Nolanea is a genus of small gray to brown pink-spored mushrooms which are mostly saprotrophic and grow on the ground. The cap can be conical, convex or umbonate in shape, often with a silky top. The gill

Gill

A gill is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water, afterward excreting carbon dioxide. The gills of some species such as hermit crabs have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist...

s have adnexed to adnate attachment (they can also be a little decurrent) and the stalk is fragile and often hollow. The spores are angular and are flesh colored to pink. Nolaneas are well known for being difficult to identify.

Very little is known about the edibility of Nolaneas, and some are poisonous. It has been considered a subgenus of the large genus Entoloma

Entoloma

Entoloma is a large genus of terrestrial pink-gilled mushrooms, with about 1000 species. They have a drab appearance, pink gills which are attached to the stem, a smooth thick cap, and angular spores. Most entolomas are saprobic...

rather than a genus in its own right. This is reinforced by data produced by the molecular study by Moncalvo in 2002, with species of Nolanea, Leptonia

Leptonia

Leptonia is a genus of small and medium sized pink-spored mushrooms that contains over 100 species. Leptonias are saprotrophic and most grow on the ground, but some are found on wood. The cap is thin and can be convex, plane, often depressed and usually has small scales...

and Inocephalus interspersed with various pinkgill species in a broadly monophyletic entolomatoid group.

External links

• The Nolanea Genus