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.
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.
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 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 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.
Mythicomyces is a fungal genus in the family Mythicomycetaceae. A monotypic genus, it contains the single species Mythicomyces corneipes, first described by Elias Fries in 1861. The fungus produces fruit bodies with shiny yellowish-orange to tawny caps that are 1–3 cm (0.4–1.2 in) in diameter. These are supported by stems measuring 2–5.7 cm (0.8–2.2 in) long and 1–2 mm thick. A rare to uncommon species, it is found in northern temperate regions of North America and Europe, where it typically fruits in groups, in wet areas of coniferous forests. There are several species with which M. corneipes might be confused due to a comparable appearance or similar range and habitat, but microscopic characteristics can be used to reliably distinguish between them.
Flammulaster is a genus of agaricoid fungi in the family Tubariaceae. It was formerly thought to belong in the family Inocybaceae. The genus has a widespread distribution, and contains 20 species. Flammulaster was circumscribed by American mycologist Franklin Sumner Earle in 1909.
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.
Hemipholiota is a genus of agaric fungi in the order Agaricales. It was originally proposed by Rolf Singer in 1962 as a subgenus of Pholiota to contain species with absent or sparse pleurocystidia and absent chrysocystidia. Henri Romagnesi raised it to generic status in 1980, but this naming was invalid as it did not meet the requirements of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. Marcel Bon published the genus validly in 1986.
Nivatogastrium is a genus of secotioid fungi in the family Strophariaceae. The genus has contained four species found in North America and New Zealand, but the type species, Nivatogastrium nubigenum, is now considered to be a gasteroid species of Pholiota, and was transferred to that genus in 2014.
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.
Bogbodia is a bog-inhabiting agaric fungal genus that colonizes peat and Sphagnum and produces tan-colored fruit bodies. The only species in the genus is Bogbodia uda. Characteristically it forms chrysocystidia and rather large, finely roughened, violaceous basidiospores each with a poorly defined germ pore. The genus differs from Hypholoma which has smaller, smooth basidiospores and typically have cespitose fruit bodies and decay wood. Phylogenetically, Bogbodia is distinct from Hypholoma, Pholiota, and Leratiomyces.
Pholiota nubigena, commonly known as the gastroid pholiota or the bubble gum fungus, is a species of secotioid fungus in the family Strophariaceae. It is found in mountainous areas of the western United States, where it grows on rotting conifer wood, often fir logs. It fruits in spring, often under snow, and early summer toward the end of the snowmelt period in high mountain forests. Fruit bodies appear similar to unopened mushrooms, measuring 1–4 centimetres tall with 1–2.4 cm diameter caps that are whitish to brownish. They have a short but distinct whitish stipe that extend through the internal spore mass (gleba) of the fruit body into the cap. The gleba consists of irregular chambers made of contorted gills that are brownish in color. A whitish, cottony partial veil is present in young specimens, but it often disappears in age and does not leave a ring on the stipe.
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.
