describe chunky mushrooms with brown to golden caps.
- Hillbilly Pumpkin: a named cubensis strain in the hobby; little documented history exists.
- Lizard King: named for the online handle of the amateur mycologist who first shared it, itself a nod to Jim Morrison’s “Lizard King” persona. Accounts disagree on where the original wild specimen was found.
Strains with regional names
These names point to a place. That tells you what a line has been called, not proof of where its DNA came from. The 2026 finding that a hobby line sold as “Natal Super Strength” was a separate African species shows how far a regional name can drift, as our guide to where Psilocybe cubensis comes from explains.
- Amazonian: one of five geographic cubensis names used in Paul Stamets and J.S. Chilton’s 1983 book The Mushroom Cultivator. Whether today’s Amazonian syringes descend from that culture has not been documented.
- Ecuadorian: another of the five geographic names in The Mushroom Cultivator, with the same caveat. We found no two accounts that agree on a collector or date.
- Mazatapec: named for the Mazatec region of Oaxaca, Mexico, home of the Mazatec people and their long tradition with mushrooms. No collection record for the strain has been published.
- PES Hawaiian: “PES” stands for Pacific Exotica Spora (also written Pacific Exotic Spora), a spore supplier based in Hawaii. We found no record tying the strain to a wild Hawaiian collection.
- Koh Samui Super Strain (KSSS): named for the Thai island of Koh Samui. The accounts we found credit the original collection to the mycologist John Allen, with the “Super Strain” a later selection. It should not be confused with Psilocybe samuiensis, a separate species described from the same island.
The Penis Envy family
Penis Envy is the one old strain that looks structurally different from the rest, and it has produced a large family of crosses and selections.
- Penis Envy: a line with a thick stem and a small cap that barely opens, selected over years by the cultivator Rich Gee, by his own account, starting in the 1970s. It releases very few spores. Our Penis Envy guide covers the history and the story it replaced.
- Albino Penis Envy (APE): the albino line of Penis Envy, widely reported as a cross with the 1990s PF Albino line. Its spores carry little or no pigment. See our APE guide.
- OG Melmac: Melmac is a Penis Envy variant associated with Homestead, a company active in the 1980s, and it is sometimes called Homestead PE. Both histories we found say it was named after ALF’s home planet from the 1980s sitcom. OG Melmac is sold as the original form of that line.
- Melmac Revert: a selection from the Melmac line. Its own history is not documented beyond that.
- Old Dirty Penis Envy (ODPE): a Penis Envy family line, as the name says. Who isolated it and when is thinly documented.
- TW/APE (Tidal Wave x APE): a cross of Tidal Wave, itself widely reported as a B+ and Penis Envy cross, with Albino Penis Envy. Our Tidal Wave x APE guide covers its lineage.
- KSAP: short for Koh Samui x Albino Penis Envy, a later cross that brings APE’s albinism into the Koh Samui line.
Albino and leucistic strains
Albino lines lack pigment in both the mushroom and the spores, so their syringes can look nearly empty. Leucistic lines have a pale mushroom but still drop dark spores. Vendors use both words loosely, and the microscope settles it.
- Leucistic Golden Teacher: a pale line isolated from Golden Teacher, with cream to pale gold caps and spores that still carry color.
- Leucistic A+: a pale mutation of the older A+ strain, released in 2009 under the name “Albino A+.” Its spores are dark, which makes it leucistic rather than albino. See our Leucistic A+ guide.
- Jack Frost: a cross of True Albino Teacher and APE made around 2018 or 2019 by the breeder Dave Wombat, named for its white body and blue gills. It is albino, not leucistic. See our Jack Frost guide.
- TAT “Ghost”: a selection from True Albino Teacher (TAT), the all-white line that the hobbyist Jik Fibs isolated from a mutation in his Golden Teacher. Community lineage records credit Ghost to the same hobbyist.
- TAT Leng: a True Albino Teacher line associated with Dave Wombat, who isolated his own TAT line from the same Golden Teacher source.
- Casper: a white strain. The two accounts we found agree that Albino Penis Envy is one parent and disagree about the other.
- Albino Bluey Vuitton: the pale line of Bluey Vuitton, which is reported as a cross of Panama and Melmac Penis Envy.
- Stormtrooper: a white strain credited to the breeder Dirty South Mycology and usually described as a selection from Albino Tidal Wave.
Our guide to albino vs. leucistic mushrooms explains the pigment difference in more detail.
Newer named strains
New names appear every year, usually from a single breeder, and documentation tends to lag behind the name.
- Golden Halo: named for the golden spore print described in the original accounts, though prints from syringes sold under the name today range from golden to reddish brown. Most accounts trace it to a wild collection in Jamaica, but the collector and the year differ between tellings. Our Golden Halo guide goes further.
