The Agaricales are an order of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. As originally conceived, the order contained all the agarics, but subsequent research has shown that not all agarics are closely related and some belong in other orders, such as the Russulales and Boletales. Conversely, DNA research has also shown that many non-agarics, including some of the clavarioid fungi and gasteroid fungi belong within the Agaricales. The order has 46 extant families, more than 400 genera, and over 25,000 described species, along with six extinct genera known only from the fossil record. Species in the Agaricales range from the familiar Agaricus bisporus and the deadly Amanita virosa to the coral-like Clavaria zollingeri and bracket-like Fistulina hepatica.
The Strophariaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Under an older classification, the family covered 18 genera and 1316 species. The species of Strophariaceae have red-brown to dark brown spore prints, while the spores themselves are smooth and have an apical germ pore. These agarics are also characterized by having a cutis-type pileipellis. Ecologically, all species in this group are saprotrophs, growing on various kinds of decaying organic matter. The family was circumscribed in 1946 by mycologists Rolf Singer and Alexander H. Smith.
The Marasmiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Basidiocarps are most frequently agarics, but occasionally cyphelloid. According to a 2008 estimate, the family contained 54 genera and 1590 species, but molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has led to a more restricted family concept, so that the Marasmiaceae included just 13 genera, and some 1205 species. It was reduced further down in 2020, to 10 genera and about 700 species.
The Tricholomataceae are a large family of fungi within the order Agaricales. Originally a classic "wastebasket taxon", the family included any white-, yellow-, or pink-spored genera in the Agaricales not already classified as belonging to e.g. the Amanitaceae, Lepiotaceae, Hygrophoraceae, Pluteaceae, or Entolomataceae.
The genus Stropharia is a group of medium to large agarics with a distinct membranous ring on the stipe. Well-known members of this genus include the edible Stropharia rugosoannulata and the blue-green verdigris agarics. Stropharia are not generally regarded as good to eat and there are doubts over the edibility of several species. However the species Stropharia rugosoannulata is regarded as prized and delicious when young and is now the premier mushroom for outdoor bed culture by mycophiles in temperate climates.
The Entolomataceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. The family contains eight genera and 2250 species, the majority of which are in Entoloma. Basidiocarps are typically agaricoid, but a minority are cyphelloid. secotioid, or gasteroid. All produce pink basidiospores that are variously angular (polyhedral), ridged, or nodulose. Species are mostly saprotrophic, though a few are parasitic on other fungi. The family occurs worldwide.
The Hymenogastraceae is a family of fungi in the order Agaricales with both agaric and false-truffle shaped fruitbodies. Formerly, prior to molecular analyses, the family was restricted to the false-truffle genera. The mushroom genus Psilocybe in the Hymenogastraceae is now restricted to the hallucinogenic species while nonhallucinogenic former species are largely in the genus Deconica classified in the Strophariaceae.
Melanoleuca is a poorly known genus of saprotrophic mushrooms traditionally classified in the family Tricholomataceae. Most are small to medium sized, white, brown, ocher or gray with a cylindrical to subcylindrical stipe and white to pale yellowish gills. The basidiospores are ellipsoid and ornamented with amyloid warts. Melanoleuca is considered a difficult group to study due to their macroscopic similarities among species and the need of a thorough microscopic analysis to separate species. DNA studies have determined that this genus is closely related to Amanita and Pluteus and that it does not belong to the family Tricholomataceae.
Phaeocollybia is a genus of fungi in the family Hymenogastraceae. They are characterized by producing fruit bodies (mushrooms) with umbonate caps and rough brown spores. The genus is widely distributed, and contains about 50 species. They are known for a long stipe which continues down into the ground, known as a rooting stipe or pseudorhiza formed as the fruitbody grows up from the subterranean colonized roots well below the organic soil layer. The genus is primarily mycorrhizal but may also be somewhat parasitic on forest trees.
