TheHygrophoraceae are afamily offungi in theorderAgaricales. Originally conceived as containing white-spored, thick-gilledagarics (gilled mushrooms), includingHygrophorus andHygrocybe species (the waxcaps or waxy caps), DNA evidence has extended the limits of the family, so it now contains not only agarics, but alsobasidiolichens andcorticioid fungi. Species are thus diverse and are variouslyectomycorrhizal,lichenized, associated withmosses, orsaprotrophic. The family contains 34genera and over 1000 species.^[3] None is of any great economic importance, though fruit bodies of someHygrocybe andHygrophorus species are considered edible and may be collected for sale in local markets.

Hygrophoraceae
Hygrophorus eburneus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Agaricales
Family:	Hygrophoraceae Lotsy (1907)[1]
Type genus
Hygrophorus Fr. (1836)
Genera
Acantholichen Aeruginospora Ampulloclitocybe Aphroditeola Arrhenia Cantharellula Cantharocybe Chromosera Chrysomphalina Cora Corella[2] Cuphophyllus Cyphellostereum Dictyonema Eonema Gliophorus Gloioxanthomyces Haasiella Hygroaster Hygrocybe Hygrophorus Humidicutis Lichenomphalia Neohygrocybe Porpolomopsis Pseudoarmillariella Semiomphalina

The family Hygrophoraceae was first proposed by Dutch botanistJohannes Paulus Lotsy (1907) to accommodateagarics with thick, waxylamellae (gills) and whitespores. Lotsy's concept of the family included not only the waxcap-related generaHygrophorus,Hygrocybe,Camarophyllus (=Hygrophorus), andGodfrinia (=Hygrocybe), but alsoGomphidius (despite its blackish spores) andNyctalis (=Asterophora).^[1] Not all subsequent authors accepted the Hygrophoraceae;Carleton Rea (1922), for example, continued to place these genera within a widely definedAgaricaceae.^[4]

In his major and influential revision of the Agaricales, however,Rolf Singer (1951) did accept the Hygrophoraceae, omittingGomphidius andNyctalis, but includingNeohygrophorus.^[5] Singer's circumscription, with a few later additions, was followed by most authors until the 1990s. Thus the 1995 edition of theDictionary of the Fungi listedAustroomphaliaster,Bertrandia (=Hygrocybe),Camarophyllopsis,Cuphophyllus,Humidicutis,Hygroaster,Hygrocybe,Hygrophorus,Hygrotrama (=Camarophyllopsis),Neohygrophorus (=Pseudoomphalina), andPseudohygrocybe (=Hygrocybe) as genera of the Hygrophoraceae.^[6]Cornelis Bas (1990),^[7] however, did not consider the group distinct, placing the hygrophoroid genera within theTricholomataceae, a disposition followed by the next (2001) edition of theDictionary of the Fungi.^[8] In contrast,Marcel Bon (1990) believed the Hygrophoraceae were so distinct, he placed the family in its own separate order, theHygrophorales.^[9]

Recentmolecular research, based oncladistic analysis ofDNA sequences, suggests the Hygrophoraceae are distinct from the Tricholomataceae and aremonophyletic (and hence a natural grouping).^[10] The generaCamarophyllopsis andNeohygrophorus, however, do not belong within the family,^[10] but several other agaric and non-agaric genera do. The agaric genera includeAmpulloclitocybe,Cantharellula, andLichenomphalia,^[10][11] as well as the partly agaric, partlycyphelloid genusArrhenia.^[11] The non-agaric genera include thecorticioidEonema (formerly placed inAthelia) andCyphellostereum, as well as the shelf-likebasidiolichen generaAcantholichen,Cora,Corella andDictyonema.^[2][11] As a result, the Hygrophoraceae as currently understood have no knownmorphological features in common that define them (synapomorphy).

The majority of species in the Hygrophoraceae are ground-dwelling, though a few (such asChrysomphalina species) occur on wood, or on mosses (Arrhenia species), or herbaceous stems (Eonema pyriforme). Most are found in woodland, though (in Europe at least)Hygrocybe species are typical ofwaxcap grasslands.^[12]

Species are nutritionally diverse.Hygrophorus species areectomycorrhizal, typically forming associations with the roots of living trees.Hygrocybe species are now believed to be moss associates,^[13] as are some or all species ofArrhenia andCantharellula.^[11] Three genera,Acantholichen,Dictyonema, andLichenomphalina, arebasidiolichens, forming associations withalgae andcyanobacteria.^[11] A few genera, such asAmpulloclitocybe andEonema, may besaprotrophic.

Members of the Hygrophoraceae are distributed worldwide, from the tropics to the subpolar regions. Over 400 species have been described to date.

Fruit bodies of someHygrophorus andHygrocybe species are edible and widely collected, sometimes being offered for sale in local markets.^[14] Examples of wild mushrooms collected and sold includeHygrophorus russula,H. purpurascens,H. chrysodon, andH. hypothejus in Mexico,^[15] andH. eburneus andH. latitabundus in theSpanish Pyrenees.^[16]Hygrophorus gliocyclus was used as food by theSt'at'imc andNlaka'pamux people of Canada.^[17] None is cultivated commercially.

•  
  Hygrophorus erubescens
•  
  Cora pavonia
•  
  Arrhenia spathulata
•  
  Humidicutis lewelliniae

• Dugan FM. (2011).Conspectus of World Ethnomycology. St. Paul, Minnesota: American Phytopathological Society.ISBN 978-0-89054-395-5.
• Lodge DJ, Padamsee M, Matheny PB, Aime MC, Cantrell SA, Boertmann D, et al. (2014)."Molecular phylogeny, morphology, pigment chemistry and ecology in Hygrophoraceae (Agaricales)"(PDF).Fungal Diversity.64 (1):1–99.doi:10.1007/s13225-013-0259-0.