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Among 45 Russula species and infraspecific taxa described by J. Blum, only few are currently accepted. Here we present a case study on R. formosa nom. illeg. (homotypic synonym of R. blumiana), R. decipiens var. ochrospora nom. inval. and R. roseobrunnea. The study is based on sequences and morphological observations of authentic herbarium material determined by J. Blum. The sequence data demonstrate that R. decipiens var. ochrospora is probably identical with the type variety and R. roseobrunnea is probably conspecific with R. rutila. Russula blumiana is recognised and described in detail as a good species related to R. badia.

Hodophilus atropunctus is traditionally defined as the only species of this genus with dark brown or black dots on the stipe. Multi-locus phylogenetic reconstruction recognised two distinct clades morphologically corresponding to this species concept. The limited morphological description in the protologue of H. atropunctus and absence of a type specimen were limitations in an assignment of this name to one of the recognised phylogenetic species. The emended species concept and the selection of a neotype are based on careful analyses of the colour of the basidiomata and how this changes during maturation and drying. The name H. atropunctus is assigned to the paler of the two species which also shows colour change across the pileus and along the length of the stipe when dry. The second darker species is described here as new, H. variabilipes, but only seven out of 14 collections examined belonging to this taxon had distinct dark coloured dots on the stipe surface.

Five North American Hodophilus species with naphthalene-like odours are now recognized based on sequence and (or) morphological data and molecular annotation of type collections. Two well-supported eastern North American species do not match any of the studied types and are described here as new: Hodophilus hesleri and Hodophilus smithii. The previously described Hodophilus paupertinus is found to represent an autonomous species and appears restricted to western North America. Hodophilus subfuscescens is found to be an independent lineage in eastern North America. A morphological type study of Hodophilus peckianus shows that it is a distinct species and not represented among recent collections. Multilocus phylogenetic analyses of European and North American material of species with naphthalene odours reveal no species with transatlantic distributions. Overall, Hodophilus comprises two superclades (the Hodophilus foetens superclade and the Hodophilus micaceus superclade) and 16 terminal clades that correspond to phylogenetic species. This study introduces a new approach for morphological delimitation of agaricoid Clavariaceae combining shape and dimensions of particular elements in the pileipellis and caulocystidia. All previously described taxa included in this study, which were previously treated in the genera Hygrophorus, Camarophyllopsis, or Hygrotrama, are formally transferred to Hodophilus.

The types or authentic material of four members of Russula subsect. Maculatinae recognized by Romagnesi were studied: R. decipiens, R. decipiens var. vermiculata nom. inval., R. deceptiva and R. romagnesii. All studied specimens showed several similar micromorphological characters, particularly important one-celled pileocystidia, suggesting their close relationship. Based on the differences in spore ornamentation and terminal cells of hyphae in pileipellis near the cap margin, two morphotypes were recognized. The first one, represented by the neotypus of R. decipiens and authentic material of R. decipiens var. vermiculata nom. inval., has lower spore ornamentation with more numerous warts and apically constricted, terminal cells of hyphae in pileipellis as compared to the second morphotype represented by the holotypus of R. deceptiva and paratypus of R. romagnesii.

A taxonomic and nomenclatural revision of some representatives of Clavariaceae is presented based on extensive collecting in central and western Europe. Five species originally described from Europe are identified, redescribed and delimited: Clavaria fragilis, Ramariopsis crocea, R. corniculata, R. helvola and R. pulchella. Lectotypes, epitypes or neotypes are designated for all these species. Descriptions are based on macro- and micromorphological characters and supplemented with DNA analyses of the nrLSU regions from 20 specimens. The molecular phylogenetic analyses reconstructed a phylogram showing relation- ships among the discussed species as well as some closely related taxa. The taxonomic value of the ratio of length and width of spores (Q-value) is discussed.

Melanoleuca brevipes (basionym Agaricus brevipes) represents one of the most frequently identified Melanoleuca species. However, there are several concepts of this taxon, and thus the identity of this species is unclear. This species was studied, based on the original table by Bulliard, macromorphological and micromorphological characters, and DNA sequences of recent collections and herbarium specimens. DNA sequences of ITS, RPB2 and tef1 markers revealed that specimens identified as M. brevipes belong to three species (M. humilis, M. grammopodia, and M. malenconii), where M. humilis or M. malenconii may resemble Bulliard’s original species. According to these results, Agaricus brevipes is therefore considered a nomen dubium. A lectotype of M. grammopodia is proposed herein.

Crepidotus stenocystis and C. brunnescens are morphologically similar species defined by globose to subglobose spores, the presence of clamp connections in all tissues and bottle-like or flask-like cheilocystidia. They are also similar in the pileal aspect which is hygrophanous, glabrous or white-fibrillose, at first white but becoming brownish with age. Each are described from separate continents and have only been reported from their respective continents, C. stenocystis from Europe and C. brunnescens from North America. The phylogenetic analysis of ITS and LSU nrDNA regions from original type material confirms the existence of two distinct species, C. brunnescens that is more closely related to C. malachioides , and C. stenocystis that is more closely related to C. applanatus . Crepidotus stenocystis differs from C. brunnescens by its more prominent spore ornamentation and longer cheilocystidia that are frequently narrowly utriform. Based on the studied material and published data, it seems that C. stenocystis is distributed throughout all of Europe and does not occur in North America, whereas C. brunnescens is only known from Michigan in the USA.

In a recent paper, Lepiota rufipes ss. orig. (a North American taxon) was synonymised with Cystolepiota seminuda. Accordingly, Lepiota coloratipes sp. nov. is here described for the taxon usually referred to as L. rufipes in Europe. On the basis of recent collections from Europe and China, a full description, colour pictures of basidiomata, line drawings of microscopic features and ITS phylogenetic analysis are provided. A unique combination of morphological characters-i.e. hymeniform pileus covering, cheilocystidia of variable shape, fugacious partial veil not forming an annulus, presence of oil droplets in all tissues, and uninucleate spores-corresponds to an isolated position of its sequences in the phylogenetic tree.

The current generally accepted concept of Russula maculata defines the species by yellow-brownish spots on the basidiomata, an acrid taste, a yellow spore print and a red pileus. This concept was tested using collections originating from various geographical areas mainly in Europe. Analyses of the ITS region suggested that there were three species within this broad concept. One of them, R. maculata , was identified based on the sequence from the epitype. Two other species, R. nympharum and R. sp., are described here as newly identified species. The European species R. maculata and R. nympharum grow in deciduous forests, are similar in their field aspect and are distinctly different in micro-morphological characteristics of spores, pleurocystidia and pileipellis. An Asian species, R. sp., is associated with pine and has smaller basidiomata and spores. These three species form the R. maculata complex and represent the sister clade to the R. globispora complex. This clade consists of species also characterized by a yellow-brownish context discolouration but with a different type of spore ornamentation. All of the other tested species had an acrid taste and yellow spore print but did not have a conspicuous yellow-brownish context discolouration and were placed in various unrelated clades.

In this second contribution on native American species in Russula subsect. Decolorantes , the authors focus on four additional species that exhibit a blackening context: two species from the West Coast, R. californiensis and R. occidentalis , and two species from the East Coast, R. rubescens and R. rubriceps . A key to the species in Decolorantes is provided. Russula californiensis and R. rubescens are lectotypified.