A full-color guide to psilocybin mushrooms—how to forage, identify, grow, and use them—with detailed descriptions, 300 stunning photographs, tips for dosing safely, and more, from a world-renowned mycologist.

The past decade has seen an explosion of interest in using psilocybin (aka psychoactive or “magic”) mushrooms for recreational and medicinal purposes.

In this comprehensive, full-color reference, Paul Stamets offers descriptions and 300 photographs of more than 60 psilocybin varieties and their lookalikes common to North America, Europe, and Australasia. He outlines the history and cultural use of magic mushrooms in traditional rituals and ceremonies, their natural geographic distribution and habitats, and keys to growing your own mushroom patch. But perhaps most important, Stamets explains how to reliably distinguish between a non-poisonous, psychoactive mushroom and one of its highly toxic, even deadly, lookalikes.

Packed with a lifetime of scientific and real-world research, Psilocybin Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats brings depth and understanding to an often-misunderstood topic. Revealing the potential of these powerful, mind-awakening fungi to help us live better, happier lives through micro- and macro-dosing, this handbook is an indispensable—and potentially lifesaving—addition to mushroom field guides from the biggest name in mycology.

2020 IBPA Awards Winner!

“Louie Schwartzberg’s lightly informative, delightfully kooky documentary, “Fantastic Fungi,” offers nothing less than a model for planetary survival.” –Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times

“Gorgeous photography! Time-lapse sequences of mushrooms blossoming forth could pass for studies of exotic flowers growing on another planet.” –Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal

The Life-Affirming, Mind-Bending Companion Book to the Smash Hit Documentary FANTASTIC FUNGI

Viewed in over 100 countries and selling hundreds of thousands of tickets on the way to finishing 2019 with a rare 100% Tomato meter rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Schwartzberg’s documentary Fantastic Fungi has brought the mycological revolution to the world stage. This is the film’s official companion book, that expands on the documentary’s message: that mushrooms and fungi will change your life– and save the planet.

Paul Stamets, the world’s preeminent mushroom and fungi expert is joined by leading ecologists, doctors, and explorers such as Michael Pollan, Dr. Andrew Weil, Eugenia Bone, Fantastic Fungi director Louie Schwartzberg, and many more. Together these luminaries show how fungi and mushrooms can restore the planet’s ecosystems, repair our physical health, and renew humanity’s symbiotic relationship with nature.

Join the Movement: Learn about the groundbreaking research that shows why mushrooms stand to provide a solution to environmental challenges, a viable alternative to traditional medicine, and a chance to radically shift consciousness.
Most Comprehensive Fungi book in the world: Admire the astounding, underappreciated beauty with over 400 gloriously-shot photographs of the mycelial world’s most rare and beautiful species in their natural environment.
World’s Leading Fungi Experts: Edited by preeminent mycologist Paul Stamets, who contributes original pieces, Fungi includes original contributions by bestselling author and activist Michael Pollan, alternative medicine expert Dr. Andrew Weil, award-winning nature and food writer Eugenia Bone, Fantastic Fungi director Louie Schwartzberg, and so many more. The book’s roster of experts make this the most comprehensive survey of the diverse benefits and extraordinary potential of these amazing organisms.