Small to medium (occasionally large) agaric, growing on the ground (very rarely on litter or wood) with pinkish brown spore print. Pileus white, pale, brown, yellow, orange, red or pink, green, purple, blue, grey or black, sometimes translucent-striate, occasionally squamulose, dry or moist or rarely viscid or glutinous. Lamellae variously attached, but very rarely free; edge sometimes differently coloured. Stipe central, rarely excentric. Partial veil remnants absent. Spores hyaline or pale, non-amyloid, smooth, angular in all views (very rarely with numerous angles and then appearing nodulose in face and side view); germ pore absent. Cheilocystidia present or absent. Lamellar trama regular. Pileipellis a cutis or a trichoderm. Clamp connections present or absent.

The distinctive spores are angular in all views, and are similar only to those of some species of Clitopilus morphogroup Rhodocybe (also with pinkish brown spore print). However, in the latter genus spores are typically also somewhat verrucose and not as strongly angled as in Entoloma (only distinctly angled in end view), and clamp connections are almost always lacking. Clitopilus (other) has spores that are angular only in end view and with longitudinal ridges. In Hygrocybe subgenus Pseudohygrocybe spores are very rarely angular; but if so, they are also spinose and in addition, the spore print is white. In Inocybe (nodulose spores) spores are rarely angular; but if so, they are also somewhat nodulose and in addition, the spore print is brown and thick-walled cystidia are present. Macroscopically, Entoloma is rather variable, with fruit-bodies ranging from small and Mycena-like to large and resembling Tricholoma, and the pileus surface varies from smooth to squamulose. Pileus colour is also very variable, but the lamellae are usually pink-tinted at maturity, although they can be quite pale when young. Among other genera with pinkish brown spore print, Pluteus has free gills and mostly occurs on wood or mulch, Volvariella has free gills and a volva, and is usually found on mulch or wood, and Lepista has finely warty spores.

More than 110 species. The genus has been monographed recently for Tasmania (90 species) but the species elsewhere in Australia are in need of revision and more species are expected.

Australian species are distributed below among traditional morphologically defined subgenera (several of which are in fact not supported as phylogenetic units):

Subgenus Alboleptonia (fruit-body collybioid or mycenoid, rarely omphalinoid, white or pale, pileipellis a cutis or trichoderm, clamp connections present or absent): E. albidosimulans, E. sericellum, E. stylophorum (= Alboleptonia) and E. totialbum.

Subgenus Claudopus (fruit-body pleurotoid, omphalioid or clitocyboid, stipe central, excentric, lateral or absent, clamp connections present or absent). Two sections within subgenus Claudopus are separated by stipe position.

Section Claudopus (stipe eccentric, lateral or absent): E. byssisedum, E. depluens and E. pitereka and three species not yet transferred to Entoloma, Claudopus rupestris, C. viscosus and C. minutoincanus. [Keyed out separately due to the non-central stipe]

Section Undati (stipe central): E. austrorhodocalyx and E. percrinitum.

Subgenus Cyanula (fruit-body collybioid or omphalioid, pileus finely squamulose at least centrally, pileipellis a trichoderm at least centrally, clamp connections absent): E. albidocoeruleum, E. amarum, E. asprellopsis, E. aurantiolabes, E. austroprunicolor, E. austroroseum, E. austrosarcitulum, E. carminicolor, E. cystidiosum, E. discrepans, E. duplocoloratum, E. fuscum (= E. deceptivum), E. griseosquamulosum, E. indistinctum (with var. macrosporum), E. kammala, E. melanocephalum, E. melanophtalmum, E. moabus, E. moongum, E. natalis-domini, E. obscuregracile, E. obscurevirens, E. persimile (with var. macrosporum), E. phaeomarginatum (= E. fuscomarginatum), E. prostratum, E. purpeureofuscum, E. pyropus, E. rodwayi (= E. chloroxanthum), E. roseoluteolum, E. rufobasis, E. saponicum, E. sassafras, E. splendidum, E. stramineopallescens, E. tasmanicum, E. tenuicystidiatum, E. transmutans, E. violaceocoeruleum and E. viridomarginatum (= E. caesiomarginatum).

