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.
Psilocybe is a genus of gilled mushrooms, growing worldwide, in the family Hymenogastraceae. Most or nearly all species contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin and psilocin.
Psilocybe semilanceata, commonly known as the liberty cap, is a species of fungus which produces the psychoactive compounds psilocybin, psilocin and baeocystin. It is both one of the most widely distributed psilocybin mushrooms in nature, and one of the most potent. The mushrooms have a distinctive conical to bell-shaped cap, up to 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter, with a small nipple-like protrusion on the top. They are yellow to brown, covered with radial grooves when moist, and fade to a lighter color as they mature. Their stipes tend to be slender and long, and the same color or slightly lighter than the cap. The gill attachment to the stipe is adnexed, and they are initially cream-colored before tinting purple to black as the spores mature. The spores are dark purplish-brown in mass, ellipsoid in shape, and measure 10.5–15 by 6.5–8.5 micrometres.
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 Hygrophoraceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Originally conceived as containing white-spored, thick-gilled agarics, including Hygrophorus and Hygrocybe species, DNA evidence has extended the limits of the family, so it now contains not only agarics, but also basidiolichens and corticioid fungi. Species are thus diverse and are variously ectomycorrhizal, lichenized, associated with mosses, or saprotrophic. The family contains 34 genera and over 1000 species. None is of any great economic importance, though fruit bodies of some Hygrocybe and Hygrophorus species are considered edible and may be collected for sale in local markets.
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.
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.
Deconica coprophila, commonly known as the dung-loving psilocybe, 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.
Deconica is a genus of mushroom-forming fungi in the family Strophariaceae. It was formerly considered synonymous with Psilocybe until molecular studies showed that genus to be polyphyletic, made of two major clades: one containing bluing, hallucinogenic species, the other non-bluing and non-hallucinogenic species. Deconica contains species formerly classified in the sections Deconica and Coprophila of Psilocybe.
Aphroditeola is an agaric fungal monotypic genus that produces pink cantharelloid fruit bodies on coniferous forest floors. The lamellae are forked and typically the fruit bodies have a fragrant odor described as candy-like, cinnamon-like or pink bubble gum-like.
Protostropharia, is a coprophilous agaric fungal genus that produces glutinous, mostly yellowish to yellow brown fruit bodies. Characteristically most form chrysocystidia and rather large, smooth, violaceous basidiospores each with a prominent germ pore. It is differentiated from Stropharia by production of astrocystidia on its mycelium rather than by acanthocytes that Stropharia produces. Phylogenetically, Protostropharia is distinct from Stropharia, Pholiota, and Leratiomyces. Two species, P. luteonitens and P. tuberosa, form pseudosclerotia in the dung substrates.
Mycopan is one of several genera of agaric fungi (mushrooms) that were formerly classified in the genus Hydropus or Mycena. Mycopan is currently monotypic, containing the single species Mycopan scabripes. It produces dusky colored fruit bodies that are mycenoid, but lack amyloid or dextrinoid tissues except for the amyloid basidiospores. Its stipe is notably scruffy from cystidioid end cells and unlike true Hydropus it does not bleed clear fluid. Phylogenetically, Mycopan is distant from the Mycenaceae and the type of that family, Mycena, and it is not with the type of Hydropus, Hydropus fuliginarius. Mycopan grouped closest to Baeospora. Baeospora was shown to be in the Cyphellaceae by Matheny and colleagues. Mycopan scabripes grows from debris in forest floors in North America and Europe.
Stagnicola is an agaric fungal genus that contains the single species Stagnicola perplexa. This fungus colonizes plant debris in wet coniferous forest floor depressions and shallow pools, and fruits after the pools drain or dry in late summer to early fall in North America and Europe. The genus is characterized by smooth, yellowish brown basidiospores lacking a germ pore, and a naucorioid appearance, with brownish mycelium at the base of the stems. Phylogenetically, Stagnicola appeared rather isolated and proved to be closest to Mythicomyces and Mythicomyces was closest to the Psathyrellaceae. In 2019 the two genera were shown to be closely related and placed in a new family, Mythicomycetaceae sister to the Psathyrellaceae.
Flammula is a dark brown-spored genus of mushrooms that cause a decay of trees, on whose bases they often fruit, forming clusters of yellowish brown mushrooms.
Phaeogalera is a small genus of slender, fleshy bog and swamp-inhabiting mushrooms with large, brownish spores with a germ pore and a hymenium lacking chrysocystidia. Phaeogalera resemble Galerina in their habitat, macroscopic appearance, and spore print color, however, their microscopic characteristics more closely resemble Psilocybe. The type species, Phaeogalera stagnina, has an Arctic-alpine distribution in the Northern Hemisphere extending into the boreal forests and taiga. It grows along the edges of bogs in peaty soils and sometimes amongst Sphagnum or other mosses. This type species has been classified in Galerina, Tubaria and Psilocybe. Modern molecular evidence supports the recognition of Phaeogalera as an independent genus separate from Galerina. The generic name is built upon the antiquated generic name "Galera", now synonymous with Galerina, and with a reference to the darker colors of the basidiospores of Phaeogalera. When originally proposed by Kühner, he forgot to fully cite the original publication for the type species which explains by the name was later validly published by Pegler & Young in 1975. The genus Meottomyces was segregated from Phaeogalera after briefly being classified together by Romagnesi.
