[7] However a 2012 paper by Vizzini et al. proposes updated definitions based on DNA analysis and suggests that some progress on these issues is being made.

[10][11] The species name was originated by the Swedish mycologist Persoon in his 1801 publication Synopsis Methodica Fungorum,[12] as Agaricus melaleucus.

This formed the basis for the genus name Melanoleuca which was invented by Narcisse Théophile Patouillard in 1897 as a variant of Melaleuca.

[13] According to modern nomenclatural rules, the older genus name should normally take precedence, but an exception has been made by the International Botanical Congress and Melanoleuca has been declared a nomen conservandum, that is, a name which is to be considered valid irrespective of the rules of precedence.

[16] The American mycologist William Murrill devised the name Melanoleuca melaleuca in a 1911 article in the journal Mycologia.

[3] In certain treatments of the genus, including Funga Nordica[5] and Flora Agaricina Neerlandica,[4] M. melaleuca is defined as having no cheilocystidia, but molecular analysis by Vizzini et al. makes it clear that these cystidia may sometimes appear and sometimes be missing in the same species of Melanoleuca, implying that this feature should not be used to characterize the mushroom.

[6][7][19] According to Index Fungorum the latter is a valid current name,[20] but the former two references consider M. graminicola to be a synonym of M. melaleuca.

[23] This species is reported to be edible in both Europe and North America,[6][19][2] although information for the latter continent was unknown as late as 2006.

[24] The confusion described in the previous section does not imply any particular culinary danger because (as far as is known) the closely related species are also edible.