The adjective hygrophanous refers to the color change of

mushroom 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. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

tissue (especially the pileus surface) as it loses or absorbs water, which causes the pileipellis to become more transparent when wet and opaque when dry. When identifying hygrophanous species, one needs to be careful when matching colors to photographs or descriptions, as color can change dramatically soon after picking. Genera that are characterized by hygrophanous species include ''

Agrocybe ''Agrocybe'' is a genus of mushrooms in the family Strophariaceae (previously placed in the Bolbitiaceae). The genus has a widespread distribution, and contains about 100 species. Distribution Mushroom cultivation began with the Romans and Gre ...

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Psathyrella ''Psathyrella'' is a large genus of about 400 species, and is similar to the genera '' Coprinellus'', ''Coprinopsis'', ''Coprinus'' and ''Panaeolus'', usually with a thin cap and white or yellowish white hollow stem. The caps do not self digest ...

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Psilocybe ''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. Taxonomy Taxonomic history A 2002 study of the mol ...

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Panaeolus ''Panaeolus'' is a genus of small, black-spored, saprotrophic agarics. The word ''Panaeolus'' is Greek for "all variegated", alluding to the spotted gills of the mushrooms produced. Characteristics These fungi are mostly dung and grassland sp ...

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Galerina ''Galerina'' is a genus of small brown-spore saprobic fungi (colloquially often ''mushrooms''), 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 ...

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External links

IMA Mycological Glossary: Hygrophanous

Wisconsin Mycological Society: ''Psathyrella''
Photographs of ''Psathyrella'', a mushroom with a strongly hygrophanous pileus. Image:Hygro psaths.jpg, Grouping of ''

Psathyrella gracilis ''Psathyrella corrugis'', is the type species of the basidiomycete fungus genus ''Psathyrella'' and family Psathyrellaceae. Originally described from Europe as ''Agaricus corrugis'', the species is considered non-toxic but lacking in flesh, flavo ...

'', some displaying hygrophanous pilei. Image:Hygro foe 3.jpg, Photo of the hygrophanous pileus of ''

Panaeolina foenisecii ''Panaeolus foenisecii'', commonly called the mower's mushroom, haymaker or brown hay mushroom, is a very common and widely distributed little brown mushroom often found on lawns and is not an edible mushroom. In 1963 Tyler and Smith found tha ...

'' Fungal morphology and anatomy {{mycology-stub