Small to medium agaric, growing on litter or wood, or rarely on the ground, with a white spore print. Pileus orange or brown, not viscid. Lamellae decurrent. Stipe lateral. Spores hyaline, non-amyloid, smooth; germ pore absent. Cheilocystidia present. Gloeosphex cystidia present. Lamellar trama structure not known. Pileipellis a cutis. Clamp connections present.

The dry pileus distinguishes Panellus ligulatus from P. longinquus, and it is further separated from both P. longinquus and P. stipticus by the non-amyloid spores and the presence of gloeosphex cystidia (with an hourglass-shaped tip enclosed in a droplet). These specialised cystidia are also present in Hohenbuehelia, which differs in the presence of thick-walled cystidia. Anthracophyllum has a richer red pileus and widely spaced lamellae.

One species: Panellus ligulatus (= Dictyolus cinnamoneus).

Panellus ligulatus E.Horak, Austral. J. Bot., Suppl. Ser. 10: 32 (1983).

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

In native forests. Sometimes in pine plantations on piles of old eucalypt wood.

On wood, often on stumps.

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 P. ligulatus]

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

Cleland, J.B. (1934), Toadstools and Mushrooms and other larger Fungi of South Australia. Part 1. Harrison Weir, Government Printer, Adelaide. Reprinted A.B.James, Government Printer, South Australia (1976). [Description of P. ligulatus (as Dictyolus cinnamoneus)]

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

Horak, E. (1983a), Mycogeography in the South Pacific region: Agaricales, Boletales, Austral. J. Bot., Suppl. Ser. 10: 1–41. [Description and Microcharacters of P. ligulatus]

McCann, I.R. (2003), Australian Fungi Illustrated. Macdown Productions, Vermont. [Illustration of P. ligulatus]