Penis Envy and Albino Penis Envy: the history behind the most-studied cubensis line
No cubensis line has more stories attached to it than Penis Envy, and none has produced more descendants. This is the history as it is usually told, the parts that are actually documented, and what the line means on a microscope slide.
01The origin story, and what is actually known
The account most often repeated is that a Psilocybe cubensis sample collected in the Amazon in the early 1970s, frequently linked to Terence McKenna, was worked over years by the mycologist Steven Pollock, and that the distinctive thick-stemmed, small-capped phenotype now called Penis Envy emerged from that work. Others, including the cultivator Rich Gee, have claimed a role in its selection. The honest summary is that Penis Envy is a decades-old American isolation of uncertain exact parentage, named for its shape, and that its early history is oral rather than written.
What is documented is everything after: the line was stabilised, spread widely through the 1990s and 2000s, and became the parent of a large family.
02Albino Penis Envy
Albino Penis Envy, universally shortened to APE, is an albino form of the line. It is commonly described as a cross of Penis Envy with an albino cubensis (the PF Albino line is the parent most often named), stabilised into a fully white phenotype. It appeared in the 2000s and is now at least as widespread as the original. Under the microscope the difference is stark: APE spores are unpigmented and glassy where Penis Envy spores carry the normal purple-brown.
Penis Envy is a decades-old American isolation of uncertain exact parentage, named for its shape, and its early history is oral rather than written.
03The famous low spore deposit
Penis Envy lines are known for dropping very few spores. The caps rarely open fully, so a print from the line is faint, and APE is fainter still. For a spore library this is the practical fact about the whole family: syringes have to be made from carefully collected prints, and low-spore lines are sometimes supplied as swabs instead. When a MycoWorld card says "low spore", this is usually why. On the slide, dilute less than you would for a Golden Teacher: the drop is already sparse.
04The APE family in the library
- MFH Ape, the isolation of Manna From Heaven APE, carried in the Mushrealm collection and in stock.
- Snape 50 (Starry Night APE) and the SNAPE crosses, including Toque x SNAPE and El Dragon x SNAPE.
- Blue APE 156, a What The Fungi APE isolation, and BAPER (Blue APE Revert), a pigmented revert from it.
- Galactic Gorilla (SV-13 x APE), APETAR (A.P.E x Golden Teacher) and Rango Gates (Rango APE x Lucid Gates), three crosses that carry the APE parent into other families.
- Galaxy Ape, a rare isolation by the breeder myceguy that is normally only given away, returning to stock soon.
- Spotted Dick, a Penis Envy isolate, and Albino Trinity (Tidal Wave x Penis Envy x Aztec God).
05Why it matters for microscopy
Penis Envy is the reference point for most of modern cubensis breeding: Tidal Wave, Jack Frost and dozens of others carry it. Having an APE isolate on the bench gives you the baseline to compare the whole family against, and the albino spores make it the ideal partner to a pigmented line on the next slide.
Questions people ask
Who created Penis Envy?
The line is usually credited to the work of Steven Pollock on a sample linked to Terence McKenna in the 1970s, with other claims made since. The early history is undocumented and should be treated as approximate.
Why do Penis Envy spore syringes look so clear?
The line drops very few spores, and the albino form has no pigment at all. A sparse, pale suspension is normal for the family.
What does APE stand for?
Albino Penis Envy, the unpigmented form of the Penis Envy line.