Generally small (to sometimes medium) agaric, growing in litter or mulch or on wood, with a white or cream to yellow spore print. Pileus white, pale, yellow, orange, brown, red or pink or purple, not viscid. Lamellae free, adnexed, adnate, sinuate or notched, rarely subdecurrent or with a decurrent tooth. Stipe central, totally dark or very dark below and paler above, sometimes resembling horsehair. Partial veil remnants absent. Spores hyaline, non-amyloid, smooth; germ pore absent. Cheilocystidia present, rarely absent. Lamellar trama regular. Pileipellis a hymeniderm; terminal elements often digitate. Clamp connections present.

Fruit bodies of Marasmius are rather tough in texture, like those of Heimiomyces and Xeromphalina, but in those genera the spores are amyloid, and the pileipellis is a cutis or trichoderm. Gymnopus can also have tough fruit-bodies, but the stipe can be hairy, and the pileipellis is never hymeniform. Fruit bodies of Mycena are generally not tough, and the pileipellis is typically a cutis of nodulose, filamentous hyphae. Species of Roridomyces with a hymeniform pileipellis have amyloid spores. Marasmius oreades is larger than most species of the genus, it grows in grass and lacks a dark stipe base. Despite the small fruit-bodies, the odour of some species of Marasmius can be surprisingly strong, such as of garlic.

Likely to be numerous species, but few are well known. Among species with Australian type specimens are: Marasmius albidus, M. alveolaris, M. cinnamoneus, M. crinisequi, M. eucalypti, M. lanaripes, M. meloniformis and M. elegans. There are records of a few other species, including M. croceus and M. haematocephalus. Also reported from Australia are many tropical species, but only from 19th century records (which need confirmation). These include: M. aciculiformis, M. confertus, M. floriceps, M. gardneri (= M. ferrugineus), M. niveus, M. pellucidus and M. rhyssophyllus.

Marasmius oreades is keyed out separately because it is larger than most other Marasmius and also differs by the habitat in grass and lawns and the absence of a dark base to the stipe.

All States and Territories.

In native forests.

On litter or wood.

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 M. crinisequi]

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

Desjardin, D.E. & Horak, E. (1997), Marasmius and Gloiocephala in the South Pacific Region: Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand taxa, Biblioth. Mycol. 168: 1–152. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of M. croceus, M. floriceps, M. haematocephalus and M. pellucidus, along with Key to 33 species from Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia and 25 species from New Zealand]

Fuhrer, B. (2005), A Field Guide to Australian Fungi. Bloomings Books, Hawthorn. [Description and Illustration of M. alveolaris and M. elegans]

Fuhrer, B. & Robinson, R. (1992), Rainforest Fungi of Tasmania and South-east Australia. CSIRO Press, East Melbourne. [Illustration of Marasmius sp.]

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

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 M. albidus, M. alveolaris, M. elegans, M. cinnamomeus and M. crinisequi, and key to South Australian species]

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 M. cinnamoneus]

McCann, I.R. (2003), Australian Fungi Illustrated. Macdown Productions, Vermont. [Illustration of M. crinisequi and M. elegans and several unnamed species]

Pegler, D.N. (1965), Studies on Australasian Agaricales, Austral. J. Bot. 13: 323–356. [Microcharacters of M. crinisequi, M. eucalypti, M. lanaripes and M. meloniformis, with B&W Illustration of M. eucalypti and M. meloniformis]

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 M. confertus, M. crinisequi, M. gardneri and M. haematocephalus]

Pegler, D.N. (1983c), Agaric flora of the Lesser Antilles, Kew Bull., Addit. Ser. 9: 1–668. [Description, Illustration, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of M. crinisequi , M. gardneri (as M. ferrugineus), M. haematocephalus, M. niveus and M. rhyssophyllus, and Illustration of M. haematocephalus]

Pegler, D.N. (1986), Agaric flora of Sri Lanka, Kew Bull., Addit. Ser. 12: 1–519. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of M. crinisequi, M. haematocephalus and M. pellucidus]

Pegler, D.N. (1987), A revision of the Agaricales of Cuba 1. Species described by Berkeley & Curtis, Kew Bull. 42: 501–585. [Description and Microcharacters of M. aciculiformis and M. floriceps]

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