It is widely distributed in northern temperate zones, where it grows in deciduous and coniferous forest.

[2] The fruit bodies of Lepiota clypeolaria grow singly or in small groups on the ground in deciduous and coniferous forests.

[3] The species was first described in 1789 as Agaricus clypeolarius by French mycologist Jean Baptiste Francois Bulliard.

[4] L. clypeolaria is probably the best known of the section Fusisporae within genus Lepiota, whose members are characterized by long spindle-shaped spores and a fluffy stem beneath the ring.

[5] The species Lepiota ochraceosulfurescens may be distinguished as having a less defined dark area in the cap centre, a smell of rubber or melted butter, and yellow flesh in the stipe base,[6] but in Species Fungorum and Funga Nordica this name is regarded as a synonym.