Czech mycologist Josef Herink transferred it to the genus Neohygrocybe in 1958, but this combination was not validly published.

Recent molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has confirmed that Neohygrocybe nitrata is a distinct species but does not belong in Hygrocybe sensu stricto.

[5] Neohygrocybe pseudoingrata, recently described from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, has a similar nitrous smell, but basidiocarps are typically larger and paler with white stipes.

[6] Neohygrocybe nitrata is typical of waxcap grasslands, a declining habitat due to changing agricultural practices.

[1] Neohygrocybe nitrata also appears on the official or provisional national red lists of threatened fungi in several European countries, including Croatia,[7] Czech Republic,[7] Denmark,[8] Germany,[9] and Norway.