Although tons of different strains of psychedelic mushrooms grow across the planet (and get cultivated in labs), only one variety has become iconic in its own right, and even managed to penetrate the American mainstream.
Aptly named for its phallic shape—and boasting a peculiar backstory to boot—Penis Envy (PE) has gained a wide-reaching reputation for its extraordinary potency.
Various reports and spore retailers claim that PE packs two to three times the punch of a standard mushroom. Its potency deviates so much from other strains, according to the journalist and scientist Hamilton Morris, that it’s “almost treated like a different species entirely.”
As a result, PE has become one of the most sought-after strains of psilocybe cubensis, the most common species of psychedelic mushroom. According to the spore retailer Mushly, PE is the second-most searched variety in its catalog. And Morris, for one, attests that “many spore retailers” report that it’s their best-selling variety, period.
Penis Envy’s popularity and reputation, however, invite many questions on the subject of mushroom potency: How exactly do we determine the strength of a particular mushroom, and how much weight should we put in those numbers? In other words, does high potency necessarily translate to a more intense experience?
To learn more about PE mushrooms, their potency, and what the data actually means for consumers, I reached out to Oakland Hyphae, a leading organization in the field of mushroom testing and research. Oakland Hyphae additionally runs the highly influential Psilocybin Cup series, as well as regular conferences on psychedelics.
And along the way, naturally, I tried some Penis Envy for myself to see whether they hit as hard as their reputation led me to believe.
“Absolutely there’s a zeitgeist around this, a buzz around this,” Ian Bollinger, the Scientific Director at Oakland Hyphae, toldpenisenvy-mushroom.com.. “Penis Envy are the long-stemmed beauty roses of the environment at this point.”
A most enviable name
Needless to say, Penis Envy has found an audience in no small part because of its eye-catching name. “I think it’s brilliant marketing, period,” Reggie Harris, the founder of Oakland Hyphae, told penisenvy-mushroom.com.
Read More: Leafly
