Crinipellis zonata, commonly known as the zoned Crinipellis or the zoned-cap Collybia, is a species of gilled mushroom in the family Marasmiaceae. Though considered a little brown mushroom of unknown edibility, it is distinctive because of its thick covering of coarse hairs, and differentiated from other members of Crinipellis by its slightly larger cap size, which reaches up to in diameter. The white gills on the underside of the cap are crowded closely together, and are free from attachment to the stem. Saprobic, it grows on the dead wood of deciduous trees from late summer to autumn. The fungus is found commonly in eastern North America, but has also been collected in Portugal and Korea. The variety C. zonata var. cremoricolor, found in eastern North America, may be distinguished microscopically by its longer spores. Taxonomy and classification The species was first named as Agaricus zonatus by American mycologist Charles Horton Peck in 1872, based on specimens found near Albany, New York. He later transferred it to the genus Collybia in 1896. It was given its current name by the Italian botanist Pier Andrea Saccardo. Crinipellis zonata is classified in subsection Crinipellis of section Crinipellis in the genus Crinipellis, according to Rolf Singer's 1986 arrangement of the Agaricales. Species in this subsection have elongated spores, and typically lack cystidia on the sides of gills. A 2009 phylogenetic analysis of several Crinipellis and Moniliophthora species (Moniliophthora are anamorphic fungi parasitic on cocoa and previously included in Crinipellis) demonstrated that C. zonata formed a clade with C. rhizomaticola, C. scabella, and C. nigricaulis. The conclusions of this analysis, based on the DNA sequences of ribosomal DNA coding for internal transcribed spacers, are inconsistent with the morphology-based classification given by Singer. The mushroom is commonly known as the "zoned Crinipellis" or the "zoned-cap Collybia". Description Crinipellis zonata is a little brown mushroom with a cap of in diameter, which is convex (sometimes approaching flat) in shape. Typically, it has a small, distinctive depression in the centre, while the whole cap is densely hairy and dry. There are often concentric zones of both color and texture. The cap is tawny or cream, while the hairs (which are set in lines) are tawny. The white gills are close and narrow, and free or nearly free from the stem. The gills do not discolor. The stem is between in height, by thick. Like the cap, it is