How Penis Envy Mushrooms Are Taking Over The World

Penis Envy shrooms are among the most famous and controversial magic mushroom strains in existence. Many regard them to be the strongest Psilocybe cubensis strain currently known.

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Feb 20, 2024

Roger Rabbit — an infamous amateur mycologist and respected member of the Shroomery community, is famous for saying, “Cubes are cubes, with the exception of Penis Envy.”

The Penis Envy mushroom is just one of several hundred strains within the greater Psilocybe cubensis species.

P. cubensis itself is just one of nearly 200 species of psychoactive fungi.

The most notable characteristic of the Penis Envy mushroom is its exceptional potency. Samples of this mushroom have demonstrated a combined psilocybin and psilocin concentrations as high as 2.90% (3 to 6X more potent than average).

Only one sample — from a strain called Tidal Wave — had higher psilocybin levels than Penis Envy (3.82% total tryptamines).

This doesn’t say much — Tidal Wave itself is a progeny of the Penis Envy strain (bred together with another strain called B+).

I should also note that this particular sample of Tidal Wave appears to be an anomaly — the average potency for Tidal Wave across dozens of samples is around 1.17% — still well above average but nowhere near what one can expect from the average Penis Envy strain.

Another distinction of the Penis Envy strain is its notable phallic shape. The cap doesn't enlarge to form the characteristic mushroom shape; instead, it remains close to the stipe (stem) and is much thicker than average. These mushrooms look a lot like a circumcised penis.

Today, dozens of variations and offshoots are derived from the original Penis Envy cultivar — many have proven themselves to be powerfully psychedelic like their parent.

**Image Credit:** Shroomery User Workman

Cloaked in Controversy: Unearthing the History of the Penis Envy Mushroom

The dark and controversial history of the Penis Envy shroom runs deep. Its origins are shrouded in mystery, murder, and conspiracy.

Many believe the original sample of Penis Envy was collected by the late Terence McKenna and his brother, Dennis McKenna, on their infamous trip to the Colombian Amazon in the early 1970s.

The original story, as reported by Hamilton Morris (a renowned psychedelic journalist and host of Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia), was that a spore print of the Penis Envy mushroom somehow made its way from McKenna’s collection to another infamous mycologist by the name of Steven Pollock.

Pollock is also credited with developing Psilocybe tampanensis — the psychedelic truffle-forming mushroom sold in Amsterdam smartshops.

Once in the hands of this brilliant mycologist, it was further developed — through selective breeding and genetic isolation — into the Penis Envy we know and love today.

Morris' reporting of the mushroom, along with mentions of its characteristically strong psychoactive properties, led to the widespread popularity this mushroom enjoys today.

Here’s where the story gets crazy.

Steven Pollock was found dead on the evening of January 31, 1981. He died of a gunshot wound to the head at his San Antonio pharmacy. The details of the murder and how the investigation was handled are sketchy, at best.

Morris reported in Harper’s Magazine that he was able to get his hands on a tape recording involving two alleged police officers who were in some way involved with Pollock’s murder.

Two suspects were eventually named in the murder — reported as "meth addicts" who were supposedly customers of Pollock. The charges were eventually dropped, and all evidence in the case was destroyed for reasons unknown to this day.

After his death, officers discovered 1,753 jars of psychoactive fungi growing in Pollock’s greenhouse — all of which were destroyed.

Steven Pollock (Left) pictured with Andrew Weil (Right)

Somehow, after Pollock’s death, a sample of the Penis Envy strain made its way to another mycologist in Washington named Rich Gee (Richard Guitierrez). Gee successfully cloned the mushroom and began distributing the spores to other growers around the United States.

Thanks to Guituerrez's work, the Penis Envy strain is widely available from most spore vendors in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

With all of that said the authenticity of this story isn't clear.

Morris conducted an interview with Rich Gee himself, who suggested that he came into possession of the original sample of Penis Envy spores not through Steven Pollock but through Jules Stevens, the co-author of Gee's book How to Identify and Grow Psilocybin Mushrooms (1971).

Stevens reportedly got the sample from another friend who obtained it from McKenna directly. Gee then used selective breeding techniques to strengthen the strain by propagating samples with the strongest blueing reaction (an indicator of psilocybin content in magic mushrooms).

Gee credits the name of the strain to an experience with a group of strippers in 1977.

Upon seeing the mushrooms, which Gee was planning to name "Amazons," the strippers remarked they looked like "donkey dongs." Gee says he responded by asking, "Do you have penis envy?"

Of course, none of this can be verified. While Gee is a skilled mycologist with plenty of experience with the Penis Envy mushroom (and other strains), some of Gee’s other claims make his reports unreliable. For example, in the same interview, Gee claims to have telekinetic powers and the ability to communicate with animals.

