A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. Toadstool generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
Lepiota is a genus of gilled mushrooms in the family Agaricaceae. All Lepiota species are ground-dwelling saprotrophs with a preference for rich, calcareous soils. Basidiocarps are agaricoid with whitish spores, typically with scaly caps and a ring on the stipe. Around 400 species of Lepiota are currently recognized worldwide. Many species are poisonous, some lethally so.
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.
Macrolepiota procera, the parasol mushroom, is a basidiomycete fungus with a large, prominent fruiting body resembling a parasol. It is a fairly common species on well-drained soils. It is found solitary or in groups and fairy rings in pastures and occasionally in woodland. Globally, it is widespread in temperate regions.
Galerina marginata, known colloquially as funeral bell, deadly skullcap, autumn skullcap or deadly galerina, is a species of extremely poisonous mushroom-forming fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae of the order Agaricales. It contains the same deadly amatoxins found in the death cap. Ingestion in toxic amounts causes severe liver damage with vomiting, diarrhea, hypothermia, and eventual death if not treated rapidly. About ten poisonings have been attributed to the species now grouped as G. marginata over the last century.
Conocybe tenera, commonly known as the brown dunce cap or common cone head, is a widely distributed member of the genus Conocybe. This mushroom is the type species for the genus Conocybe.
Lepiota brunneoincarnata, the deadly dapperling, is a gilled mushroom of the genus Lepiota in the order Agaricales. Widely distributed in Europe and temperate regions of Asia as far east as China, it grows in grassy areas such as fields, parks and gardens, and is often mistaken for edible mushrooms. The mushroom has a brown scaled cap up to 4 cm wide with a pinkish brown stem and white gills. It is highly toxic, with several deaths having been recorded as it resembles the edible grey knight and fairy ring champignon.
Chemical tests in mushroom identification are methods that aid in determining the variety of some fungi. The most useful tests are Melzer's reagent and potassium hydroxide.
Echinoderma asperum or Lepiota aspera, sometimes known commonly as the freckled dapperling, is a large, brownish, white-gilled mushroom, with a warty or scaly cap. It lives in woodland, or on bark chips in parks, and gardens.
Lepiota helveola is a gilled mushroom of the genus Lepiota in the order Agaricales. It was described by Italian mycologist Giacomo Bresadola in 1882.
Galerina sulciceps is a dangerously toxic species of fungus in the family Strophariaceae, of the order Agaricales. It is distributed in tropical Indonesia and India, but has reportedly been found fruiting in European greenhouses on occasion. More toxic than the deathcap, G. sulciceps has been shown to contain the toxins alpha- (α-), beta- (β-) and gamma- (γ-) amanitin; a series of poisonings in Indonesia in the 1930s resulted in 14 deaths from the consumption of this species. It has a typical "little brown mushroom" appearance, with few obvious external characteristics to help distinguish it from many other similar nondescript brown species. The fruit bodies of the fungus are tawny to ochre, deepening to reddish-brown at the base of the stem. The gills are well-separated, and there is no ring present on the stem.
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.
Amanita bisporigera is a deadly poisonous species of fungus in the family Amanitaceae. It is commonly known as the eastern destroying angel amanita, the eastern North American destroying angel or just as the destroying angel, although the fungus shares this latter name with three other lethal white Amanita species, A. ocreata, A. verna and A. virosa. The mushroom has a smooth white cap that can reach up to 10 centimetres across and a stipe up to 14 cm tall with a white skirt-like ring near the top. The bulbous stipe base is covered with a membranous sac-like volva. The white gills are free from attachment to the stalk and crowded closely together. As the species name suggests, A. bisporigera typically bears two spores on the basidia, although this characteristic is not immutable. A. bisporigera closely resembles a few other white amanitas, including the equally deadly A. virosa and A. verna.
