{{Short description|Genus of fungi}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Clitocybe candicans a3 (1).jpg | image_caption = ''Leucocybe candicans'' | taxon = Leucocybe | authority = Vizzini, P.Alvarado, G.Moreno, & Consiglio (2015)<ref name="Alvaradoetal2015"/> | type_species = ''Leucocybe candicans'' | type_species_authority = (Pers.) Vizzini, P.Alvarado, G.Moreno, & Consiglio (2015)<ref name="Alvaradoetal2015"/> }}
'''''Leucocybe''''' is a small mushroom genus, consisting of 3 named species that were formerly placed in the genus ''Clitocybe'', which they resemble in overall appearance and morphology. They occur in woodlands growing on tree litter or disturbed ground.
==Etymology== The name ''Leucocybe'' is derived from Ancient Greek λευκός (''leucos''), referring to the color white, and κύβη (''cybe''), a reference to head or cap.<ref name="Alvaradoetal2015"/> ==Description== The genus was designated by DNA sequences that are unique that clade, but unique morphological features or character states that clearly distinguish it from other genera are unknown.<ref name="Alvaradoetal2015" /> Fruiting bodies tend to grow in a gregarious or caespitose pattern. Individual fruiting bodies are small to medium in size (up to about 9 cm). The pileus and lamellae are white to off-white to pale pinkish in color, and hygrophanous, becoming more whitish or buff on drying or with age. The pileus shape is plano-convex to convex to globose when young, becoming plane to depressed with age. The pileus surface is glabrous, though sometimes covered with a tomentose whitish layer when young. The lamellae are adnate or slightly decurrent. The spore deposit is white. The pileipellis hyphae are arranged as a cutis. The basidiospores are smooth, elliptic, and inamyloid. Hymenial cystidia are absent. Clamp connections are present in the hyphae.<ref name="Alvaradoetal2015" /><ref name=":0" />{{efn|name=fn1|This macro- and micromorphological description is primarily based on the protologue for the genus ''Leucocybe'' given in Alvardo, et al. (2015) but with additional character states included from the protologue for ''L. houghtonii'' in Das, et al. (2017).}}
== Taxonomy == ''Leucocybe'', along with ''Atractosporocybe'' and ''Rhizocybe'', is one of several genera that were segregated from ''Clitocybe'' based on molecular phylogenetic studies that found that these clades were more closely related to the families Lyophyllaceae and Entolomataceae than to ''Clitocybe'' proper.<ref name="Alvaradoetal2015">{{cite journal |vauthors=Alvarado P, Moreno G, Vizzini A, Consiglio G, Manjón JL, Setti L |year=2015 |title=''Atractosporocybe'', ''Leucocybe'' and ''Rhizocybe'', three new clitocyboid genera in the Tricholomatoid clade (Agaricales) with notes on ''Clitocybe'' and ''Lepista'' |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282709864_Atractosporocybe_Leucocybe_and_Rhizocybe_Three_new_clitocyboid_genera_in_the_tricholomatoid_clade_Agaricales_with_notes_on_Clitocybe_and_Lepis |journal=Mycologia |volume=107 |issue=1 |pages=123–36 |doi=10.3852/13-369 |hdl=2318/152676 |pmid=25344261 |s2cid=22901826 |hdl-access=free |accessdate=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hofstetter |first=Valérie |last2=Redhead |first2=Scott Alan |last3=Kauff |first3=Frank |last4=Moncalvo |first4=Jean-Marc |last5=Matheny |first5=Patrick Brandon |last6=Vilgalys |first6=Rytas |date=2014 |title=Taxonomic revision and examination of ecological transitions of the Lyophyllaceae (Basidiomycota, Agaricales) based on a multigene phylogeny |url=https://mathenylab.utk.edu/Site/Publications_files/Hofstetter_Lyophyllaceae_2014.CM.pdf |journal=Cryptogamie Mycologie |language=fr |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=399–425 |doi=10.7872/crym.v35.iss4.2014.399}}</ref> Subsequent studies have found that these genera are part of a larger clade that forms a sister group to the family Lyophyllaceae. This clade together, with the core Lyophyllaceae clade, are often designated Lyophyllaceae ''sensu lato'' in (as of 2025) current mycological literature.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alvarado |first=Pablo |last2=Moreau |first2=Pierre-Arthur |last3=Dima |first3=Bálint |last4=Vizzini |first4=Alfredo |last5=Consiglio |first5=Giovanni |last6=Moreno |first6=Gabriel |last7=Setti |first7=Ledo |last8=Kekki |first8=Tapio |last9=Huhtinen |first9=Seppo |last10=Liimatainen |first10=Kare |last11=Niskanen |first11=Tuula |date=2018 |title=Pseudoclitocybaceae fam. nov. (Agaricales, Tricholomatineae), a new arrangement at family, genus and species level |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324742309_Pseudoclitocybaceae_fam_nov_Agaricales_Tricholomatineae_a_new_arrangement_at_family_genus_and_species_level |journal=Fungal Diversity |language=en |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=109–133 |doi=10.1007/s13225-018-0400-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=He |first=Zheng-Mi |last2=Chen |first2=Zuo-Hong |last3=Bau |first3=Tolgor |last4=Wang |first4=Geng-Shen |last5=Yang |first5=Zhu L |date=2023 |title=Systematic arrangement within the family Clitocybaceae (Tricholomatineae, Agaricales): phylogenetic and phylogenomic evidence, morphological data and muscarine-producing innovation |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/375959665_Systematic_arrangement_within_the_family_Clitocybaceae_Tricholomatineae_Agaricales_phylogenetic_and_phylogenomic_evidence_morphological_data_and_muscarine-producing_innovation |journal=Fungal Diversity |language=en |volume=123 |issue=1 |pages=1–47 |doi=10.1007/s13225-023-00527-2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vizzini |first=A |last2=Alvarado |first2=P |last3=Consiglio |first3=G |last4=Marchetti |first4=M |last5=Xu |first5=J |date=2024 |title=Family matters inside the order Agaricales: Systematic reorganization and classification of ‘’incertae sedis’’ clitocyboid, pleurotoid and tricholomatoid taxa based on an updated 6-gene phylogeny |url=https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wfbi/sim/2024/00000107/00000001/art00003 |journal=Studies in Mycology |language=en |volume=107 |issue=1 |pages=67–148 |doi=10.3114/sim.2024.107.02 |pmid=38600959}}</ref>
==Species== As of 2025, the genus consists of 3 named species:<ref name="SF1">{{cite web |title=''Leucocybe'' |url=http://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp?strGenus=Leucocybe |accessdate=2023-09-07 |work=Species Fungorum |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew}}</ref> *''L. candicans'' (Pers.) Vizzini, P. Alvarado, G. Moreno & Consiglio (2015) - formerly ''Clitocybe candicans.<ref name="Alvaradoetal2015" />'' *''L. connata'' (Schumach.) Vizzini, P. Alvarado, G. Moreno & Consiglio (2015) - formerly ''Lyophyllum connatum'' or ''Clitocybe connata''.<ref name="Alvaradoetal2015" /> *''L. houghtonii'' (W. Phillips) Halama & Pencak. (2017) - formerly ''Clitocybe houghtonii''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Das |first=Kanad |last2=Ghosh |first2=Aniket |last3=Chakraborty |first3=Dyutiparna |last4=Li |first4=Jingwei |last5=Qiu |first5=Lihong |last6=Baghela |first6=Abhishek |last7=Halama |first7=Marek |last8=Hembrom |first8=Manoj E |last9=Mehmood |first9=Tahir |last10=Parihar |first10=Arvind |last11=Pencakowski |first11=Bartosz |last12=Bielecka |first12=Monika |last13=Reczyńska |first13=Kamila |last14=Sasiela |first14=Dorota |last15=Singh |first15=Upendra |date=2017 |title=Fungal biodiversity profiles 31–40 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320183350_Fungal_Biodiversity_Profiles_31-40 |journal=Cryptogamie Mycologie |language=en |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=353–406 [369–377] |doi=10.7872/crym/v38.iss3.2017.353}}</ref>
''Leucocybe candicans'' is designated as the type species.<ref name= "Alvaradoetal2015"/>
Two other species have been found to fall into the same clade as ''Leucocybe'' but have not undergone a name change from ''Clitocybe''. The first is a species in the basal position in this clade, named in collections as ''C. subditopoda''. However, because there were other collections also named as ''C. subditopoda'' that were found to be phylogenetically unrelated to ''Leucocybe'' or ''Clitocybe'', renaming of this species awaits further taxonomic study to clarify the species concept and prevent misidentification of collections used in phylogenetic studies.<ref name="Alvaradoetal2015" />
The other is the western North American species ''C. salmonilamella'', which molecular phylogenetic studies have indicated falls into the ''Leucocybe'' clade, and is a sister species of the European species ''L. houghtonii''.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moreau |first=Pierre-Arthur |last2=Courtecuisse |first2=Régis |last3=Bellanger |first3=Jean-Michel |date=2015 |title=Les noms qui changent…(2): Agaricales, Boletales et Tricholomatales |url=https://www.smnf.fr/index.php/tome-xxxvi/#tome-36/86/ |journal=Documents Mycologiques |volume=36 |pages=85–101 [96–97]}} {{ResearchGatePub|291485662}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Qing |first=CAI |last2=Yun-Jiao |first2=Lüli |last3=Gerhard |first3=Kost |last4=Zhu-Liang |first4=Yang |date=2020 |title=‘’Tricholyophyllum brunneum’’ gen. et. sp. nov. with bacilliform basidiospores in the family Lyophyllaceae. |url=https://manu40.magtech.com.cn/Jwxb/CN/10.13346/j.mycosystema.200231 |journal=Mycosystema |language=en |volume=39 |issue=9 |pages=1728–1740 [1735] |doi=10.13346/j.mycosystema.200231}}</ref> However, so far there has been no validly published renaming of that species as a ''Leucocybe.''
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q19597734}}
Category:Agaricales genera Category:Lyophyllaceae Category:Taxa described in 2015