Inocybe is a genus of mushroom-forming fungi, with over 1,000 species. Its members are mycorrhizal, and some evidence shows that the high degree of speciation is due to adaptation to different trees and possibly also local habitats.
Taxonomy
The genus was first described as Agaricus tribe Inocybe by Swedish scholar Elias Magnus Fries in volume 1 of his work, Systema mycologicum (1821), and verified in the volume 2 of his book Monographia Hymenomycetum Sueciae in 1863. All other renaming attempts are accepted synonymous.
Although originally placed in the family Cortinariaceae (later shown to be polyphyletic), phylogenetic analyses suggests that the genus is better placed as the type genus of the family Inocybaceae.
Source:
Two supersections are informally recognized: Cortinate supersection: The stipe is only pruinose at the apex or the upper half. The stipe base is (generally) not bulbous and a remnant of a cortina is present in the margin of the young cap. Marginate supersection: The stipe are entirely pruinose and has a bulbose base as general.
Several genera are recognized within the family Inocybaceae:
Inocybe
This subgenus has pleurocystidia, usually thick-walled and in the apex has crystals. The basidiospores are smooth or angular-nodulose. The basidia is not necropigmented (basidia that become ochraceous and collapse). The hilar appendice is conspicuous. This subgenera is cosmopolitan and frequent in temperate ecosystems.
Auritella
This subgenus has no pleurocystidia and has necropigmented basidia. The spores are smooth and the hilar appendix is inconspicuous. Large cheilocystidia (>50 um). This is known from tropical Africa, Tropical, India and temperate Australia.
Inosperma
The fruiting bodies of this subgenus usually have a distinct odor (fruity, honey-like, fishy). The pileus is radially rimose ("Rimosae") or can be squamulose to squarrose ("Cervicolores"). The lamella has no...
