Updated: October 3, 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: Nepal Chitwan, also sold as Chitwan Nepal or Nepal, Chitwan, 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. Two sellers credit a collector called "Baerbel" near Sauraha, by Chitwan in Nepal. That is a seller account and not a published record. Under a microscope, a sample shows the spore characters of P. cubensis, which cannot confirm the label.
Home » Strain Encyclopedia » Psilocybe Cubensis » Nepal Chitwan
In this guide
- What Nepal Chitwan 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 Nepal Chitwan is
Nepal Chitwan is one of many named lines of Psilocybe cubensis in Mushly's all-strains library. The name is a catalogue label that combines a country and a district. It describes a product and not a taxon, and a place in a label 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.
"Nepal Chitwan is a trade name for Psilocybe cubensis, not a species or variety. Sellers credit a collector called Baerbel near Sauraha; no specimen is published. Claims compared, species-level spore traits."
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 many other references use Hymenogastraceae |
| Genus | Psilocybe |
| Species | Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Singer, Sydowia 2(1-6): 37 (1948) |
| Basionym | Stropharia cubensis Earle (1906) |
| Trade name | Nepal Chitwan / Chitwan Nepal (informal) |
Species records: Index Fungorum 290107, the Species Fungorum synonymy and the NCBI Taxonomy 181762. None lists Nepal Chitwan. The 1906 Cuban type and the 1958 species description belong to the species, not to this label.
What is documented and what is lore
| Question | Status |
|---|---|
| Is Nepal Chitwan a species or published variety? | No. The only formal name is Psilocybe cubensis. |
| Spore size and shape | Published for the species only, with no Nepal Chitwan-specific measurements. |
| Collected near Sauraha, Chitwan | Seller account only (Sporeworks, PNW Spore). No date, voucher or herbarium record is published. |
| Collector "Baerbel" | A first name only, given by two sellers. Not verified. |
| Found on elephant or rhino dung | One seller's retelling of the collector's account. Not verified. |
| "Landrace" | One seller uses the word. No published documentation supports it. |
| Spore print colour of this name | Sellers give different colours. See below. |
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 Nepal Chitwan. Guzmán et al. (2012) give a second species-level range of (12-)13-15(-17) × 8-10(-11) × 7-9 µm.
Seller descriptions disagree and are not diagnostic. They are given here only to show the spread:
| Source | Print colour | Spore size | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| PNW Spore | "dark brown to purple" | "averaging 13 x 8 micrometers" | rounded brown-tan caps, slender stems |
| SporeStore | purplish-brown | "approximately 12 - 15 × 8 - 10 micrometers" | spores "slightly more elongated than many common cubensis varieties" |
| Basidium Equilibrium | "Purple spores" | none | "unusually dark capped" |
| Sporeworks | "dark purplish brown" | none | cap 20-70 mm, golden brown maturing to light brown |
The two seller size figures are shop-specific, come from unnamed measurements, and are not published studies of a defined strain. Measure your own sample and record what you see.
Origin claims
Short answer: two sellers share one collection account, others name only "Nepal," and none of it is published.
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| PNW Spore | "Nepal, Chitwan cubensis was originally collected by 'Baerbel' in the village of Sauraha near the Chitwan Jungle of Nepal." Says three specimens were found in otherwise dry conditions, shaded by a tree, picked "from what appeared to be either elephant or rhino dung." Gives no year and no isolator. |
| Sporeworks | "Original collection material was obtained by Baerbel in the village of Sauraha near the Chitwan Jungle of Nepal." Says three specimens were found in dry conditions "three months after typical mushroom seasons," shaded by a tree. Gives no year. |
| SporeStore | "Collected from the subtropical lowlands near Chitwan National Park in Nepal," at roughly 200 metres in the Terai Plains, and "maintained in culture for decades." Names no collector or year. |
| Basidium Equilibrium | "Originating from Nepal. This landrace cubensis is a unique and unusually dark capped." Names no collector, place or year. |
PNW Spore and Sporeworks tell the same story with the same collector name, and PNW Spore says the account is Baerbel's own. SporeStore names a different kind of place, a national park and elevation, with no collector, and Basidium Equilibrium names only the country. A repeated story is still one story. We do not state a person, a village or an animal as fact, and we do not call Nepal Chitwan a landrace.
Names and spellings
Sellers use Nepal Chitwan, Nepal, Chitwan, Chitwan Nepal and plain Nepal for what appear to be the same product. No source that says they are different lines is known, and no source that proves they are one. Check the exact label before comparing samples, and note that "Nepal" alone could refer to other lines. Record the label, supplier and date on every slide.
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 Nepal Chitwan rather than another cubensis label, that it came from Nepal, or that it relates to any named collector.
- Chemistry: Mushly makes no claims about the chemical content of Nepal Chitwan, 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 spelling, supplier and date.
- Remember the limit: a fit to P. cubensis does not prove the Nepal Chitwan label.
Mushly products
Mushly offers this line as a 12 cc spore syringe, listed under the name "Chitwan Nepal," and as a spore print. Check availability and price on each product page.
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.
Chitwan Nepal spore syringe · 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; Sporeworks; SporeStore; Basidium Equilibrium
Who collected Nepal Chitwan?