Full name: Hebeloma senescens Berk. & Broome (1882)
Published: Annals and Magazine of Natural History 5th Ser. 9: 178 (1882)
Taxonomic status: Heterotypic synonym of H. laterinum
Notes: Replacement name for Agaricus senescens Batsch, Elench. Fung. 2: 35 (1789); nom. illegit. (Art. 53.1); non Agaricus senescens Willd., Fl. Berol. Prodr.: 376 (1787).

Types: Batsch, Elench. Fung. 2: 178 (1789) pl. 197, lectotype (icon) designated by Beker et al., Hebeloma (Fr.) P. Kumm.: (2016) page 638 (MBT203031)

The Batsch plate, designated as lectotype (Elench. Fung. 2: pl. 197, 1789), is mentioned in the protogue

Original diagnosis: Pileo e convexo explanato leviter glutinosos ochraceo-fulvo, extremo margine subtiliter tomentoso albo; stipite primum deorsum bulboso fusco, dein, excepto apice candido tomentoso, squamuloso, solido; lamellis confertis primum pallidis adnexis, dein cinnamomeis; carne alba, odore acri.

English translation: Pileus convex then expanded, slightly glutinous, ochre-reddish brown, at margin subtly white tomentose; stipe at first with a brown basal bulb, then, apart from apex, white tomentose, squamulose, solid; lamellae crowded pallid, adnexed at first, then cinnamon brown; context white, odour acrid.

Commentary: Since Batsch’s name was illegitimate, technically this is a replacement name. From the diagnosis it is not possible to say what this is, but within the protologue the authors note: “exactly resembling the figure of Batsch ... always dark below”. We therefore assume that this is: = Hebeloma laterinum (Batsch) Vesterh.

Full name: Agaricus senescens Batsch (1789)
Published: Elench. Fung. 2: 35 (1789)
Taxonomic status: Heterotypic synonym of H. laterinum
Types: Batsch, Elench. Fung. 2: 35 (1789) pl. 197, lectotype (icon) designated by Beker et al., Hebeloma (Fr.) P. Kumm.: (2016) page 638 (MBT203031)

Original diagnosis: Ochracea-ferrugineus, subfulvellus, murabilis; stipite subbulboso, obscuriore, floccis pallidis transverse seriatis squamoso, subudo, pileo vario, flaventiore, viscido, laminis latis pallidis ferrugineo-fulvellis. Fungus essentiali suo charactere quidem constans, licet aetate habitu externo insigniter diversus. Pileus in juniori magis ochraceo-carneus, leniter in ferrugineum vergens, subviscidus, superficie et margine rigidior, convexius ubique pulvinatus. Adulti pileus mollior, viscositate madens, ferrugineo-luteus, margine interdum, ut huc, pliculis crebris crispatus. Pilei massa stipiti imponitur, medio leniter incrassata, vix cum stipite confluens, versus marginem sensim tenuata, attamen valida. Stipes junioris fungi carneum magis servat colorem, subfulventem, et sustantiam vel superficiem sicciorem, squamae floccosae, laxae revolutae eum obtegunt majores, colore similes. Provectioris stipes inferne udior et nigro-fulvus superne nigro-fuscus, opacior, siccior, et ibidem floccis subsquamosis, ochraceo-lividus, conspersus. Laminae laxae, oblongae, termino utroque convexo, interno sere obtusatae, longiores vix stipiti adnatae, pallide brunnescentes, subferrugineae, marginibus inaequales et albo-pruinatae, quadruplici ordine alternantes. Substantia ochracea, in aere demum subluteo-ferruginea, alutacea, seu suberoso-carnosa in pileo, fasciculariter fibrosa in stipite, in cujus etiam supra laminas continuato cortice obscurius est colorata. Legi fungos hos copiosos fine Septembris, et Octobris initio, in pineto ante sylvulam Forst, anno 1788, jam ante decennium ibidem visos.

English translation: An ochraceous to rust-coloured, somewhat red-brownish, variable fungus with a somewhat bulbous, darker and somewhat moist stipe covered with pale, transversally arranged flakes; with a variable, more yellow, sticky pileus and with broad lamellae with a pale rusty to red-brown colour. This fungus exhibits its essential characters in a very constant manner, although its exterior aspect is very variable depending on its age. The pileus is more ochraceous to flesh-coloured in younger fungi with a delicate rust-brown nuance, somewhat sticky, it has rigid surfaces and margins and is rounded and pulvinate everywhere. In mature fungi it is softer, completely moistened by stickiness, rust-coloured, saturated yellow, and sometimes, as shown here, it has a densely wrinkled margin. The mass of the pileus is standing only on the stipe and it is scarcely confluent with it; it is thicker in the centre and becomes thinner towards the margin, though even there it is still fairly thick. The stipe of the younger fungi is more flesh-coloured with a tendency to brown-red, and it has a surface that has a drier structure, like the context. The floccose scales have the same colour as the stipe, they are larger than in older fungi, loosely arranged recurved. The older fungi have stipes which are moist and blackish red-brown in the lower part and black-brown, more opaque and drier in the upper part where they are covered with squamulose ochraceous and discoloured flakes. The lamellae are flaccid, oblong, rounded at both ends, almost obtuse at the inner end. The larger lamellae hardly reach the stipe. The colour is pale deep-brown, somewhat rusty, the edges are irregular and covered with a white pruina. The lamellae have four different lengths. The context is ochre, but finally, when exposed to air, it becomes somewhat saturated yellow to rust-coloured; it is delicately leathery or corky fleshy in the pileus, but fibrillose in the stipe, and it has a darker colour in the cortex of the stipe, which continues also above the lamellae on the lower surface of the pileus. I found these fungi growing abundantly at the end of September and the beginning of October 1788 in the pine grove in front of the Forst forest, where I had already noticed them ten years earlier.

Commentary: From the protologue and the published illustration, there is no doubt that this species is: = Hebeloma laterinum (Batsch) Vesterh. But also see Hebeloma senescens Berk. & Broome.