About Thai (Psilocybe cubensis): An Umbrella Name, Not One Strain Mushrooms
Updated: October 7, 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: "Thai" is not a strain and not a species. It is a word that sellers put in front of several different catalogue lines of Psilocybe Cubensis (Earle) Singer, such as Thai Lipa Yai, Thai Pink Buffalo, Koh Samui and Thai Elephant Dung. Each is its own named line with its own origin claims, and they are not interchangeable. None of them appears in Index Fungorum, Species Fungorum or NCBI Taxonomy, and no published measurement for any Thai-named line is known. A separate real species, Psilocybe samuiensis, comes from Koh Samui and should not be confused with the cubensis lines.
Home » Strain Encyclopedia » Psilocybe Cubensis » Thai
In this guide
- What "Thai" means
- Taxonomy
- The lines that carry the name
- What is documented and what is lore
- Spore traits
- Origin claims, source by source
- Not the same as Psilocybe samuiensis
- Identifying it, and what a microscope can't tell you
- Examining a slide
- Mushly products
- Legal note
- References
- FAQ
What "Thai" means
A seller who writes "Thai" is usually pointing to Thailand as a claimed source, not to one line. Because several different lines share the prefix, "Thai" on its own tells you very little. For the difference between a species and a trade name, see our species vs strain primer and the Psilocybe cubensis species guide.
"Thai is a catalogue prefix used for several separate Psilocybe cubensis lines, not one strain or species. Lines covered, origin claims compared, and how they differ from the separate species Psilocybe samuiensis."
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 names | Thai, Thai Lipa Yai, Thai Pink Buffalo, Koh Samui, Thai Elephant Dung and others (informal) |
Species records: Index Fungorum 290107, the Species Fungorum synonymy and NCBI Taxonomy 181762. None lists "Thai" or any Thai-named line.
The lines that carry the name
| Line | What to know |
|---|---|
| Thai Lipa Yai (also sold as Thai Tanic) | Sellers say it was collected in the Lipa Yai area of Koh Samui. Spore Genetics and Mushroom Man Mycology credit John Allen. Spore Genetics distinguishes it from the shorter Super Strain Koh Samui. |
| Koh Samui (also Koh Samui Super Strain) | Sold as P. cubensis, with an island origin claim. Gorilla Spores names no collector and no date. |
| Thai Elephant Dung | A separate line with its own claims. See our Thai Elephant Dung page. |
| Thai Pink Buffalo | A separate catalogue name, covered on our Pink Buffalo page. |
These are different catalogue names, and one seller's description of one line does not apply to the others. A shared prefix is not a lineage.
What is documented and what is lore
| Question | Status |
|---|---|
| Is "Thai" a species, strain or published variety? | No. It is a prefix on several catalogue names. |
| Spore size and shape | Published for the species only, with no measurements for any Thai-named line. |
| Collected in Thailand | Seller claim for each line. No voucher or herbarium record is published for any of them. |
| Collected by John Allen | Credited by some sellers for some lines. Unverified. |
| Date of collection | Early 1990s (one seller), "late twentieth century" (another), none (others). |
| Published literature using the line names | None is known. |
Spore traits
Short answer: the published measurements describe the species, not any Thai line.
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 any Thai line. Guzmán et al. (2012), a review of Psilocybe in Thailand, give a second species-level range of (12-)13-15(-17) × 8-10(-11) × 7-9 µm.
Seller descriptions are not diagnostic and they vary. Zombie Myco describes Lipa Yai caps as "golden-to-caramel caps that often flatten out as they mature," and Spore Genetics describes Thai Lipa Yai as having "broad, caramel-colored caps." Gorilla Spores gives purple-brown spores for Koh Samui, a print-colour description and not a measurement. None of the pages we checked gives a measured spore size for any Thai-named line. Record what you actually see on your own slide.
Origin claims
Short answer: the sellers agree on Thailand, differ on where, and name one collector for some lines.
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| Spore Genetics | Thai Lipa Yai from the "Lipa Yai region on the island of Koh Samui, Thailand," credited to "John Allen." Gives no date. |
| Mushroom Man Mycology | "Founded by John Allen," "originally collected in Lipa Yai field in Koh Samui, Thailand." Gives no date. |
| Zombie Myco | Lipa Yai from "the southern Thai region of Lipa Yai," "first identified and collected in the early 1990s," by unnamed "mushroom enthusiasts and ethnobotanists." Does not place it on Koh Samui. |
| Gorilla Spores | Koh Samui "believed to have originated" on the island, collected in "the late twentieth century." Names no collector and no date. |
The sources agree on Thailand and mostly on Koh Samui. They differ on whether Lipa Yai is a place on the island or a "region" in southern Thailand, on the date, and on whether a named person collected it. A repeated claim is still one claim. We do not state a collector, a site or a year as fact for any Thai-named line.
Not the same as Psilocybe samuiensis
Psilocybe samuiensis Guzmán, Bandala & J.W. Allen (1993) is a separate species described from Koh Samui. Wikipedia gives its type locality as soil west of the village of Ban Hua Thanon and describes a small cap (7-15 mm), rhomboid spores of about 10.4-12.8 × 6.4-8 µm, and a place in section Mexicanae. None of the seller pages we checked says its Koh Samui line is P. samuiensis, and Gorilla Spores calls its line P. cubensis. If a listing uses "Koh Samui" and "samuiensis" as if they were one thing, treat that as a labelling error and ask the seller which species they mean.
Identifying it
Short answer: microscopy supports a species-level note, not a line 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. The rhomboid spores described for P. samuiensis should look different. Ramírez-Cruz et al. 2013 notes that spore characters overlap across Psilocybe.
- What it cannot show: which Thai line a packet is, that it came from Thailand, or that a named person collected it.
- Chemistry: Mushly makes no claims about the chemical content of any Thai line, and no published laboratory analysis under these names 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. "Thai" alone is not a line name.
- Remember the limit: a fit to P. cubensis does not prove any Thai label.
Mushly products
Mushly does not list a product named "Thai." It lists Thai Lipa Yai, Thai Pink Buffalo and Koh Samui Super as separate items, for microscopy and taxonomic study. Browse them through our spore syringes category and 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.
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
- Wikipedia: Psilocybe samuiensis (authority, type locality, spores; used only to separate it from the cubensis lines)
- Seller claims (not papers, not verified): Spore Genetics; Mushroom Man Mycology; Zombie Myco; Gorilla Spores; Mondo and Inoculate the World
Is Thai a strain?