Evolution of an SEM of Psilocybe samuiensis in Thailand

[mjshroomer]

Psilocybe Samuiensis: Evolution of an SEM

A Pictorial of the Preparation and finished SEM Photography


Here, in a cool pictorial of imagery, I am presenting a series of images from Thailand at the University of my work on Psilocybe samuiensis Guzman, Bandala and Allen.

About Psilocybe samuiensis.
On an expedition to Cambodia and Koh Samui, Thailand in the fall of 1990, a trip financed solely by my friend and ex-business partner, Richard Leffel. While searching for P. cubensis, I dropped my camera lens cover into the rice paddie and as I went to retrieve it I noticed these small mushrooms that bore a slight resemblance to Psilocybe semilanceata (the liberty cap). So I began to collect them and before to long I noticed the bluing reaction at the base of several stems. Immediately I new they were something special. This was the same rice paddie where previously I had stumbled upon years earlier and had picked many nice collections of Psilocybe cubensis at Ban Hua Thanon in the mid 1980s.



Image Field 1:
Ban Hua Thanon Rice Paddies.


Image Field 2:
A closer Image of the Rice Paddie at ban Hua Thanon.


Image 1:
Psilocybe samuiensis 1.


Image 2:
Psilocybe samuiensis 2, a closer look.


Image 3:
Psilocybe samuiensis 3, a close up of the nippled cap used for SEM.


Image 4:
Preparing equipment for specimens for SEM in the stubs.


Image 5:
My colleague preparing the specimens for SEM photography.


Image 6:
My colleague still preparing the specimens for SEM photography.


Image 7:
See the pointed cap of Psilocybe samuiensis which is the same as in the natural photo posted above.


Image 8:
A regular Microscope image of the underside of the above image showing the gill structure of the cap


Image 9:
A Closer look of the gills.


Image 10:
And yet an even closer look of the gills.

Image 11:
See Pointed cap of P. samuiensis as my colleague places the fragments into stubs inside a petri dish.


Image 12:
Gill fragments on top of stub as seen with normal microscope.


Image 13:
Closer look at gill fragments placed into stub under normal microscope



Image 14:
The JSM-5410LV Scanning Electron Microscopy I work with.



Image 15:
Here I am selecting a view. The girl on my left is fine-tuning the image I scanned by selection


Image 16:

A side view of our partnership. I scan the image until I have an appropriate representation of the spores which I am looking for and then she fine tunes the image and we snap the photograph.

Image 17:
Here I have enlarge a fragment of the gill structure to X-35. A very small enlargement.



Image 18:
This image has been enlarged to X-5,000 times. Observe the pores and nipples of the spores of Psilocybe samuiensis,




Image 19:
And here I have enlarged the spores to X-7,500 times. Observe the both the nipple and the germ pore on the center collapsed dough nut-shaped spore.


Image 20:
Another Psilocybe samuiensis from Na Muang, Koh Samui..


Image 21:
And yet another specimen of Psilocybe samuiensis from Na Muang, Koh Samui.


Image 22:
Two specimens of Psilocybe samuiensis.

Image 23:
A close up of the larger specimen. I should note that this mushroom generally only grows to a height of three inches and no more ever. It grows from the ground level up to below the height of the grasses in the paddies.


Image 24:
Several small collections of Psilocybe samuiensis stored in the university lab in Bangkok.


mjshroomer

[greenie]

how many species of mushrooms are you credited with discovering mj? must be a great feeling. Very kool gill shots, more crowded than my cyanescens. are they just macroscopically similar to liberty caps or is it more than skin deep?

[mjshroomer]

Originally Posted by greenie

how many species of mushrooms are you credited with discovering mj? must be a great feeling. Very kool gill shots, more crowded than my cyanescens. are they just macroscopically similar to liberty caps or is it more than skin deep?

They are the only species of Psilocybe found outside of Mexico that are directly related to psilocybe mexicana.

I have found five species, but so far only one has my name attached to the naming and taxonomy of the species.

Recently Dr. Guzmán was going to honor me by naming Shroomy Dan's mushrooms form Bethany as Psilocybe allenii, but then he found that he had already named the species a year before after examining the collections.

I have a paper coming out, hopefully by the end of the year with some new species described. IT is over 140 pages.

mjshroomer

Since I found this species I have recently collected in in other o locations on Samui and at Angkor in Cambodia, along with Psilocybe antioquensis.

Scott Liebler, an orchid expert found P. samuiensis in Ranong province. The provincial capital is Ranong, 500 km south of Bangkok,300 km north of Phuket, hundreds of kilometers away from Samui near the Burma border. So I assume it must also be in Burma, but I have not collected it from their.

Seeking funding to go to Burma

mjshroomer

[little white rabbit]

great work

i love those pics

it's great to know that there are people like you out there searching for new informations and it's even better to see the results of your work

[Dimitrius]

What are the bluish bead things in the bags in the last picture?

Oxygen absorbers? Moisture absorbers?

[catdaddy]

Just effing awesome, MJ!
I'm REALLY am interested in this aspect of mycology. I have a new mscope due within the week, and I plan to study identification. I'm sure I can pick up a lot of pointers from archives of your posts.

Congrats!

Catdaddy

[mjshroomer]

Originally Posted by Dimitrius

What are the bluish bead things in the bags in the last picture?

Oxygen absorbers? Moisture absorbers?

It is a desiccant used to preserve the specimens. this is good after I sun dry copes and cubes in Thailand in the extreme hot climate..

Here is a picture of cubes grown in the lab in 2002 at the university in Bangkok where I work in the summer on a large project involving Southeast Asian mushrooms

mjshroomer

[warriorsoul]

Very cool mj, keep up the great work!

[bugs]

Nice, MJ. I do truly love SEM images.

Do you do a sputter coat or ionic deposition? I don't see any surface charge, and years ago in another universe I used to have trouble with charging on bio specimens. Especially over 1kv. and I see you're running 15.

[eatyualive]

excellent pictures.