The Many Children of Penis Envy Mushrooms

New magic mushroom strains are created in one of two ways — by mating two Psilocybe cubensis strains together or by carefully isolating specific genetic traits from individual strains using agar plates.

The goal of breeding programs is to craft new strains that carry distinct growth traits — such as higher psilocybin concentrations, unique growth forms (such as albinism or increased mushroom size), increased contamination resistance, or more vigorous mushroom production.

The fervent interest in breeding new, hybrid forms of the Penis Envy mushroom stems from 3 key factors:

Penis Envy shrooms are impressively potent — most of their genetic offshoots maintain similar potency.
Penis Envy shrooms have distinct growth characteristics — the penis-like appearance of these mushrooms has a curious interest among home-growers.
Penis Envy shrooms have high status and market appeal — Spore vendors rely on the prestige of the Penis Envy name to sell more spores. Many ask higher prices for anything derived from Penis Envy genetics.

The Penis Envy mushroom likely has hundreds of children — most of which remain in the private stock of mycology hobbyists and enthusiasts.

Some of the most notorious children of the Penis Envy strain available publicly include:

Penis Envy Uncut — Similar shape and potency to PE, but the veil covering the gills of the mushroom remains sealed… most of the time.
Albino Penis Envy (APE) — A leucistic (low pigmentation) isolation of the original Penis Envy mushroom.
Melmac — A genetic offshoot of the Penis Envy mushroom distinguished by golden wavy caps and warped stipes. Sometimes sold under different names such as Melmac Penis Envy or Homestead Penis Envy.
Tidal Wave — A genetic pairing between Penis Envy and the B+ mushroom strain. It's one of the most potent strains available today.
Trans Envy — A happy accident that formed when a sample of Penis Envy and South African Transkei cross-bred between samples grown in the same fruiting chamber.

There are tons of other Penis Envy offshoots and genetic children, most of which don’t have a clear history, aren’t yet popular, or are believed to be rebranded versions of known strains.

Here are just a few other strains believed to be distinct isolated strains of the original Penis Envy Mushroom:

Burmese Penis Envy, Golden Penis Envy, Manna From Heaven Penis Envy, Monster Penis Envy, Old Dirty Penis Envy, Penis Envy #6, Penis Envy #7, Penis Envy #21, Penis Envy #22, Penis Envy #41, Penis Envy Blonde, Sheppards Penis Envy, Texas Penis Envy, Texas Penis Envy #6, Trans Envy, True Albino Penis Envy.

Penis Envy Grand Children

Penis Envy has been bred into the general supply for so long now there are now countless grandchildren. Too many to name.

Here are some of the most notable publicly available grandchildren of the Penis Envy Mushroom:

Jack Frost — A combination of APE Revert and True Albino Teacher
White Rabbit — Albino Penis Envy and Moby Dick
Enigma — Derived from Tidal Wave Mushrooms
Penis Envy Uncut Revert — An offshoot from the Penis Envy Uncut strain that more closely resembles the original PE shrooms.
Albino Tidal Wave — A leucistic (white-colored, but not true albino) version of Tidal Wave.
APE Revert — An offshoot of the Albino Penis Envy strain that’s been “reverted” back towards the original PE strain.
Rusty Melmac Revert — One of the most recent isolations of the Melmac strain that features banana-like fruits and golden (rusty) spores.
Albino Melmac — A leucistic version of the Melmac mushroom.

Other Potent Magic Mushroom Strains

Penis Envy is regarded as one of the most potent mushroom strains available, but it isn’t the only strain that deserves some attention.

Here are some of the strongest magic mushroom strains to consider if you’re purely looking for something potent (several of these are direct progeny of the PE strain):

Fuzzy Balls (FUZ) — 3.00% total tryptamine average
White Rabbit (WR) — >1.5% total tryptamine average
Tidal Wave (TW) — 1.17% total tryptamine average
Orissa India (OI) — >1.5% total tryptamine average
Penis Envy Uncut (PEU) — 2.04% total tryptamine average
Trans Envy (TE) — >1.5% total tryptamine average
Casper (CASP) — 1.79% total tryptamine average
Albino Chodewave (ACW) — 1.20% total tryptamine average
Albino Penis Envy (APE) — 1.10% total tryptamine average
Amazon (AMZ) — 1.36% total tryptamine average
Old Dirty Penis Envy (ODPE) — 1.37% total tryptamine average
Yeti (YETI) — 1.14% total tryptamine average

For reference, the average Psilocybe cubensis strain contains somewhere between 0.60% and 0.90% total tryptamines (a combined measure of psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin, and other tryptamines).

As time goes on, breeders are getting better at creating new strains with ever-increasing psychedelic potency — in large part driven by the increased genetic share of Penis Envy.

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