The species was first described in 1899 by American mycologist Harvey Willson Harkness as '' Secotium nubigenum '' . Harkness found the type collection growing on logs of lodgepole pine ( '' Pinus contorta '' ) in the Sierra Nevadas at an elevation of . Curtis Gates Lloyd discussed the species in a 1903 publication , but named it '' rubigenum '' , stating that '' nubigenum '' was incorrect because of typographical errors carried down from Pier Andrea Saccardo . The genus '' Nivatogastrium '' was circumscribed by American mycologists Rolf Singer and Alexander H. Smith in 1959 , who set '' N. nubigenum '' as the type and only species . They considered Lloyd 's spelling '' rubigenum '' to be a misprint ( '' sphalma typographicum '' ) . The holotype specimen was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake . Modern molecular phylogenetic analysis has demonstrated that the species is nested within the genus '' Pholiota '' , and is closely related to '' Pholiota squarrosa '' and '' Pholiota multicingulata '' . Mycologist Scott Redhead transferred the species to '' Pholiota '' in 2014
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Pholiota nubigena