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: Orissa India, sometimes shortened to OI, 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 say it was collected in Orissa, now spelled Odisha, in eastern India, and most credit John Allen. They vary on the dung and the details, and none cites a voucher or a date. Under a microscope, a sample shows the spore characters of P. cubensis, which cannot confirm the label.
Home » Strain Encyclopedia » Psilocybe Cubensis » Orissa India
In this guide
- What Orissa India 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 Orissa India is
Orissa India 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 place 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.
"Orissa India is a trade name for Psilocybe cubensis, not a species, variety or landrace. Sellers credit John Allen and an Odisha find; none cites a record. Origin 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 Wikipedia 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 | Orissa India / OI (informal) |
Species records: Index Fungorum 290107, the Species Fungorum synonymy and NCBI Taxonomy 181762. None lists Orissa India. One seller writes "Psilocybe cubensis var. Orissa India." That is a marketing format and not a published variety, and a variety name requires publication under the botanical code.
What is documented and what is lore
| Question | Status |
|---|---|
| Is Orissa India a species, variety or landrace? | No published rank. The only formal name is Psilocybe cubensis. |
| Spore size and shape | Published for the species only, with no Orissa India-specific measurements. |
| Collected in Orissa / Odisha | Seller claim only. No date, voucher or herbarium record is published. |
| Collected by John Allen | Claimed by most sellers, but not stated on every page. No collection record is published. |
| Elephant dung | Described as "allegedly" or "possibly" by sellers. Not verified. |
| "Wild-origin" | Used by one seller. No published support. |
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 Orissa India. 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. Basidium Equilibrium says "Dark purple spores measuring approximately 7 x 12 micrometers," and Premium Spores lists "Deep Dark Purple." Spore Genetics describes caps that "shift from deep golden to light brown." The 7 × 12 µm figure is a shop figure and not a published measurement, sits below the species ranges above, and appears in the same form on that seller's other pages. Measure your own sample and record what you see.
Origin claims
Short answer: most sources agree on John Allen and Odisha, and differ on nearly everything else.
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| Mushroom Man | "Originated from India and allegedly grew from elephant dung," and "Orissa India was collected by the famed John Allen." |
| Spore Genetics | "The eastern Indian state of Odisha (formerly Orissa), where the strain was first collected by the ethnomycologist John Allen," in "dung-rich environments possibly elephant dung." |
| Basidium Equilibrium | "Orissa, India," "Discovered by John Allen," "preserved by our colleagues in Austria at the F3 stage," and "wild-origin." |
| Premium Spores | "Originally discovered in the eastern Indian state of Odisha (formerly Orissa)" and "first documented growing naturally in rural environments." Names no collector. |
| Other sellers | Spore Daddy, Fungi Culture Store and 1UpMaps add elephant dung, "near Bihar" or "near Nepal and the Bihar border." |
Four of the sources I opened say Odisha or Orissa, three name John Allen, and Premium Spores names no collector. The dung is "allegedly" or "possibly" elephant on the two pages that mention it, and the two other pages say nothing. Basidium Equilibrium adds an Austrian "F3" preservation step that no other source mentions. A repeated story is still one story. We do not state a person, a dung type, a year or a precise place as fact, and we do not call Orissa India a wild Indian collection or a landrace.
Names and spellings
- Orissa India: Mushly's label and the most common seller name.
- Odisha: the state's current official name. Sellers write "Odisha (formerly Orissa)." Mushly's syringe page uses "Orissa (Odisha)," and its structured data says only "Odisha."
- OI: a seller short form.
- Malabar: a separate India-labelled line. One seller compares them, and no source treats them as the same. See our Malabar page.
A shared country is not a shared 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 Orissa India rather than another cubensis label, that it came from India, or that it came through any named person.
- Chemistry and growth: Mushly makes no claims about the chemical content or growth habits of Orissa India. Some seller pages make yield and potency claims that we do not repeat.
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 Orissa India label.
Mushly products
Mushly offers Orissa India as a 12 cc spore syringe and as a spore print, for microscopy and taxonomic study. 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.
Orissa India spore syringe · Orissa India spore print · 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): Mushroom Man; Spore Genetics; Basidium Equilibrium; Premium Spores; Spore Daddy, Fungi Culture Store and 1UpMaps
What is Orissa India?