Small to large agarics growing on litter or mulch, wood or rarely the ground or bryophytes, with a pale yellow, pinkish brown, rusty to ochre-brown, clay-brown or dark brown spore print. Pileus white, pale, yellow or brown, not or rarely viscid. Lamellae free, adnexed or sinuate or notched (and possibly appearing adnate or decurrent). Stipe excentric, lateral or absent. Partial veil remnants absent. Spores ellipsoid to bacilliform, pale or yellow-brown, rarely hyaline, smooth; germ pore absent. Cheilocystidia present. Lamellar trama regular. Pileipellis a cutis or trichoderm. Clamp connections present or rarely absent.

The only other agarics with the stipe lacking or lateral and a brown spore print in combination with smooth spores are Melanotus hepatochrous, the Tapinella panuoides group and the Meiorganum olivaceoflavidum group. Melanotus hepatochrous always has a short stipe, the spore print is purple-brown to dark brown and the spores have a germ pore. Meiorganum and Tapinella often have intervenose or forked lamellae, and Tapinella has dextrinoid spores. Pleuroflammula praestans has a partial veil and there are veil remnants on the stipe and cap margin. The species of Crepidotus formerly separated in the genus Pleurotellus have very pale spores under the microscope, which could resemble those of stipe-less genera with white spore prints, such as Cheimonophyllum or Panellus. However, in Crepidotus the spore print is always at least light ochre or cream-buff, and never pure white. A pinkish brown spore print is occasionally reported for Crepidotus, which differs from other agarics with the stipe lateral or lacking and a pinkish brown spore print in having smooth, rather than angular spores (as in Clitopilus (other) and Entoloma subgenus Claudopus). For other agarics that are similar in macro-morphology, but have rough spores, see under Crepidotus (rough spores).

Seven species: Crepidotus autochthonus, C. calolepis, C. eucalyptorum, C. cf. melleus, C. mollis and C. uber. Pleurotellus chioneus also belongs here (it is close to the Northern Hemisphere C. epibryus). Also several poorly known species described from Australia in the 19th century such as C. auricula and C. lepton.

Crepidotus prostratus, from W.A., S.A. and N.S.W. (Grgurinovic, 1997: including Illustration; Young, 2005, with B&W Illustration; and Bougher, 2009, with Illustration), forms caespitose clusters of fruit-bodies at the base of stumps or on buried wood, and has a well-developed central to lateral stipe. It idoes not seem to belong in Crepidotus and is excluded pending further information on the generic position. The lamellae are noted as anastomosing, so it is possibly a Tapinella.

The rough-spored species of Crepidotus are keyed out separately.

W.A., S.A., N.S.W. and Vic. (and probably also N.T., Qld and Tas.).

In native forests and occasionally on mulch in mushroom farms.

On wood or litter, rarely on the ground or mulch or among bryophytes.

Saprotrophic.

Bougher, N.L. (2009a), Fungi of the Perth region and beyond: a self-managed field book, Western Australian Naturalists' Club (Inc.), Perth. [Description and Illustration of C. eucalyptorum]

Breitenbach, J. & Kränzlin, F. (2000), Fungi of Switzerland. Volume 5. Agarics. Part 3. Cortinariaceae. Edition Mykologia, Lucerne. [Illustration, Description and Microcharacters of C. mollis and also of C. epibryus, for which see comment under Senn-Irlet (1995)]

Grgurinovic, C.A. (1997a), Larger Fungi of South Australia. The Botanic Gardens of Adelaide and State Herbarium and The Flora and Fauna of South Australia Handbooks Committee, Adelaide. [Description and Microcharacters of C. eucalyptorum]

Griffiths, K. (1985), A Field Guide to the Larger Fungi of the Darling Scarp and South West of Western Australia. Published by the author. [Illustration of C. uber]

Hood, I.A. (2003), An Introduction to Fungi on Wood in Queensland. University of New England, School of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources Management, Armidale. [Description and B&W Illustration of C. cf. melleus]

Nordstein, S. (1990), The Genus Crepidotus (Basidiomycotina, Agaricales) in Norway. Fungiflora, Oslo. [Description and Microcharacters of C. calolepis (under C. mollis subsp. calolepis) and C. mollis, and also of C. hypnophilus, a synonym of C. epibrytus, see comment under Senn-Irlet (1995)]

Pegler, D.N. (1977), A preliminary agaric flora of East Africa, Kew Bull., Addit. Ser. 6: 1–615. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of C. calolepis amd C. uber]

Senn-Irlet, B. (1995), The genus Crepidotus (Fr.) Staude in Europe, Persoonia 16: 1–80. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of C. authochthonus, C. calolepis and C. mollis, and also C. epibryus, placed formerly in Pleurotellus, which has not been reported from Australia, but is close to Pleurotellus chioneus, along with Illustration of C. mollis and C. epibryus, and Key to European species]

Singer, R. (1973), The genera Marasmiellus, Crepidotus and Simocybe in the Neotropics, Beih. Nova Hedwigia 44: 1–517. [Description and Microcharacters of C. calolepis and C. uber, and Key to Neotropical species]