Liberty Cap

Where it grows

The liberty cap fruits in late summer and autumn in acidic upland grassland — sheep pasture, old meadows, lawns, golf courses — across the cool-temperate northern hemisphere, particularly Britain, Ireland, and northern Europe. It needs grass kept low by grazing or mowing and does not grow on dung.

How to recognise it

A small slender mushroom with an unmistakable cap: sharply conical or bell-shaped with a small pointed nipple at the top. The cap is hygrophanous — dark honey-tan when wet, drying to a pale buff with translucent striations and a darker rim. The slender pale stem bruises faintly blue at the base where damaged.

Edibility & cautions

Psychoactive and legally controlled in most countries. Contains psilocybin and psilocin, serotonin-receptor agonists. The species is listed as a controlled substance under UK and US law and most other national drug acts; gathering, possession, and consumption are prosecutable offences. Identification confusions are dangerous: the deadly funeral bell (Galerina marginata) can grow in the same fields and has rusty-brown gills and a faint stem ring. This entry is informational only — there is no safe self-administered use to describe, and risks include legal sanction, severe psychological reactions, and misidentification.