For most of the 20th century it has been known under the names Volvariella gloiocephala or V. speciosa, but recent molecular studies have placed it as the type species of the genus Volvopluteus, newly created in 2011.

V. gloiocephalus is a saprotrophic fungus that grows on grassy fields and accumulations of organic matter like compost or woodchip piles.

It was originally described as Agaricus gloiocephalus by Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1815[2] and later sanctioned under this name by Elias Magnus Fries in 1821.

[3] The French mycologist Claude Gillet transferred it in 1878[4] to the genus Volvaria erected by Paul Kummer just a few years earlier in 1871.

[6] The generic name Volvariella, proposed by the Argentinean mycologist Carlos Luis Spegazzini in 1899,[7] would eventually be adopted for this group in 1953 after a proposal to conserve Kummer's Volvaria against De Candolle's Volvaria was rejected by the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi[8] established under the principles of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

[16] The cap of V. gloiocephalus is between 5 and 15 cm (2 and 6 in) in diameter, more or less ovate or conical when young, then expands to convex or flat, sometimes with a slight central depression in old specimens.

The surface is markedly viscid in fresh basidiocarps; the color ranges from pure white to grey or greyish brown.

The gills are crowded, free from the stipe, ventricose (swollen in the middle), and up to 2 cm (0.8 in) broad; they are white when young but turn pink with age.

V. earlei has smaller fruit bodies (cap less than 5 cm (2 in) in diameter), has no pleurocystidia (usually), and the cheilocystidia usually have a very long apical excrescence (outgrowth).

[21] Volvopluteus gloiocephalus is a saprotrophic mushroom that grows on the ground in gardens, grassy fields, both in and outside forest areas, and on accumulations of vegetable matter like compost or woodchip piles.

[23] Mature fruit bodies, collected in sufficient quantity, can be used to prepare soup, or added to dishes where wild mushrooms are used, such as stews and casseroles.

[14] In the United States, there have been several cases of Asian immigrants collecting and eating death caps (Amanita phalloides), under the mistaken assumption that they were Volvariella.