Leratiomyces is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of mushroom

Mushroom

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...

-forming basidiomycetes first described in 2008. It includes several formerly described, variously, from the genera Stropharia

Stropharia

The genus Stropharia is a group of medium to large agarics with a distinct membranous ring on the stipe. The scientific name is derived from the Greek 'στροφος/strophos' meaning "belt", in reference to it...

, Hypholoma

Hypholoma

Fungi of the genus Hypholoma are quite well known due to the commonness of Sulphur Tuft on stumps in temperate woodlands. This species is easily recognizable because the dark spores create a distinctive greenish effect on the yellow cap underside...

, and Weraroa

Weraroa

Weraroa is a genus of mushrooms in the Strophariaceae family. The genus was initially described by mycologist Rolf Singer in 1958 to accommodate the single species Secotium novae-zelandiae reported by Gordon Herriott Cunningham in 1924...

. It was formerly classified as Stropharia Section Stropholoma, though some authorities placed this section in the genus Hypholoma, as these species often has features that are intermediate between the two genera.

This group includes a number of mushrooms found commonly in woodchip

Woodchip

Woodchip may refer to:* the product of Woodchipping* Woodchips, a solid-biomass fuel* Ingrain wallpaper...

 beds, such as Leratiomyces ceres

Leratiomyces ceres

Leratiomyces ceres, commonly known as the Redlead Roundhead, is mushroom which has a bright red to orange cap and dark purple-brown spore deposit. It is usually found growing gregariously on wood chips and is one of the most common and most distinctive mushrooms found in that habitat...

and L. percevalii. It also includes a number of secotioid

Secotioid

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...

 species, including the type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

, L. similis, as well as L. cucullatus and L. erythrocephalus

External links

• Leratiomyces at MushroomObserver.org.
• "Stropharia, Leratiomyces & Psilocybe" by Michael Kuo, MushroomExpert.com, 2008.