Inocybe
Inocybe is a large genus of mushroom-forming fungi with over 1400 species, including all forms and variations. Members of Inocybe are mycorrhizal, and some evidence shows that the high degree of speciation in the genus is due to adaptation to different trees and perhaps even local environments.
The name Inocybe means "fibrous hat". It is taken from the Greek words ἴς (in the genitive ἴνος, meaning “muscle, nerve, fiber, strength, vigor”) and κύβη (“head”).[2]
The genus was first described as Agaricus trib. Inocybe by Swedish scholar Elias Magnus Fries in volume 1 of his work, Systema mycologicum (1821), and verified in the volume 2 of his book Monographia Hymenomycetum Sueciae in 1863. All other renaming attempts are accepted synonymous [3]
Typical mushrooms of the genus have various shades of brown, although some lilac or purplish species exist. Caps are small and conical, though flattening somewhat in age, generally with a pronounced central umbo. The cap often appears fibrous, giving the genus its common name of "fiber caps". Many species have a distinctive odor, various described as musty or spermatic.
Originally placed in the family Cortinariaceae (later shown to be polyphyletic[4][5]), phylogenetic analyses suggests that the genus is better placed as the type genus of the family Inocybaceae.[6]
Inocybe species are not considered suitable for consumption, although in some underdeveloped countries certain species of Inocybe mushrooms are eaten.[citation needed] Many species contain large doses of muscarine, and no easy method of distinguishing them from potentially edible species exists. In fact, Inocybe is the most commonly encountered mushroom genus for which microscopic characteristics are the only means of certain identification to the species level. While the vast majority of Inocybes are toxic, seven rare species of Inocybe are hallucinogenic,[7] having been found to contain psilocybin, including Inocybe aeruginascens which also contains aeruginascine (N, N, N-trimethyl-4-phosphoryloxytryptamine).
