Laccaria is a genus around 75 species of fungus found in both temperate and tropical regions of the world. They are mycorrhizal. The type species is Laccaria laccata, commonly known as the deceiver. Other notable species include L. bicolor, and the amethyst deceiver (L. amethystina), sometimes incorrectly written as L. amethystea. Because some Laccaria species have the ability to grow vegetatively and/or germinate from basidiospores in culture, they are often used as experimental systems for studies of ectomycorrhizal basidiomycetes. Recently, the genome of L. bicolor has been sequenced.