Amanita exitialis, also known as the Guangzhou destroying angel, is a mushroom of the large genus Amanita. It is distributed in eastern Asia, and probably also in India where it has been misidentified as A. verna. Deadly poisonous, it is a member of section Phalloideae and related to the death cap A. phalloides. The fruit bodies (mushrooms) are white, small to medium-sized with caps up to 7 cm (2.8 in) in diameter, a somewhat friable ring and a firm volva. Unlike most agaric mushrooms which typically have four-spored basidia, the basidia of A. exitialis are almost entirely two-spored. Eight people were fatally poisoned in China after consuming the mushroom in 2000, and another 20 have been fatally poisoned since that incident. Molecular analysis shows that the species has a close phylogenetic relationship with three other toxic white Amanitas: A. subjunquillea var. alba, A. virosa and A. bisporigera.
Lepiota clypeolaria, commonly known as the shield dapperling or the shaggy-stalked Lepiota, is a common mushroom in the genus Lepiota. It is widely distributed in northern temperate zones, where it grows in deciduous and coniferous forest. Fruit bodies have a brownish cap, a shaggy stipe with a collapsed, sheathing ring or ring zone, and spindle-shaped spores.
Inosperma maculatum, formerly known as Inocybe maculata and commonly known as the frosty fibrecap or brown inocybe, is a species of mushroom in the family Inocybaceae. First described by Jean Louis Émile Boudier in 1885, I. maculatum is found throughout Europe, Asia and North America. It is a medium-sized brown mushroom with a fibrous, brown cap with white remnants of a universal veil in the middle. The stem is cream or brown. The species is ectomycorrhizal and grows at the base of various trees, including beech. Inosperma maculatum is poisonous, containing muscarine. Possible symptoms after consumption of I. maculatum mushrooms are salivation, lacrimation, urination, defecation, gastrointestinal problems and vomiting, with the possibility of death due to respiratory failure.
Lepiota subincarnata, commonly known as the deadly parasol, is a gilled mushroom of the genus Lepiota in the order Agaricales. It is known to contain amatoxins and consuming this fungus can be potentially lethal. The species is found in Asia, Europe, and North America, in woods as well as richly soiled parks. It was first described scientifically by the Danish mycologist Jakob Emanuel Lange in 1940. Bon and Boiffard described Lepiota josserandii in 1974, which turned out to be the same species.
Lepiota babruzalka is an agaric mushroom of the genus Lepiota in the order Agaricales. Described as new to science in 2009, it is found in Kerala State, India, where it grows on the ground in litterfall around bamboo stems. Fruit bodies have caps that measure up to 1.3 cm (0.5 in) in diameter, and are covered with reddish-brown scales. The cap is supported by a long and slender stem up to 4.5 cm (1.8 in) long and 1.5 millimetres (0.1 in) thick. One of the distinguishing microscopic features of the species is the variably shaped cystidia found on the edges of the gills.
Lepiota castaneidisca is a species of agaric fungus in the family Agaricaceae. Formally described in 1912, it was for a long time considered the same species as the similar Lepiota cristata until molecular analysis reported in 2001 demonstrated that it was genetically distinct. It is most common in coastal and northern California, and has also been recorded in Mexico. A saprobic species, it is usually found under redwood and Monterey cypress. Its fruit bodies (mushrooms) have white caps with an orange-red to orange-brown center that measure up to 3.2 cm (1.3 in) wide. The cream-colored to light pink stems are up to 6.5 cm (2.6 in) long by 0.2–0.6 cm (0.1–0.2 in) thick, and have a ring. L. castaneidisca can be distinguished from other similar Lepiota species by differences in habitat, macroscopic, or microscopic characteristics.
Lepiota cristata, commonly known as the stinking dapperling, brown-eyed parasol, or the stinking parasol, is an agaric and possibly poisonous mushroom in the family Agaricaceae. A common and widespread species—one of the most widespread fungi in the genus Lepiota—it has been reported from Europe, northern Asia, North America, and New Zealand. It fruits on the ground in disturbed areas, such as lawns, path and road edges, parks, and gardens. The species produces fruit bodies characterized by the flat, reddish-brown concentric scales on the caps, and an unpleasant odour resembling burnt rubber. Similar Lepiota species can sometimes be distinguished from L. cristata by differences in cap colour, stipe structure, or odour, although some species can only be reliably distinguished through the use of microscopy.