Subgenus Entoloma (fruit-bodies mycenoid, collybioid or often tricholomatoid, pileus smooth or fibrillose but not squamulose, hygrophanus or not, pileipellis often with two layers, surface layer a cutis, trichoderm or hymeniderm, clamp connections usually present, spores often isodiametric): E. albomagnum, E. angulatum, E. baronii, E. clypeatum (exotic, under Rosaceae such as hawthorn, in spring), E. coeruleogracile, E. coeruleomagnum, E. contrastans, E. cretaceum, E. fuligineoviolaceum, E. gelatinosum, E. gracilior, E. haastii (previously placed under E. nitidum), E. indigoticoumbrinum, E. kermandii, E. manganaense, E. mathinnae, E. perbloxamii, E. saundersii (exotic, under Ulmus and Rosaceae, in spring) and E. tabacinum.

Subgenus Inocephalus (fruit-body mycenoid, rarely tricholomatoid, pileus usually fibrillose or tomentose, weakly or not hygrophanous, pileipellis a trichoderm, hymeniderm or epithelium, clamp connections present or absent): E. plebejum (exotic, in parks and gardens) and E. virescens group (= Inocephalus, Inopilus, E. hochstetteri).

Subgenus Leptonia (fruit-body typically collybioid, pileus surface dry, radially fibrillose or squamulose, not or weakly hygrophanous, pileipellis typically a trichoderm, at least in centre, clamp connections present): E. endotum, E. panniculus, E. poymalangta, E. tomentosolilacinum and E. violascens.

Subgenus Nolanea (fruit-body typically mycenoid, pileus thin, translucent-striate, hygrophanous, pileipellis a cutis or trichoderm centrally, clamp connections present or often absent): E. aromaticum (with var. aromaticellum), E. austronitens, E. blandiodorum, E. booranodes, E. brevispermum, E. chrysopus, E. conferendum, E. convexum, E. fibrosopileatum, E. fuligineopallescens, E. fumosopruinosum, E. lepiotoides, E. maldea, E. obscureotenax, E. phaeophthalmum, E. procerum, E. psilocyboides, E. readiae (with var. sulphureum), E. sepiaceovelutinum, E. sericeum, E. stellatum and E. strigosum.

Subgenus Pouzarella (fruit-bodies mycenoid, small, pileus and stipe fibrillose, pileus not hygrophanous, pileipellis a cutis with transitions to a trichoderm, clamp connections absent, spores often large): E. debile, E. farinosum and E. lasium and seven species yet to be transferred to Entoloma: P. albostrigosa, P. fusca, P. lageniformis, P. pamiae, P. parvula, P. pilocystidiata and P. setiformis.

Subgenus Trichopilus (fruit-body tricholomatoid, pileus fibrillose to squamulose, not hygrophanous, pileipellis a cutis or trichoderm, clamp connections usually present): E. porphyrescens.

Species of uncertain position: E. camarophyllus, E. choanomorphum, E. uliginicola. Also several species poorly known (such as E. laeticolor).

There are also several truffle-like species of Entoloma that were formerly placed in Richoniella.

All States and Territories.

In native forests, occasionally also in gardens with exotic trees or in lawns.

On the ground, very rarely on wood.

Most saprotrophic, but some species confirmed ectomycorrhizal.

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 E. moongum and E. viridomarginatum]

Bougher, N.L. & Syme, K. (1998), Fungi of Southern Australia. University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands. [Description, Illustration and Microcharacters of E. sericellum (as Alboleptonia)]

Fuhrer, B. (2005), A Field Guide to Australian Fungi. Bloomings Books, Hawthorn. [Description and Illustration of E. aromaticum, E. moongum, E. rodwayi, E. viridomarginatum and two unnamed species]

Fuhrer, B. & Robinson, R. (1992), Rainforest Fungi of Tasmania and South-east Australia. CSIRO Press, East Melbourne. [Illustration of E. formosoides and E. rodwayi and several unnamed species]

Gates, G.M. & Noordeloos, M. (2007), Preliminary studies in the genus Entoloma in Tasmania – I, Persoonia 19: 157–226. [Illustration, Description and Microcharacters of 33 species from Tasmania]

