The species was originally defined as Agaricus whitei by Berkeley and Broome in 1876[3] and transferred to the genus Inocybe by Saccardo in 1887.

The species was also described independently as Inocybe pudica by Robert Kühner in 1947.

[5][6] The epithet whitei was given in honour of Dr. Buchanan White, a naturalist of Perthshire.

[3] The mushroom cap is 2–4 cm wide, conical then convex to flat with an umbo.

The spores are brown, elliptical, and smooth.