Natalensis and Ochra explained: why a species was renamed and what it means on the label
Several cards in the library read "Ochra (prev. Natalensis)". That is not a rebrand, it is taxonomy catching up with the microscope. Here is the story of a southern African Psilocybe, the cross that made it famous, and why the name changed.
01A species from Natal
Psilocybe natalensis was described in 1995 from collections in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It resembles Psilocybe cubensis, which is why the two were confused for years, but it is a different species, and the lines that entered the microscopy community under the name "natalensis" quickly earned a reputation for looking distinct on the slide and in the print.
02Why the name changed to Ochra
Recent taxonomic work on southern African Psilocybe, using DNA sequencing alongside morphology, found that the material circulating as "natalensis" did not match the original natalensis type. It matched a newly described species, Psilocybe ochraceocentrata, named for the ochre-coloured centre of its cap. The cultivated lines were therefore re-assigned, and serious libraries now label them Ochra, with the old name kept in brackets so the history is not lost. MycoWorld lists the species as Ochra and notes "prev. Natalensis" on the affected cards.
That is not a rebrand, it is taxonomy catching up with the microscope.
03Natal Moon and the Ochra crosses
Natal Moon is the cross that took this species mainstream: Psilocybe natalensis (as it was then called) crossed with Phobos, credited to Jeff Karas of The Fungus Frequency. The library carries the Natal Moon 315 cut, a What The Fungi isolation, and a family of crosses that use it as a parent:
- Blue Voodoo (Blue Ravioli x Natal Moon), a What The Fungi original with several distinct phenotypes, and Blue Vootwo, the A.C.S isolation from it.
- Golden Satellite (Golden Teacher x Natal Moon), the first cross What The Fungi ever made.
- Brass Barnicles (Chocolate Krinkle x Natal Moon) and Natsack (P Ochra x Nutcracker).
- ACS Ochra, an isolated line from the A.C.S collection, currently in stock.
- Leucistic Ochra, a fully leucistic isolation by Natural State Mycology, and the Black Cap and Green Cap isolations.
Because Natal Moon crosses an Ochra parent with a cubensis one, these lines are interspecies hybrids, which is part of what makes them interesting under the objective.
04What the spores show
Ochra spores are close to cubensis in shape and size, subellipsoid with a germ pore, so telling the two apart on a single slide takes measurement rather than a glance. Where the difference is obvious is the print: Ochra deposits tend to be lighter and browner than the deep purple-brown of cubensis, and the cap colour that gave the species its new name shows in the fruiting body rather than the spore. A Natal Moon cross beside a Golden Teacher is one of the better side-by-side studies in the library.
Questions people ask
Is natalensis the same as cubensis?
No. It is a separate species, and the cultivated "natalensis" lines have since been re-described as Psilocybe ochraceocentrata, which the library labels Ochra.
Why do some cards say "prev. Natalensis"?
To keep the history. The line was received and known under the old name; the current identification is Ochra.
What is Natal Moon?
A cross of Psilocybe natalensis (now Ochra) with Phobos by Jeff Karas of The Fungus Frequency. It is the parent of most of the Ochra crosses in the library.