Gates, G.M., Horton, B.M. & Noordeloos, M. (2009), A new Entoloma (Basidiomycetes, Agaricales) from Tasmania, Mycotaxon 107: 175–179. [B&W Illustration, Description and Microcharacters of E. mathinnae]

Grey, P. & Grey, E. (2005), Fungi Down Under. Fungimap, South Yarra. [Description, Illustration and Map for E. virescens]

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 E. angulatum, E. booranodes, E. fuscum, E. kammala, E. moongum, E. phaeomarginatum (as the synonym E. fuscomarginatum, treated under E. rubromarginatum), E. poymalangta, E. prostratum, E. tabacinum and E. viridomarginatum]

Horak, E. (1973), Fungi agaricini Novaezelandiae I–V, Beih. Nova Hedwigia 43: 1–200. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters, along with Key, for 49 species from New Zealand, including E. aromaticum, E. convexum, E. fuscum (as E. deceptivum), E. gelatinosum, E. haastii, E. melanocephalum, E. procerum, E. phaeomarginatum, E. porphyrescens, E. readiae (and var. sulphureum, at species rank), E. rodwayi (as E. chloroxanthum), E. virescens (as E. hochstetteri) and E. viridomarginatum (as E. caesiomarginatum)]

Horak, E. (1976), On cuboid-spored species of Entoloma (Agaricales), Sydowia 28: 171–236 [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of E. virescens]

Horak, E. (1980c), Entoloma (Agaricales) in Indomalaya and Australasia, Beih. Nova Hedwigia 65: 1–352. [Description and Microcharacters of E. angulatum (as E. bloxami var. angulata), E. asprelloides, E. debile (as Pouzaromyces), E. formosoides, E. fuscum, E. laeticolor, E. lasium (as Pouzaromyces), E. phaeomarginatum (as E. fuscomarginatum), E. prostratum, E. rodwayi, E. tabacinum, E. uliginicola and E. viridomarginatum, and B&W Illustration of E. debile (as Pouzaromyces), E. fuscum, E. lasium (as Pouzaromyces), E. panniculus, E. rodwayi, E. stylophorum and E. uliginicola, along with Key to 234 species from Indomalaya and Australasia]

Largent, D.L. & Abell-Davis, S.E. (2011), Observations on Inocephalus virescens comb. nov. and Alboleptonia stylophora from northeastern Queensland, Mycotaxon 116: 231–245. [Illustration, Description and Microcharacters for E. virescens (as Inocephalus) and E. stylophorum (as Alboleptonia)]

Largent, D.L., Bergemann, S.E., Cummings, G.A., Ryan, K.L., Abell-Davis, S.E. & Moore, S. (2011), Pouzarella (Agaricales, Entolomataceae) species from New South Wales (Barrington Tops National Park) and northeastern Queensland, Australia, Mycotaxon 117: 435–483. [Illustration, Description and Microcharacters of E. debilis and E. farinosum (both as Pouzarella) and Pouzarella albostrigosa, P. fusca, P. lageniformis, P. lasia, P. pamiae, P. parvula P. pilocystidiata and P. setiformis]

McCann, I.R. (2003), Australian Fungi Illustrated. Macdown Productions, Vermont. [Illustration of E. aromaticum, E. formosoides, E. incanum, E. rodwayi and E. viridomarginatum]

Noordeloos, M. & Gates, G.M. (2009), Preliminary studies in the genus Entoloma in Tasmania – II, Cryptog. Mycol. 30: 107–140. [Illustration, Description and Microcharacters of 33 species from Tasmania]

Noordeloos, M.E. & Gates, G.M. (2012), The Entolomataceae of Tasmania. Fungal Diversity Research Series, Volume 22. Springer, Dordrecht. [Key, Illustration, B&W Illustration, Description and Microcharacters for 89 agaricoid species of Entoloma from Tasmania]

Pegler, D.N. (1986), Agaric flora of Sri Lanka, Kew Bull., Addit. Ser. 12: 1–519. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of E. virescens (as Inopilus), E. lasium (as Pouzaromyces) and E. stylophorum (as Alboleptonia]

Young, A.M. (2005b), A Field Guide to the Fungi of Australia. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney. [Description and Illustration of E. virescens]