- Cascadian Teacher: a “Teacher” line developed and released by the breeder Full Canopy Genetics. Both accounts we found say its starting culture had no documented pedigree and is presumed to have Golden Teacher or another Teacher line in its background. Our Cascadian Teacher guide has the details.
- Machine Elf: a cross of Penis Envy Uncut with a wild leucistic cubensis from Peru, according to both the breeder’s own notes and a feature in High Times.
- Gandalf: placed in the True Albino Teacher family by two community lineage records. Its exact cross is reported differently from one source to the next.
- Lucid Gates: a named hybrid whose parents are reported inconsistently, so we cannot confirm its lineage.
- Full Metal Ghost: a named cubensis strain in the hobby; little documented history exists. Our Full Metal Ghost guide collects what is known.
- Makilla Gorilla: a named cubensis strain in the hobby; little documented history exists.
- Mac Galactic: a named cubensis strain in the hobby; little documented history exists.
- Avalanche: a named cubensis strain in the hobby; little documented history exists.
- Blue Storm: a named cubensis strain in the hobby; little documented history exists.
Mystery and Unreleased syringes
Two syringes in our catalog are not strains in their own right. The Mystery Spore Syringe is filled from whichever strain we are preparing that week, and you find out which one when it arrives. The Unreleased Spore Syringe is a cubensis line we are still working on and have not yet named or added to the regular catalog.
Legal status
Every strain on this Psilocybe cubensis strains list has the same legal status, because the law does not distinguish between strains. 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 to those four states. Germinating spores is illegal under federal law everywhere. Laws change, so check our state-by-state legal guide for your state.
Frequently asked questions
How many Psilocybe cubensis strains are there?
No one keeps an official count, because strain names are informal and any breeder can name a new line. We carry 38 named strains, and many more names circulate in the hobby.
Are different cubensis strains different species?
No. Every strain on this list is Psilocybe cubensis. A strain is a named line within the species, and genome sequencing shows that cultivated strains are closely related to one another.
Can you tell strains apart by their spores?
Not among pigmented strains. Their spores are the same size, shape and color under a light microscope. Albino strains are the exception, because their spores carry little or no pigment.
Which strains have the best-documented history?
Jack Frost and Leucistic A+ have the clearest records, because their breeders or first sellers wrote down how they appeared. Penis Envy has a first-hand account from the cultivator who selected it. Most older strains, including Golden Teacher, rest on tradition.
What is the difference between albino and leucistic strains?
Albino strains lack pigment in both the mushroom and the spores. Leucistic strains have a pale mushroom but still drop dark spores. Jack Frost and APE are albino, while Leucistic A+ and Leucistic Golden Teacher are leucistic.
What is the Mystery Spore Syringe?
It is a cubensis syringe filled from whichever strain we are preparing that week. You do not know the strain until it arrives.
Are all these strains legal?
Yes, as spores for microscopy, in 46 states. We do not ship to California, Florida, Georgia or Idaho.
Sources
- Kurzbaum E. et al. (2025). “Exploring Psilocybe cubensis Strains: Cultivation Techniques, Psychoactive Compounds, Genetics and Research Gaps.” Journal of Fungi 11(2):99. PMC11856550 (on the community-sourced status of strain knowledge, and on Mazatapec).
- McTaggart A.R. et al. (2023). “Domestication through clandestine cultivation constrained genetic diversity in magic mushrooms relative to naturalized populations.” Current Biology 33(23):5147–5159. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.059
- Stamets P. and Chilton J.S. (1983). The Mushroom Cultivator. Its geographic strain names are summarized in DoubleBlind’s Stargazer review. doubleblindmag.com
- DoubleBlind, strain histories of Hillbilly, Lizard King and Melmac. Hillbilly · Lizard King · Melmac
- GreenState, strain histories of Hillbilly and Melmac. Hillbilly · Melmac
- High Times, “From Golden Teachers to Machine Elves: The New Era of Mushroom Genetics.” hightimes.com
- Tripsitter, Koh Samui strain profile. tripsitter.com
- Shroomery message board, thread “TRUE ALBINO TEACHERS (origin?),” on Jik Fibs, Ghost and Wombat TAT (named as a source; not linked).
- Our own strain guides, each with its own sources: Golden Teacher, B+, Blue Meanie, JMF, Stargazer, Penis Envy, APE, Jack Frost, Leucistic A+.
Psilocybe cubensis spore syringes
Our Psilocybe cubensis spore syringes are 10 cc syringes filled in our ISO-7 cleanroom. Each one comes with a sterile needle. Orders placed by 1 p.m. Eastern on a weekday ship the same day, to the 46 states where spores are legal. You get free shipping on orders over $100, up to 40% off with our 3-, 5- and 10-packs, and a 30-day warranty. They are sold for microscopy and taxonomy use only.
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