Updated: October 4, 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: PES Hawaiian 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. "PES" is said to stand for a spore company, and sellers disagree on whether the line has anything to do with Hawaii: one says it was collected from wild Hawaiian populations, others say it did not come from Hawaii at all. None of this is 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 » PES Hawaiian
In this guide
- What PES Hawaiian is
- Taxonomy
- What is documented and what is lore
- Spore and cap traits
- Origin claims, source by source
- What "PES" means
- Identifying it, and what a microscope can't tell you
- Examining a slide
- Mushly products
- Legal note
- References
- FAQ
What PES Hawaiian is
PES Hawaiian 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 the place in the name does not by itself document a collection. For the difference between a species and a trade name, see our species vs strain primer and the Psilocybe cubensis species guide.
"PES Hawaiian is a trade name for Psilocybe cubensis, not a species or variety. Sellers disagree on whether it came from Hawaii at all. 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 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 | PES Hawaiian (informal) |
Species records: Index Fungorum 290107, the Species Fungorum synonymy and NCBI Taxonomy 181762. None lists PES Hawaiian. 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 PES Hawaiian a species or published variety? | No. The only formal name is Psilocybe cubensis. |
| Spore size and shape | Published for the species only, with no PES Hawaiian-specific measurements. |
| Collected in Hawaii | Disputed. One seller says yes, two say no, and one lists "Hawaii" as the strain origin. |
| What "PES" stands for | Sellers give "Pacifica Exotica Spora" and "Pacific Exotica Spora." Not verified. |
| Collector, date or parent cross | Not given by any source reviewed. |
| 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 PES Hawaiian. 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 or spore colour | Spore size | Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| SporeStore | "medium purplish-brown," not as dark as some other lines | "roughly 10 - 13 × 7 - 8.5 micrometers," narrowly ellipsoid | none |
| Sporeworks | "Dark purplish brown, subellipsoid on 4-spored basidia" | none | 25-75 mm, "Reddish cinnamon brown maturing to golden brown to light yellow" |
SporeStore's size range falls below the 1958 species range and is a shop figure, not a published measurement of a defined strain. Sporeworks' wording matches its text for other lines, so treat it as a template description. Measure your own sample and record what you see.
Origin claims
Short answer: the sources contradict each other on the central question, whether this came from Hawaii.
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| SporeStore | "This particular strain traces to the Hawaiian Islands," where cubensis "was introduced alongside cattle ranching in the 19th century," and says it was collected from the wild population, not cultivated in isolation. |
| Inoculate the World | "A famed cubensis strain that contrary to common belief did not originate in Hawaii." Says that after time on the islands and meetings with local mycologists, "we have confirmed cubensis do not grow there." |
| Sporeworks | Strain origin: "Unknown, Psilocybe cubensis is not documented to be present in Hawaii." |
| Premium Spores | Sells the line as "Maui Platinum" and lists "Strain Origin: Hawaii." |
SporeStore says wild Hawaiian, Inoculate the World says it did not come from Hawaii, and Sporeworks says the origin is unknown. Those can't all be right, and none cites a specimen, date or collector. A repeated claim is still one claim. We do not state that PES Hawaiian came from Hawaii, and we do not state that it did not.
What "PES" means
Sellers give two spellings of the company name. SporeStore and Sporeworks write "Pacifica Exotica Spora," and Inoculate the World writes "Pacific Exotica Spora" and calls it "a legendary mushroom company" based on the islands that named the line. SporeStore adds that the same vendor was responsible for PES Amazonian and other isolates. The same prefix appears on other labels, such as PES Amazonian, and a shared prefix does not show that two lines are related.
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 PES Hawaiian rather than another cubensis label, that it came from Hawaii, or that it is related to PES Amazonian or any other PES line.
- Chemistry: Mushly makes no claims about the chemical content of PES Hawaiian, 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, supplier and date. Some sellers list this line as "Maui Platinum."
- Remember the limit: a fit to P. cubensis does not prove the PES Hawaiian label.
Mushly products
Mushly offers PES Hawaiian 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.
PES Hawaiian spore syringe · PES Hawaiian 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): SporeStore; Inoculate the World; Sporeworks; Premium Spores
What is PES Hawaiian?