Clitocybe

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title: "Clitocybe" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["clitocybe", "agaricales-genera"] description: "Genus of fungi" topic_path: "general/clitocybe" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clitocybe" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of fungi ::

| image = Clitocybe nebularis Italy.jpg | image_caption = Clitocybe nebularis | taxon = Clitocybe | authority = (Fr.) Staude (1857) | type_species = Clitocybe nebularis | type_species_authority = (Batsch) P.Kumm. (1871) | synonyms_ref = | synonyms =

• Agaricus subtrib. Dasyphylli Fr. (1821)
• Agaricus trib. Clitocybe Fr. (1821)
• Trigonipes Velen. (1939)
• Clitocybe subgen. Pseudolyophyllum Singer (1943)
• Singerella Harmaja (1974)
• Pseudolyophyllum (Singer) Raithelh. (1979)

Clitocybe is a genus of mushrooms characterized by white, off-white, buff, cream, pink, or light-yellow spores, gills running down the stem, and pale white to brown or lilac coloration. They are primarily saprotrophic, decomposing forest ground litter. There are estimated to be around 300 species in the widespread genus.

Clitocybe means sloping head.

A few members of the genus are considered edible; many others are poisonous, containing the toxin muscarine among others. Distinguishing individual species of Clitocybe is generally prohibitively difficult to non-experts, requiring the analysis of microscopic characters. Therefore, with the exception of a few charismatic and readily identified members, Clitocybe mushrooms are rarely collected for consumption.

Taxonomy

Clitocybe was originally proposed by Elias Fries in 1821 as a tribe in the genus Agaricus. Friedrich Staude elevated it to generic status in 1857.

Recent molecular work has shown the genus to be polyphyletic: many members are seemingly distantly related and other fungi, such as the field blewit and wood blewit, now known as Clitocybe saeva and C. nuda respectively, are more closely related.

As C. nebularis is the type species, those most distantly related to it would be likely to be reclassified in the future. In a 2003 paper, Finnish mycologist Harri Harmaja proposed C. geotropa and twelve other Clitocybe species be split off into a new genus Infundibulicybe on the basis of spore properties. His C. clavipes was later transferred to the genus Ampulloclitocybe by Redhead and colleagues, that genus name taking precedence over Harmaja's proposed Clavicybe. Other former Clitocybe species have been placed in the genera Atractosporocybe, Leucocybe and Rhizocybe.

Toxicity

The consumption of two species, Clitocybe acromelalga from Japan, and Clitocybe amoenolens from France, has led to several cases of mushroom-induced erythromelalgia which lasted from 8 days to 5 months.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Clitocybe-odora.jpg" caption="''Clitocybe odora''"] ::

Many small Clitocybe species contain the toxin muscarine, which was originally found in small amounts in the famous fly agaric. However, the small white Clitocybe species contain muscarine in dangerous amounts, and two species in particular, the closely related Clitocybe dealbata and Clitocybe rivulosa, contain muscarine in such amounts that deaths have been recorded for eating those two Clitocybe species.

Selected species

• Clitocybe agrestis

• Clitocybe albirhiza

• Clitocybe amarescens

• Clitocybe brumalis – winter funnel cap

• Clitocybe cerussata

• Clitocybe cistophila – Europe

• Clitocybe costata – may be edible but due to its rareness it is not consumed.

• Clitocybe dealbata – ivory funnel, sweating mushroom – Europe, poisonous

• Clitocybe dilatata – poisonous

• Clitocybe ditopus

• Clitocybe eccentrica

• Clitocybe entoloma

• Clitocybe eucalyptorum

• Clitocybe fennica

• Clitocybe fragrans – fragrant funnel

• Clitocybe gilvaoides

• Clitocybe glacialis

• Clitocybe globispora

• Clitocybe glutiniceps

• Clitocybe lohjaensis

• Clitocybe marginella

• Clitocybe menthiodora

• Clitocybe nebularis – clouded agaric – considered edible by some, though causes gastric upset in many people

