Secotioid fungi are an intermediate growth form between mushroom-like hymenomycetes and closed bag-shaped gasteromycetes, where an evolutionary process of gasteromycetation has started but not run to completion. Secotioid fungi may or may not have opening caps, but in any case they often lack the vertical geotropic orientation of the hymenophore needed to allow the spores to be dispersed by wind, and the basidiospores are not forcibly discharged or otherwise prevented from being dispersed —note—some mycologists do not consider a species to be secotioid unless it has lost ballistospory.
Psilocybe cyanescens is a species of potent psychedelic mushroom. The main compounds responsible for its psychedelic effects are psilocybin and psilocin. It belongs to the family Hymenogastraceae. A formal description of the species was published by Elsie Wakefield in 1946 in the Transactions of the British Mycological Society, based on a specimen she had recently collected at Kew Gardens. She had begun collecting the species as early as 1910. The mushroom is not generally regarded as being physically dangerous to adults. Since all the psychoactive compounds in P. cyanescens are water-soluble, the fruiting bodies can be rendered non-psychoactive through parboiling, allowing their culinary use. However, since most people find them overly bitter and they are too small to have great nutritive value, this is not frequently done.
Galerina is a genus of small brown-spore saprobic fungi, with over 300 species found throughout the world from the far north to remote Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean. The genus is most noted for some extremely poisonous species which are occasionally confused with hallucinogenic species of Psilocybe. Species are typically small and hygrophanous, with a slender and brittle stem. They are often found growing on wood, and when on the ground have a preference for mossy habitats.
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.
Lactarius is a genus of mushroom-producing, ectomycorrhizal fungi, containing several edible species. The species of the genus, commonly known as milk-caps, are characterized by the milky fluid ("latex") they exude when cut or damaged. Like the closely related genus Russula, their flesh has a distinctive brittle consistency. It is a large genus with over 500 known species, mainly distributed in the Northern hemisphere. Recently, the genus Lactifluus has been separated from Lactarius based on molecular phylogenetic evidence.
Laccaria laccata, commonly known as the deceiver, lackluster laccaria, or waxy laccaria, is a white-spored species of small edible mushroom found throughout North America and Europe. It is a highly variable mushroom, and can look quite washed out, colorless and drab, but when younger it often assumes red, pinkish brown, and orange tones. The species is often considered by mushroom collectors to be a 'mushroom weed' because of its abundance and plain stature.
Laccaria bicolor is a small tan-colored mushroom with lilac gills. It is edible but not choice, and grows in mixed birch and pine woods. It is found in the temperate zones of the globe, in late summer and autumn. L. bicolor is an ectomycorrhizal fungus used as a soil inoculant in agriculture and horticulture.
Clitocybe nuda, commonly known as the blewit or wood blewit and alternately described as Lepista nuda, is an edible mushroom native to Europe and North America. Described by Pierre Bulliard in 1790, it was also known as Tricholoma nudum for many years. It is found in both coniferous and deciduous woodlands. It is a fairly distinctive mushroom that is widely eaten, though there is some caution about edibility. Nevertheless, it has been cultivated in Britain, the Netherlands and France.
Candy cap or curry milkcap is the English-language common name for several closely related edible species of Lactarius; L. camphoratus, L. fragilis, and L. rubidus. These mushrooms are valued for their highly aromatic qualities and are used culinarily as a flavoring rather than as a constituent of a full meal.
Lactarius rubrilacteus is a species of mushroom of the genus Lactarius. It is also known as the bleeding milkcap, as is at least one other member of the genus, Lactarius sanguifluus.
Gymnopus dryophilus is a mushroom commonly found in temperate woodlands of Europe and North America. It is generally saprophytic, but occasionally also attacks living wood. It belongs to section Levipedes of the genus, being characterized by a smooth stem having no hairs at the base. Until recently it was most frequently known as Collybia dryophila.
Laccaria is a genus around 75 species of fungus found in both temperate and tropical regions of the world. They are mycorrhizal. The type species is Laccaria laccata, commonly known as the deceiver. Other notable species include L. bicolor, and the amethyst deceiver (L. amethystina), sometimes incorrectly written as L. amethystea. Because some Laccaria species have the ability to grow vegetatively and/or germinate from basidiospores in culture, they are often used as experimental systems for studies of ectomycorrhizal basidiomycetes. They have a tetrapolar mating system, meaning that there the mating type is controlled by 2 loci. Recently, the genome of L. bicolor has been sequenced.
Inocybe geophylla, commonly known as the earthy inocybe, common white inocybe or white fibercap, is a poisonous mushroom of the genus Inocybe. It is widespread and common in Europe and North America, appearing under both conifer and deciduous trees in summer and autumn. The fruiting body is a small all-white or cream mushroom with a fibrous silky umbonate cap and adnexed gills. An all-lilac variety lilacina is also common.
The Hydnangiaceae are a family of fungi in the mushroom order Agaricales. Widespread in temperate and tropical regions throughout the world, the family contains about 30 species in four genera. Species in the Hydnangiaceae form ectomycorrhizal relationships with various species of trees in both coniferous and deciduous forests.
Cortinarius violaceus, commonly known as the violet webcap or violet cort, is a fungus in the webcap genus Cortinarius native across the Northern Hemisphere. The fruit bodies are dark purple mushrooms with caps up to 15 cm (6 in) across, sporting gills underneath. The stalk measures 6 to 12 centimetres by 1 to 2 cm, sometimes with a thicker base. The dark flesh has a smell reminiscent of cedar wood. Forming symbiotic (ectomycorrhizal) relationships with the roots of various plant species, C. violaceus is found predominantly in conifer forests in North America and deciduous forests in Europe.
Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis is a mushroom found under conifers, usually pine, growing alone, scattered or gregariously in western North America.
Entoloma bloxamii, commonly known as the midnight blue entoloma, or big blue pinkgill, is a species of agaric in the family Entolomataceae. The species has a European distribution, occurring mainly in agriculturally unimproved grassland. Entoloma bloxamii has been reported from North America, but at least some of these reports represent a distinct species, Entoloma medianox. Threats to its habitat have resulted in the Big Blue Pinkgill being assessed as globally "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Oudemansiella mucida, commonly known as porcelain fungus, is a basidiomycete fungus of the family Physalacriaceae and native to Europe.
Entoloma porphyrophaeum is a species of agaric in the family Entolomataceae. It has been given the recommended English name of Lilac Pinkgill. The species has a European distribution, occurring mainly in agriculturally unimproved grassland. Entoloma porphyrophaeum has been reported from North America, but at least some of these reports represent a distinct species, Entoloma canadense. Threats to its habitat have resulted in the Lilac Pinkgill being assessed as globally "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Collybiopsis confluens, commonly known as the clustered toughshank, is a type of mushroom from the Omphalotaceae family. The fruiting body appears from summer until autumn in deciduous and coniferous forests. Collybiopsis confluens is not an edible mushroom.
