Chlorophyllum

Chlorophyllum
Shaggy parasol
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Agaricaceae
Genus: Chlorophyllum
Massee (1898)[1]
Type species
Chlorophyllum esculentum
Massee (1898)

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 to describe the poisonous green-spored C. molybdites which shared many characteristics of the mushrooms within the genus Lepiota but lacked the all important white spores. The name comes from Greek Chloro meaning green and phyll meaning leaves or gills. It remained as a genus of one lonely member until recently when modern DNA analyses concluded that many of the mushrooms contained in the genus Macrolepiota actually had more in common genetically with the Chlorophyllum molybdites than with the other members of the Macrolepiota.[2] The genus has a widespread distribution, with many species found in tropical regions. The best known members are the edible shaggy parasol, a name applied to three very similar species Chlorophyllum rhacodes, C. olivieri and C. brunneum, and the poisonous C. molybdites, which is widespread in subtropical regions around the world.

List of species

As of February 2015, the nomenclatural database Index Fungorum lists 20 species in the genus.[3]

See also

Wikispecies has information related to: Chlorophyllum
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chlorophyllum.

References

  1. ↑ Massee, George Edward (1898). "Fungi exotici, I". Bulletin of Miscellaneous Informations of the Royal botanical Gardens Kew: 113–36.
  2. ↑ Vellinga, Else. , Volume 16, Number 2, Fall 2006.
  3. ↑ Kirk PM. "Species Fungorum (version 30th January 2015). In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life". Retrieved 2015-02-13.


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