[mjshroomer]

Originally Posted by mycot

Thanks Space, it was an educated guess and I'd say not too far off the mark. Maybe just right for an introduction.
The few quantitative alkaloid studies on gyms (of which Gartz's studies on G.purpuratus are probably the best) have revealed lower alkaloid levels than the more potent psilocybe species, though the more strongly bluing gyms might yet hold some surprises.
A note of caution :- The gymnopilus genus is very closely related to the deadly Galerina genus so great care should be exercised in identification.

MJ, a very substantial paper could be written just clearing up the mess mycologists have made of this single taxon. Not only do we have G. purpuratus but also G. purpuratus var croceescens and G. purpuratus var purpuratus.
Grgurinovic regarded Cleland & Cheel (1918) Flammula purpureonitens and F. purpuratus as synonyms for G. mullaunius which in turn Rees made synonymous with G. purpuratus.
G. purpuratus is also regarded as a synonym for G. dilepis by some authorities. If the latter two species are indeed separate taxa then I predict G. dilepis to be active on its bluing characteristics.
Knowing how adventitious gym species can be and with limited data, I'm still unconvinced regarding a South American introduction at this point.

A few more snaps :- The third flush , spiderweb-like cortina on mature pin, bluing at stem bases (smoky blue-black), and sporeprint (a very orange color under incandesent light).

Lets not forget Guzman-Davalos paper on Gymnopil;us subpurpuratus.

The following data is from my cd-rom book ($39.99) co-authored by Jochen Gartz (2800 references, 1800 annotations and 8500 cross-references and over 1000 large photographs related to the bibliography:

Teonanacatl: A Bibliography of Entheogenic Fungi.

Guzmán-Davalos, Laura and Gastón Guzmán. 1991. Additions to the Genus Gymnopilus (Agaricales, Cortinariaceae) from Mexico. Mycotaxon vol. 61(1):43-56.
A Latin description for Gymnopilus subpurpuratus is presented.

------ and ------. 1995. Toward a Monograph of the Genus Gymnopilus (Agaricales) from Mexico. Mycologia vol. 25(98-100):197-212

Guzmán-Dávalos, Laura., Mueller, Gregory M., Cifuentes, Joaquin., Miller, Andrew N., and Anne Santerre. 2003. Traditional infrageneric classification of Gymnopilus is not supported by ribosomal DNA sequence data. Mycologia vol. 95(6):1204-1214.

The traditional classification of Gymnopilus (Agaricales) recognize two primary groups, Annulati and Gymnopilus, based on the presence or absence of a membranous partial veil. While our analyses of DNA sequence data from the nuclear ribosomal ITS1-5.85-ITS2 (ITS) gene supports the monophyly of the genus, these traditional subgroups were not recovered. Five well-supported clades within the genus were identified through these analyses: 1) the spectabilis-imperialis group; 2) nevadensis-penetrans groups; 3) a clade formed by G. underwoodii, G. validipes and G. cf. flavidellus, 4)aeruginosus-luteofolius groups; and 5) lepidotus-subearlei group. Relationships among these subgroups were not resolved.

mjshroomer