Rickenella is most similar to Contumyces and Blasiphalia, from the former differing by having its cystidia on the cap, stipe, and hymenium solitary and scattered. The hair-like cystidia on the cap and stipe give the small mushrooms a fuzzy appearance when viewed through a magnifying glass or hand lens.[7][8] This helps to distinguish the genus from genera like Loreleia, which can be orange colored and inhabits similar sites, as well as other brightly pigmented omphalinoid genera. Rickenella does not produce massive clasping, hand-like appressoria on the rhizoids of its host, as does Blasiphalia. Instead, Rickenella produces a small appressorium or no appressoria and penetrates the rhizoids of its moss hosts, growing within the cells.[9][10][11]
The monotypic genus Blasiphalia is a recent molecular segregate of Rickenella.[5]
Etymology
Rickenella was named after the German mycologist Adalbert Ricken, the author of "Die Blätterpilze (Agaricaceae) (1915) Deutschlands und der angrenzenden Länder, besonders Oesterreichs und der Schweiz".[12]
^Dentinger, B.T.M. & McLaughlin, D.J.' (2006). "Reconstructing the Clavariaceae using nuclear large subunit rDNA sequences and a new genus segregated from Clavaria". Mycologia. 98 (5): 746–762. doi:10.3852/mycologia.98.5.746. PMID17256578.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Kuyper TW (1986). "Generic delimitation in European omphalinoid Tricholomataceae. La Famiglia delle Tricholomataceae. Atti del Convegno Internazionale de 10–15 settembre 1984". Atti del Centro Studi per la Fora Mediterranea. 6: 83–104.
^Redhead SA (1981). "Parasitism of bryophytes by agarics". Canadian Journal of Botany. 59 (1): 63–67. doi:10.1139/b81-011.
^Kost G. (1986). "Morphology, anatomy and biology of species of the genus Rickenella. La Famiglia delle Tricholomataceae. Atti del Convegno Internazionale de 10-15 settembre 1984". Atti del Centro Studi per la Fora Mediterranea. 6: 63–81.
