Many were named, but few are current: The Hebeloma of Hesler, Smith, and coauthors

Abstract

During the 1970s and 1980s, L. R. Hesler and A. H. Smith, alone, together, or Smith with other authors such as V. S. Evenson and D. H. Mitchel, described numerous North American taxa in Hebeloma. With the inclusion of an early work by Smith and a later work by E. Grilli, who described a species based on material from Smith, 130 taxa were described and form the subject of this paper. Apart from two taxa that were (deliberately) invalidly published and two that were illegitimately published, all others are valid and legitimate names. After study of morphology, habitat, and location of collection (based on available material and information) as well as molecular analysis (insofar as this was successful), of these 128 validly published taxa we regard 14 as being current names; the remaining 114 are synonymized with other current names. These 14 species are Hebeloma albomarginatum, H. alpinicola, H. angelesiense, H. caulocystidiosum, H. immutabile, H. incarnatulum, H. kelloggense, H. mackinawense, H. nitidum, H. olympianum, H. parcivelum, H. praeolidum, H. pungens, and H. sporadicum. This brings up the number of currently recognized, validly published, Hebeloma species in America to 72.

Keywords: Basidiomycota; ectomycorrhizal fungi; type studies.