• Clitocybe odora – aniseed toadstool – grows near birch trees, but can be easily mistaken for poisonous ones mainly because of its appearance

• Clitocybe paraditopa – Australia

• Clitocybe parasitica

• Clitocybe rivulosa – fool's funnel – Europe, North America

• Clitocybe ruderalis

• Clitocybe sclerotoidea

• Clitocybe strigosa

• Clitocybe subcordispora

• Clitocybe tarda

• Clitocybe truncicola

• Clitocybe vibecina

• Clitocybe violaceifolia

• Clitocybe robusta

Taxonomic status unclear

• Clitocybe maxima – giant clitocybe – taxonomic status unclear, with Pleurotus giganteus and Infundibulicybe hongyinpan mistaken for this species

Reclassified

• Clitocybe acromelalga – now Paralepistopsis acromelalga
• Clitocybe alexandri – now Clitopaxillus alexandri
• Clitocybe amoenolens – paralysis funnel – now Paralepistopsis amoenolens
• Clitocybe brunneocephala – now Collybia brunneocephala – edible
• Clitocybe nuda – Lepista nuda – Collybia nuda – wood blewit – a common edible distinguished in part by its lilac hue
• Clitocybe candicans – now Leucocybe candicans
• Clitocybe catinus / Infundibulicibe catinus – a white form of Infundibulicybe gibba
• Clitocybe clavipes – may be edible but poisonous when consumed in conjunction with alcohol – now Ampulloclitocybe clavipes
• Clitocybe connata – inedible, suspected to be mutagenic – now Leucocybe connata
• Clitocybe geotropa – trooping funnel, monk's head agaric – now Infundibulicybe geotropa
• Clitocybe gibba – now Infundibulicybe gibba The bioluminescent jack o'lantern mushroom (Omphalotus olearius) was formerly placed in this genus as Clitocybe illudens.

References

References

1. (2008). "Dictionary of the Fungi". CABI.
2. (2015). "''Atractosporocybe'', ''Leucocybe'' and ''Rhizocybe'', three new clitocyboid genera in the Tricholomatoid clade (Agaricales) with notes on ''Clitocybe'' and ''Lepista''". Mycologia.
3. Ichimura, J. (1918). "A new poisonous mushroom". Bot Gaz (Tokyo).
4. Phillips, Roger. (2010). "Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America". Firefly Books.
5. (2021). "Basidiomycete diversity within Calabrian pine (Pinus brutia) ecosystems on the island of Cyprus". Mycotaxon Publications.
6. 邓旺秋. (2006). "栽培食用菌猪肚菇的学名考证". 食用菌学报.
7. 刘虹. (2019). "山西著名野生食用蘑菇红银盘:漏斗伞属新物种". 山西大学学报(自然科学版).
8. (2012). "Field Guide to Mushrooms of Western North America". [[University of California Press]].
9. (November 2023). "Systematic arrangement within the family Clitocybaceae (Tricholomatineae, Agaricales): phylogenetic and phylogenomic evidence, morphological data and muscarine-producing innovation". Fungal Diversity.
10. Harmaja, Harri. (2003). "Notes on ''Clitocybe s. lato'' (Agaricales)". Annales Botanici Fennici.
11. Redhead, S.A.. (July–September 2002). "Phylogeny of agarics: partial systematics solutions for core omphalinoid genera in the Agaricales (euagarics)". Mycotaxon.
12. (2001). "Erythromelalgia and mushroom poisoning". J Toxicol Clin Toxicol.
13. Staude F.. (1857). "Die Schwämme Mitteldeutschlands".
14. "Synonymy: ''Clitocybe'' (Fr.) Staude". CAB International.
15. (2011). "A new taxon in the ''Infundibulicybe gibba'' complex (Basidiomycota, Agaricales, Tricholomataceae) from Sardinia (Italy)". Mycologia.

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