Updated: October 5, 2026
Mushroom spores are sold strictly for microscopy and research purposes only. Cultivation of Psilocybin-containing fungi is illegal in many jurisdictions. This page is not a guide to finding, growing, or taking mushrooms.
Short answer: Inca Stargazer, also sold as Stargazer, is a trade name for material sold as Psilocybe Cubensis (Earle) Singer. It is not a separate species, a published variety, or a recognised variant. Sellers place it in the Andes or near the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu, but none names a collector, a date or a specimen, and one seller calls the story folklore. The name does not show any link to Inca culture. Under a microscope, a sample shows the spore characters of P. cubensis, which cannot confirm the label or the origin.
Home » Strain Encyclopedia » Psilocybe Cubensis » Inca Stargazer
In this guide
- What Inca Stargazer is
- Taxonomy
- What is documented and what is lore
- Spore and cap traits
- Origin claims, source by source
- Names and spellings
- Identifying it, and what a microscope can't tell you
- Examining a slide
- Mushly products
- Legal note
- References
- FAQ
What Inca Stargazer is
Inca Stargazer is one of many named lines of Psilocybe cubensis in Mushly's all-strains library. The name is a catalogue label used by spore sellers. It describes a product and not a taxon, and a mountain range or a ruin in the name is a seller's claim and not a specimen record. For the difference between a species and a trade name, see our species vs strain primer and the Psilocybe cubensis species guide.
"Inca Stargazer is a trade name for Psilocybe cubensis, not a species or published variety. Sellers say the Andes or Machu Picchu; none names a collector or specimen. Claims compared with species-level spore data."
Taxonomy
| Rank | Entry |
|---|---|
| Kingdom | Fungi |
| Phylum | Basidiomycota |
| Class | Agaricomycetes |
| Order | Agaricales |
| Family | Placement varies by source: Index Fungorum, Species Fungorum and NCBI list Agrocybaceae, while Wikipedia, Zombie Myco and many other references use Hymenogastraceae |
| Genus | Psilocybe |
| Species | Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Singer, Sydowia 2(1-6): 37 (1948) |
| Basionym | Stropharia cubensis Earle (1906), described from Cuba |
| Trade name | Inca Stargazer / Stargazer (informal) |
Species records: Index Fungorum 290107, the Species Fungorum synonymy and NCBI Taxonomy 181762. None lists Inca Stargazer.
What is documented and what is lore
| Question | Status |
|---|---|
| Is Inca Stargazer a species or published variety? | No. The only formal name is Psilocybe cubensis. |
| Spore size and shape | Published for the species only, with no Inca Stargazer-specific measurements. |
| From the Andes or Machu Picchu | Seller claim only. No collector, date or herbarium record is published. |
| Any link to Inca culture | None is documented. |
| "One of the oldest and rarest varieties" | One seller's claim. No source supports it. |
| Published literature using the name | None is known. |
Spore and cap traits
Short answer: the published measurements describe the species, not this name.
Singer and Smith's 1958 Mycologia monograph (Mycological investigations on Teonanácatl) describes P. cubensis spores as:
- Size: 11.5-17.3 × 8-11.5 × 7-9 µm
- Surface: smooth, with a thick, complex wall
- Apex: truncate, from a distinct apical pore
- Colour in a mountant: dark yellow brown in KOH, dark olive brown in NH4OH
The KOH and NH4OH colours are mountant colours, not spore-print colours. The paper does not mention Inca Stargazer. Guzmán et al. (2012) give a second species-level range of (12-)13-15(-17) × 8-10(-11) × 7-9 µm.
Seller descriptions are not diagnostic, and they differ. Cap colour is given as "changing from reddish-brown to golden brown, to light yellow as they mature" (PNW Spore), "golden brown caps with a subtle hint of reddish-orange in the center" (Zombie Myco) and "caramel-to-golden caps" (Spore Genetics). PNW Spore also says "dark purple to brown" for spores, a print-colour description and not a measurement. Caps change with age and conditions, so none of these identifies a line. None of the pages we checked gives a measured spore size for this label. Record what you actually see on your own slide.
Origin claims
Short answer: the sellers agree on the Andes and add nothing checkable.
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| PNW Spore | "Known to originate at the foothills of the Andes Mountains, most notably around the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu"; "one of the oldest known P. Cubensis varieties, and has become one of the rarest over time." Names no collector. |
| Spore Genetics | "Andean region of South America—near the historic Inca sites of Peru." Presented as folklore, "not academically documented," and a "legacy lineage." Names no collector. |
| Ryzo Bioscience | "Originally discovered growing in the ancient Inca ruins in the Andes, deep foothills in South America." Names no collector. |
| Zombie Myco (sells it as "Stargazer") | "Believed to have originated in South America," with a link to indigenous use by Mesoamerican peoples. Lists the cross as "N/A." Names no collector. |
The sellers agree on South America and mostly on the Andes. They differ on the detail: foothills, ruins, highlands, or Peru. One adds Mesoamerican peoples, which is a different region from the Andes. None gives a collector, a site, a date or a voucher, and one calls its own story folklore. A repeated claim is still one claim. We do not state a place, a person, a year or a connection to Inca culture as fact.
Names and spellings
Sellers use Inca Stargazer, Stargazer, Stargazer Cubensis, and in some listings Stargazer Isolate or Inca Stargazer Isolate. No source that shows these are the same line is known, and an "isolate" label would mean a selection step that no seller documents. A shared word is not a lineage. Record the exact label, supplier and date on every sample.
Identifying it
Short answer: microscopy supports a species-level note, not a strain identity.
- What a match shows: smooth, thick-walled spores with a truncate apex and germ pore, within the published species range, support P. cubensis as the species to compare. Ramírez-Cruz et al. 2013 notes that spore characters overlap across Psilocybe.
- What it cannot show: that a packet is Inca Stargazer rather than another cubensis label, that it came from the Andes, or that it relates to any other "Stargazer" listing.
- Chemistry: Mushly makes no claims about the chemical content of Inca Stargazer, and no published laboratory analysis under this name is known.
Examining a slide
Follow the general method in our Golden Teacher guide and the mushroom spores guide, and then:
- Measure at least 20 spores (length × width) and record the magnification and mountant.
- Note the germ pore, the wall, and the shape in face and side view.
- Record the colour in the mountant and the print colour separately.
- Write down the exact label (Inca Stargazer or Stargazer), supplier and date.
- Remember the limit: a fit to P. cubensis does not prove the Inca Stargazer label.
Mushly products
Mushly does not currently list a syringe, print or multi-pack named Inca Stargazer. This page is a reference note and not a product page. To study related lines, browse our spore syringes for microscopy or see the Psilocybe cubensis strain list.
Legal note
Mushly offers spores for microscopy, taxonomy, and mycological research. Laws on spores, and on psilocybin-containing mushrooms, differ by country and by U.S. state, and cultivation of psilocybin- or psilocin-containing species is illegal under U.S. federal law and in many other jurisdictions. Check the law where you live before ordering.
Browse spore syringes · Strain library · Mushroom spores for microscopy guide
References
- Index Fungorum 290107; Species Fungorum synonymy; NCBI Taxonomy 181762
- Singer, R. & Smith, A.H. (1958), Mycologia 50
- Guzmán et al. 2012, Mycotaxon 119: 65-81
- Ramírez-Cruz et al. 2013, Canadian Journal of Botany
- Seller claims (not papers, not verified): PNW Spore; Spore Genetics; Ryzo Bioscience; Zombie Myco
What is Inca Stargazer?