This fungus is quite versatile even for a saprotroph and is often found growing in clusters on woodchips, sawdust and compost heaps as well as directly from the ground or on trees.

[4] The species was first described as Agaricus cretaceus by the French botanist Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard in 1788.

[5] Bulliard produced a spectacular illustration of 'L'Agaric Cretacé' in one of his numerous volumes of 'Herbier de la France' and described the mushroom as fluffy and as white as chalk.

He noted that the mushrooms appeared in July and August and that he had only ever found them in hot greenhouses and planters under cold frames.

[8] In 1836 the Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries described Pluteus cretaceus which he gave the common name Krithvita champignonen which translates as 'chalk white mushroom'.

This species is now considered a synonym of L. cretaceus however the description given is quite basic noting only that it is a completely white mushroom with a hollow stem, a ring and no volva.

This species is common in Europe, all white but has gills which discolour pinkish with age whereas the tropical L. cretaceus would likely find the environmental conditions in late Autumn Sweden unfavourable.

[9] In 1871 the German mycologist Paul Kummer described Psalliota cretacea citing as a completely white mushroom usually with a tanned colour to the top of the cap.

This species does not appear to be illustrated amongst them however and little description is given besides the gills being white and only turning flesh coloured or brownish towards the end.

He says the species is edible with a pleasant flavour and that it grows in gardens, vineyards and cultivated fields in France during the Summer and Autumn.

in 1898 the German botanist Otto Kuntze proposed major reclassifications in his book entitled 'Revisio generum plantarum' and suggested that Michel Adanson's pre-Linnaean system genus Fungus should be resurrected for numerous Agaricus and Stropharia species with Fungus cretaceus being one of the new combinations created.

[19] Mattirolo agrees with the similarity being remarkable however it is unclear if he is referencing the gills or the taste and smell as when he says 'which I also used as food' it is not clear which species he is referring to.

Leucocoprinus cretaceus is a small dapperling mushroom with white flesh and a distinctively warty cap.

[23] Flora Agaricina Neerlandica provides more detail: Cap: 3.8–9 cm wide, starting hemispherical to convex or conico-convex expanding and flattening with age to become plano-concave with or without a slight umbo.

The surface is white and covered with woolly warts and scales (floccose squamulose) with a brownish yellow tinge at the centre of the cap.

The ring is halfway up the stem (median) and is flared to start before becoming pendulous, it is 5-10mm wide and thin with a felt like or submembranous texture, smooth on the upper surface and covered with a minute flocculose coating on the underneath.

[24] Leucocoprinus cretaceus is documented growing in plant pots and greenhouses[25] and so may have a worldwide distribution in captivity with introduction into the wild being possible where temperatures are suitable for these tropical species.

In a 1907 study the American mycologist Andrew Price Morgan documented Lepiota cretacea growing in 'rich soil in gardens' and in hot beds throughout North America.