The genus Conocybe subgen. Pholiotina. I. The European annulate species

Sixty-five collections, comprising all known European annulate species of Conocybe, subgenus Pholiotina, were examined, including the type specimens of C. vexans P. D. Orton and C. percincta P. D. Orton. In accordance with Orton, it is argued that Ricken, Kühner, and several other authors reversed the original conception of C. blattaria and C. togularis, as used by Fries, but that the specific epithet ‘togularis’ should be replaced by ‘arrhenii’. Conocybe aporos and C. arrhenii var. hadrocystis are described as a new species and a new variety respectively. It is argued that C. vexans is conspecific with C. blattaria, and C. percincta with C. teneroides. Singer’s observation—hitherto the only one of its kind—that 2-spored basidia may occur in C. pilaris was confirmed and such basidia were also found in one collection of C. arrhenii. The taxonomic significance of several macroscopic and microscopic characters, often used for the distinction of the species are both scrutinized and criticized and often found to be very little or none. A key to the annulate species of the subgenus Pholiotina, chiefly based on the characters of spores and cheilocystidia, is given.