Etymology of P. cubensis-
Etymology is an account of the history of a particular word or
element of a word (Dictionary.com)
This is often useful when trying to decipher the meaning of Latin
words. As you probably already
know, a great deal of scientific
terms are derived from Latin roots. A common misconception that many
people have is that 'scientists like to seem sophisticated and
esoteric.' However, there is a very good reason behind the Latin
usage when naming things scientifically. The reason being is that
Latin is a dead language. Therefore, the meanings will remain
unchanged. Modern day languages, on the other hand, are still
evolving and the meanings of words are subject to change over time.
So, if we breakdown Psilocybe cubensis, we get 'psilos,'
which is Greek for "to rub," or "bare." The
'-cybe'
ending comes from 'kybe' meaning "head" (Online
Etymology Dictionary).
Putting them together gives us "bare head," which fits the appearance of
P. cubensis mushroom caps. The cubensis ending of the
species name just means "Cuba," which is where the first P. cubensis
mushrooms were collected back in 1904 (Stafford).