Editing Lepiota (section)

==Taxonomy==

===History===
''Agaricus'' [[section (botany)|section]] ''Lepiota'' was originally published in 1797 by South African-born [[mycologist]] [[Christian Hendrik Persoon]].<ref name="Persoon 1797"/> It was subsequently raised to the rank of genus by [[Samuel Frederick Gray]]. As originally conceived, the genus was a mix of agarics with rings on their stems, including species now placed in ''[[Armillaria]]'', ''[[Cortinarius]]'', and ''[[Pholiota]]''.<ref name=Gray1821/> In 1822, however, the influential Swedish mycologist [[Elias Magnus Fries]] restricted ''Lepiota'' to white-spored, ringed agarics.<ref name=Fries1822/>

Based on macro- and micromorphology, later authors gradually refined the generic concept of ''Lepiota''. Some unrelated genera, such as ''[[Cystoderma]]'' ([[Victor Fayod|Fayod]] 1889) and ''[[Limacella]]'' ([[Franklin Sumner Earle|Earle]] 1909), were removed from the genus whilst several related genera, including ''[[Leucocoprinus]]'' ([[Narcisse Théophile Patouillard|Patouillard]] 1888), ''[[Macrolepiota]]'' and ''[[Leucoagaricus]]'' ([[Rolf Singer|Singer]] 1948), ''[[Cystolepiota]]'' (Singer 1952), and ''[[Echinoderma]]'' ([[Marcel Bon|Bon]] 1991) were separated off. These segregated genera, together with ''Lepiota'' itself, are still often grouped together as ''Lepiota s.l.'' (''[[sensu lato]]'' = "in the wide sense") or as the "lepiotoid" fungi.<ref name=Candusso/><ref name = Johnson&Vilgalys/><ref name ="Aberdeen"/><ref name="Bon1991"/>

The [[secotioid fungus|secotioid]] species ''Amogaster viridiglebus'', described in 1996 and initially placed in the order [[Boletales]],<ref name="Castellano 1995"/> was later determined to be a member of ''Lepiota'', and officially transferred to the genus in 2013.<ref name="Ge 2013"/>

===Current status===
Following some discussion over the [[type species]],<ref name = "Donk62"/> ''Lepiota'' has now been conserved under the [[International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants]], typified by ''Agaricus colubrinus'' Pers. (= ''[[Lepiota clypeolaria]]'').<ref name = "Code"/> Recent [[Molecular phylogenetics|molecular]] research, based on [[cladistic]] analysis of [[DNA sequences]], suggests that the [[morphology (biology)|morphological]] concept of ''Lepiota s.s.'' (''sensu stricto'' = in the strict or narrow sense) is soundly based.<ref name = Johnson&Vilgalys/><ref name = Vellinga2003/><ref name = Vellinga2004/>

The name "Lepiota" is derived from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] λεπις (= "scale") + οὖς (= "ear").<ref name=Rea1922/>