''Macrolepiota mastoidea'' is a species 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 t ...

producing

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...

in the family

Agaricaceae The Agaricaceae are a family of basidiomycete fungi and include the genus ''Agaricus'', as well as basidiomycetes previously classified in the families Tulostomataceae, Lepiotaceae, and Lycoperdaceae. Taxonomy The family Agaricaceae was publishe ...

Taxonomy

It was first described by many mycologists throughout the 1800s and classified variously as ''Agaricus gracilentus'', ''Agaricus mastoideus'', ''Agaricus umbonatus'' with each

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

then undergoing its own extensive period of reclassification. It got its current name ''Macrolepiota mastoidea'' in 1951 when classified by the German mycologist

Rolf Singer Rolf Singer (June 23, 1906 – January 18, 1994) was a Germany, German-born mycologist and one of the most important Taxonomy (biology), taxonomists of gilled mushrooms (agarics) in the 20th century. After receiving his Ph.D. at the University ...

Habitat and distribution

This species is found in Europe.

Edibility

This is reported to be an edible species but it is noted that it can appear similar to some toxic ''

Chlorophyllum ''Chlorophyllum'' is a genus of large agarics similar in appearance to the true parasol mushroom. ''Chlorophyllum'' was originally coined in 1898, a time when spore color was the deciding factor for differentiating genera. It was termed in order ...

'' species so caution is recommended.

References

External links

* Edible fungi Agaricaceae {{Agaricales-stub