Its best-known member is the distinctive yellow mushroom Leucocoprinus birnbaumii, which is found in plant pots and greenhouses worldwide.

Flaky or woolly scales on the cap or stem of these mushrooms and a distinctly coloured central disc are common features amongst many species but are likewise observed in many other genera.

Numerous species in this genus were introduced to Europe by early explorers bringing exotic plants back from tropical climates which carried unseen fungal hitchhikers in the soil.

[9] In 1793 British botanist James Sowerby observed it growing at Wormleybury manor,[13] likely in the hothouses and greenhouses which contained plants from the East Indies and India.

[15][16][17] Leucocoprinus cretaceus was also first classified in 1788 by Pierre Bulliard from observations made in greenhouses and in planters under cold frames in France[10] however as Bulliard's illustration more closely matched that of L. cepistipes it caused confusion in the identification of these two species.

[18] In 1871 the German botanist Otto Kuntze stated that the mushrooms grew in large numbers in gardens and greenhouses but did not appear too often.

Centuries of buying and selling tropical plants has created an effective distribution network for Leucocoprinus species as the conditions of greenhouses and indoor plant pots can mimic the warm and humid tropical conditions which these mushrooms require.