“Freaks” of the magic mushroom world have this one thing in common

The world of magic mushrooms is vast, with various species of psilocybin in all kinds of exciting shapes and colors. Albino psilocybin strains are an occasional oddity where the mushroom flesh is all white with the faintest touch of tan or blue.

Dave Wombat created many popular modern albino Psilocybe cubensis strains, like Jack Frost. Many types of mushrooms grow albino counterparts. Explaining how these pigmentless mushrooms grow requires an explanation of how they reproduce. The reproduction process includes meiosis, where genes are duplicated and shuffled into novel combinations that eventually form spores.

Albino psilocybin mushrooms, morphological anomalies (see: weird shapes), leucism aka interesting color changes, fast-growing, and unique sizes can present in different spore gene expressions.

“These outliers generally wouldn’t survive in nature where conditions most favor the default phenotype, but in the controlled environment of an indoor grow, they can be isolated and nurtured. When these unique cultigens are reintroduced to the wild, they tend to revert to the original form,” Wombat said in an interview with GreenState.

Identifying albino mushrooms

As the name implies, an albino magic mushroom is all white. However, it’s impossible to know if it’s a true albino or leucistic without taking a closer look at the spores. Unlike leucistic mushrooms, which can lack pigment but have some color, albino varieties will have a completely colorless, clear spore that looks like a microscopic glass bead.

The usual spore is purple-brown and visible to the naked eye, but mycologists need a microscope to see an albino spore. Leucistic shrooms are often confused with albinos in the early stages of growth because of their pigmentation. Their eventual tell happens when their spores turn a purple color.

Albino mushrooms are defined as being pigment deficient, presenting all white. Though an albino psychedelic mushroom is generally void of color, some will develop tinges of blue. Colorless or not, the spore print will reveal if the shroom is albino. Over the years, many albino shroom strains have been stabilized, much to the pleasure of psychonauts.

Albino mushroom strains

Much like other mushroom strains, the list of albino psychedelic mushrooms is long. Here are some of the more prominent varieties alongside notable newcomers.

Jack Frost

Blue gills and a snowy dusting of spores earned this magic mushroom its name. Jack Frost was first isolated by Dave Wombat and has often tested with average potency despite its heavy-hitting parents, True Albino Teachers and Albino Penis Envy.

True Albino Teachers

The True Albino Teacher (TAT) is an albino variant of Golden Teachers. The fruiting bodies don’t only grow with less pigmentation than their parents—they’re also bigger. TAT may inspire intense experiences, possibly due to their high potency.

Albino Penis Envy

Those who have had the pleasure of trying Albino Penis Envy mushrooms (APE) will report almost spiritual experiences. Multiple Reddit threads about the shroom report it being much more intense than other varieties, with one commenter going as far as recommending the person posting lower their dose so as not to “dissociate completely.”

Albino Odisha Indian Variety

This mushroom strain was discovered near Nepal and Bihar, India, in a place called Odisha, formerly Orissa. It is regarded as an exceptionally potent type of psychedelic mushroom, and the albino version is no different. Wombat has isolated some albino Odishas, and though they are albino down to the spore, the cap has a bit of brown.

Ymir

Dave Wombat isolated Ymir from Golden Teacher, but little is known about the albino mushroom. Ymir looks a lot like Jack Frost, with upward tilting caps and thick knobby stems, according to Wombat. The only difference is that Ymir is enormous.

“Ymir began as a single giant albino mushroom that grew before anything else appeared in the tub, in a grow of the unstable TAT Golden Teacher source genetics. The name comes from Norse mythology,” Wombat said.

Albino Koi Samui Super Strain

This mushroom originated from the Thai island of Koi Samui before mycologist John Allen brought it home to stabilize spores for growing hobbyists. The squatty stem is almost reminiscent of a peyote button, and the wavy cap is just as extraordinary. The Albino Koi Samui Super Strain (Albino KSSS) is a fast grower and popular among enthusiasts.

Albino Zilla

Albino Zilla comes from a cross of the Albino A+ and Great White Monster magic mushroom strains. The albino shroom grows a stark white color with some blue bruising. Being albino is only one part of what makes these shrooms cool. They also have gnarled, twisting stems and paper-thin caps–simply beautiful.

Avery’s Albino

This all-white mushroom was isolated from a Cambodian Psilocybe cubensis strain, so it grows well in warm conditions. The variety doesn’t create a particularly gnarly effect, but they may have a quick come-up.

Growing albino mushrooms

Reddit-crowned King of the mushroom freaks, Wombat, explained that growing albino mushrooms is similar to other cubensis strains, with some notable differences. These pigment-less fruiting bodies are more susceptible to contamination issues, which can impact the outcome, like the existence of color.

“If presented with adverse growing conditions, isolated cultivars like albinos or penis envy types can revert to the more typical outdoor growing phenotype, as it allows them to disperse more spores and ensure their survival,” Wombat said.

As mentioned, the spores are another anomaly singular to albino shrooms. Albino spores take longer to mature than regular psilocybin varieties. They also don’t eject from the gills, which means no making spore prints. Instead, the mushrooms are reproduced by taking swabs between the gills. Albinos can also sit and mature completely before it’s harvest time since the spores stay in the gills and don’t, as Wombat says, “make a mess of things.”

Albino mushrooms: beautiful and unique

These mushrooms are interesting to look at and just as, if not more, effective than normal varieties, depending on who you ask. Though nature has filtered them out over the years, mycologists like Dave Wombat are doing their part to stabilize the magic back. Thanks to him and mycologists like him, psychonauts these days have tons of options, even the freaks nature tried to filter out.