The first description of this species was made in 1805 by Johannes Baptista von Albertini and Lewis David de Schweinitz who classified it as Agaricus flammula.

[8] In addition to these basionyms, in 1871 Agaricus licmophorus was described by Berkeley and the British mycologist Christopher Edmund Broome.

[10] It was reclassified as Lepiota licmophora by the Italian mycologist Pier Andrea Saccardo in 1887 and then Mastocephalus licmophorus by the German botanist Otto Kunze in his extensive proposed list of reclassifications of 1891.

With only written descriptions and illustrations to compare as well as the slow rate of information dissemination that came from printed journals it is to be expected that these species were originally described numerous times.

Stem: 4–9 cm long and 1-2mm thick running equally down to a small, very slightly bulbous base.

[2] In 1867 the Belgian botanist Jean Kickx documented Agaricus flammula growing in tanbark in the greenhouses of the Ghent Botanical garden during August and September.

[19] In 1871 Berkeley and Broome described Lepiota licmophorus from Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) where it was found growing on the ground.

[9] In 1874 Gillet described Lepiota flammula from France where they were observed growing in small tufts of 3-4 mushrooms in greenhouses in the Summer and Autumn.

[4] In a 1907 Morgan documented Lepiota fragilissima growing on earth and decayed vegetation on the edges of swamps in South Carolina where it was found individually and in groups.