Medium to large agaric, growing on the ground, among mulch or on dung, with a white or cream spore print. Pileus with yellowish to brown scales on a white or cream background, dry. Lamellae free. Stipe central, red on bruising or cutting. Partial veil remnants a membranous annulus. Spores hyaline, dextrinoid, smooth; germ pore absent, rarely narrow. Basidia two-spored. Cheilocystidia present. Lamellar trama regular or interwoven. Pileipellis a cutis (by misinterpretation of emergent oleiferous hyphae at the disc), a trichoderm or a hymeniderm. Clamp connections present.

The two-spored basidia are characteristic as is the reddish reaction to bruising or cutting the stipe. It differs from other Chlorophyllum by the germ pore being absent or not well developed. Formerly placed in Leucoagaricus, C. hortense differs from that genus in the presence of clamp connections, and the clavate terminal elements of the pileipellis which typically form a hymeniderm, whereas in Leucoagaricus the pileipellis is typically a cutis or trichoderm of cylindrical elements, as is also the case in Macrolepiota.

One species: Chlorophyllum hortense (= Leucoagaricus and Leucoagaricus fimetarius sensu Aberdeen). This species is keyed out separately from other Chlorophyllum because the spores lack a germ pore.

Chlorophyllum hortense (Murrill) Vellinga, Mycotaxon 83: 416 (2002).

Qld and N.S.W. (and possibly also N.T. and Vic.).

In gardens or pastures.

On the ground, in compost or on dung.

Saprotrophic

Aberdeen, J.E.C. (1992), Lepiotoid Genera (Agaricales) in South-eastern Queensland. Aberdeen Publications, Gailes, Queensland. [Description, Microcharacters and B&W Illustration of C. hortense (as Leucoagaricus fimetarius)]

Akers, B.P. & Sundberg, W.J. (1997), Leucoagaricus hortensis: some synonyms from Florida and taxonomic observations, Mycotaxon 62: 401–419. [Description, Microcharacters and B&W Illustration of C. hortense (as Leucoagaricus)]

Pegler, D.N. (1983c), Agaric flora of the Lesser Antilles, Kew Bull., Addit. Ser. 9: 1–668. [Description, Illustration and Microcharacters of C. hortense (as Leucoagaricus) from the Lesser Antilles]

Vellinga, E.C. (2003a), Chlorophyllum and Macrolepiota (Agaricaceae) in Australia, Austral. Syst. Bot. 16: 361–370. [brief Description of C. hortense]

Young, A.M. (2005b), A Field Guide to the Fungi of Australia. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney. [Description and B&W Illustration of C. hortense]