Melanoleuca melaleuca is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of mushroom

Mushroom

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...

 in the Tricholomataceae

Tricholomataceae

The Tricholomataceae are a large family of mushrooms within the Agaricales. A classic "wastebasket taxon", the Tricholomataceae is inclusive of any white-, yellow-, or pink-spored genera in the Agaricales not already classified as belonging to the Amanitaceae, Lepiotaceae, Hygrophoraceae,...

 family, and the type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 of the genus Melanoleuca

Melanoleuca

Melanoleuca is a genus of mushrooms in the Tricholomataceae family. Most are small to medium sized, white to brown, with white spores and close gills. They grow directly from the ground, have a nearly flat cap and a tough thin stem. The spores of members of Melanoleuca are ornamented with...

. First described under the name Agaricus melaleucus by Christian Hendrik Persoon

Christian Hendrik Persoon

Christiaan Hendrik Persoon was a mycologist who made additions to Linnaeus' mushroom taxonomy.-Early life:...

 in his 1801 Synopsis Methodica Fungorum, the species was moved to a number of different genera before the American mycologist William Murrill

William Murrill

William Alphonso Murrill was an American mycologist, known for his contributions to the knowledge of the Agaricales and Polyporaceae.- Education :...

 transferred it to Melanoleuca in 1911. It is a widely distributed edible

Edible mushroom

Edible mushrooms are the fleshy and edible fruiting bodies of several species of fungi. Mushrooms belong to the macrofungi, because their fruiting structures are large enough to be seen with the naked eye. They can appear either below ground or above ground where they may be picked by hand...

species, known from Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and Oceania.