Pholiota is a genus of small to medium-sized, fleshy mushrooms in the family Strophariaceae. They are saprobes that typically live on wood. The genus has a widespread distribution, especially in temperate regions, and contains about 150 species.
Deconica montana, commonly known as the mountain moss Psilocybe, is a common species of mushroom that usually grows in mossy and montane regions around the world. The appearance is that of a typical "little brown mushroom" with a small, brown cap and a straight, thin stipe.
The Inocybaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales, the largest order of mushroom-forming fungi. It is one of the larger families within Agaricales. This family exhibits an ectomycorrhizal ecology. Members of this family have a widespread distribution in tropical and temperate areas.
Boletellus is a genus of fungi in the family Boletaceae. The genus has a widespread distribution, especially in subtropical regions, and contains about 50 species. The genus was first described by American mycologist William Alphonso Murrill in 1909. The genus name means "small Boletus".
Bothia is a fungal genus in the family Boletaceae. A monotypic genus, it contains the single species Bothia castanella, a bolete mushroom first described scientifically in 1900 from collections made in New Jersey. Found in the eastern United States, Costa Rica, China, and Taiwan, it grows in a mycorrhizal association with oak trees. Its fruit body is chestnut brown, the cap is smooth and dry, and the underside of the cap has radially elongated tubes. The spore deposit is yellow-brown. The edibility of the mushroom is unknown. Historically, its unique combination of morphological features resulted in the transfer of B. castanella to six different Boletaceae genera. Molecular phylogenetic analysis, published in 2007, demonstrated that the species was genetically unique enough to warrant placement in its own genus.
Ripartitella is a genus of fungi in the family Agaricaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Rolf Singer in Mycologia vol.39 on page 85 in 1947.
Suillus brevipes is a species of fungus in the family Suillaceae. First described by American mycologists in the late 19th century, it is commonly known as the stubby-stalk or the short-stemmed slippery Jack. The fruit bodies (mushrooms) produced by the fungus are characterized by a chocolate to reddish-brown cap covered with a sticky layer of slime, and a short whitish stipe that has neither a partial veil nor prominent, colored glandular dots. The cap can reach a diameter of about 10 cm, while the stipe is up to 6 cm long and 2 cm thick. Like other bolete mushrooms, S. brevipes produces spores in a vertically arranged layer of spongy tubes with openings that form a layer of small yellowish pores on the underside of the cap.
Leucopholiota decorosa is a species of fungus in the mushroom family Tricholomataceae. Commonly known as the decorated pholiota, it is distinguished by its fruit body which is covered with pointed brown, curved scales on the cap and stem, and by its white gills. Found in the eastern United States, France, and Pakistan, it is saprobic, growing on the decaying wood of hardwood trees. L. decorosa was first described by American mycologist Charles Horton Peck as Agaricus decorosus in 1873, and the species has been transferred to several genera in its history, including Tricholoma, Tricholomopsis, Armillaria, and Floccularia. Three American mycologists considered the species unique enough to warrant its own genus, and transferred it into the new genus Leucopholiota in a 1996 publication. Lookalike species with similar colors and scaly fruit bodies include Pholiota squarrosoides, Phaeomarasmius erinaceellus, and Leucopholiota lignicola. L. decorosa is considered an edible mushroom.
Deconica coprophila, commonly known as the dung-loving psilocybe, meadow muffin mushroom, or dung demon, is a species of mushroom in the family Strophariaceae. First described as Agaricus coprophilus by Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard in 1793, it was transferred to the genus Psilocybe by Paul Kummer in 1871. In the first decade of the 2000s, several molecular studies showed that the Psilocybe was polyphyletic, and the non-bluing (non-hallucinogenic) species were transferred to Deconica.
Dissoderma is a genus of parasitic fungi in the family Squamanitaceae. Basidiocarps superficially resemble normal agarics but emerge from parasitized fruit bodies of deformed host agarics.
