Psathyrella tephrophylla is characterized by having greyish gills, very dark basidiospores under the microscope, and utriform pleurocystidia with mucoid deposits on the surface. A specimen of the species, collected in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, had been misidentified as Psathyrella candolleana. In this article, I present a description and illustrations of this species, which has been recorded only recently in Japan.

A database for microorganism specimens collected mainly in Japan from 1876 to 2005 and deposited in the National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences (NIAES) was constructed. It includes data for the scientific names of microorganisms, host plants, geographic origins and collecting dates for 7204 dried plant specimens infected with fungi, bacteria, etc. The microorganism specimens include 13 type specimens, 254 specimens of smut and rust fungi collected by Paul Sydow et al., and 6611 specimens collected in Japan and other countries over 130 years, and others. The database covers 365 genera with 1477 species and subspecies of microorganisms, and 621 genera with 1322 species and subspecies of host plants. It is currently available to the public at the internet site of the NIAES, “Microorganism Inventory (http://www.niaes.affrc.go.jp/inventry/microorg/specimen/index.html)”.　

Xerula chiangmaiae var. raphanipes was discovered to be distributed in Fukuoka and Kyoto Prefectures, Japan. The species has been reported from China, India, and Thailand, as well as in Niigata and Tottori Prefectures in Japan. Additional information on the species is noted.

To popularize fungi in Japan through extensive education one hundred fungi that represent Japan in various aspects were selected. The list includes fungi popular in Japan, as well as fungi extensively used in or related to daily life, or noteworthy in taxonomic, ecological, ethnological, or economic aspects.