Small to large agaric, growing on the ground, in litter or mulch or on wood, rarely among bryophytes, with a rusty to ochre-brown, clay-brown or dark brown spore print. Pileus pale, yellow, brown or grey; viscid or glutinous (at least when fresh), rarely dry or moist. Lamellae adnate, sinuate or notched, subdecurrent or with a decurrent tooth, rarely adnexed. Stipe central. Partial veil remnants a ring zone or a membranous annulus. Spores yellow-brown, smooth; germ pore narrow or broad (rarely absent). Cheilocystidia present. Chrysocystidia present or absent. Lamellar trama regular or interwoven. Pileipellis a cutis. Clamp connections present.

Cortinarius and Gymnopilus, as well as most species of Galerina, have warty spores. In addition, Gymnopilus has a dry (not viscid) pileus. Agrocybe, Conocybe and Pholiotina have a hymeniform pileipellis. Psilocybe is similar in many aspects, including the viscid pileus, but it generally has a purple-brown, rather than brown, spore print. In Pleuroflammula praestans the stipe is excentric to lateral, the pileus is dry and squamulose, and the pileipellis can be a trichoderm. Pholiota malicola grows in large clusters on the ground (attached to buried wood), is large (stipe to 230 mm long) and lacks chrysocystidia.

Fourteen species, with more expected: Pholiota aff. adiposa (also referred to as P. aurivella and P. aff. cerifera), P. arenariobulbosa, P. carbonaria A.H.Sm., P. communis, P. fieldiana, P. aff. henningsii (in alpine bogs with Sphagnum), P. highlandensis (= P. carbonaria (Fr.) Singer), P. marangania (= Inocybe), P. multicingulata, P. pallidocaulis, P. punctata, P. squarrosipes, P. subpumila and P. viscofumosa.

Pholiota cincta and P. graminum (see Grgurinovic 1997) are excluded because details of spore print colour are not available; without this character it is not possible to distinguish them from Psilocybe.

Pholiota malicola is keyed out separately because of the very large fruit-bodies that grow in dense clusters.

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

In native forests or in parks and gardens. Some species common after fire.

On the ground or on wood or woody debris. Sometimes 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 P. communis]

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

Chang, Y.S., Gates, G.M. & Ratkowsky, D.A. (2006), Some new species of the Strophariaceae (Agaricales) in Tasmania, Australas. Mycol. 24: 53–68. [B&W Illustration, Description and Microcharacters of P. fieldiana, P. pallidocaulis and P. viscofumosa]

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

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 P. arenariobulbosa, P. communis, P. highlandensis, P. punctata, P. squarrosipes and P. subpumila, 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 P. aff. adiposa]

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

Matheny, P.B. & Bougher, N.L. (2010), Type studies of Australian species of Inocybe (Agaricales), Muelleria 28: 87–104. [Description and Microcharacters for P. marangania]

McCann, I.R. (2003), Australian Fungi Illustrated. Macdown Productions, Vermont. [Illustration of P. communis and another unidentified species]

Smith, A.H. & Hesler, L.R. (1968), The North American species of Pholiota. Hafner Publishing Company, New York. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of P. carbonaria and P. highlandensis, and Key to the North American species]

Wood, A.E. (2003), Some agarics of the Kosciuszko National Park, Australas. Mycol. 22: 39–43. [Description and Microcharacters of P. aff. henningsii]

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