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Can you help?
We would like to extend our coverage of this important group of fungi. If you have taken suitable pictures of other Entoloma or Pluteus species and are willing for us to show them - with proper acknowledgement of course - we would be most grateful. If you can help, please email us...
The Entolomataceae comprise some 300 species in Europe. This group
includes the Entoloma and Pluteus genera as well as Clitopilus and Volvariella.
Entoloma fungi grow on soil, while Pluteus species require
rotting wood as a substrate. Spore prints from all fungi in this group are
either pink or a light brownish-pink.
Larger pictures, identification guides and a wealth of information on these
and hundreds of other species are contained on the First-Nature CD-ROM Guide to Fungi.
| The Entolomataceae are mainly small to medium-sized fungi with pinkish
gills and pink spores, although it also includes a few large fungi. |
| The Entoloma genus is remarkable for the consistency of its gill colours
contrasted with a wide range of cap colours. Entoloma nitidum, for
example, is a dark steely blue, while other species in the same genus have caps
of cream, tan, brown and black. |

Entoloma
nitidum
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| The Pluteus genus comprises wood rotting fungi. Although normally between
2 and 12 cm in cap diameter, when Pluteus fungi grow on sawdust they can
be very large indeed. The caps of Pluteus cervinus, commonly known as the
Fawn Pluteus (even though several other fungi in this genus are fawn!) can
attain a diameter of 25 cm when growing on a substrate of rotting sawdust. |

Pluteus
cervinus
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| There are some 300 European species identified within the family Entolomataceae. |
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