The use of iodine-containing solutions as an aid to describing and identifying fungi dates back to the mid-19th century.
Melzers reagent was first described in 1924 and takes its name from its inventor, the mycologist Václav Melzer, who modified an older chloral hydrate-containing IKI solution developed by botanist Arthur Meyer. Melzer was a specialist in Russula', a genus in which the amyloidy on the spore ornamentation or entire spore is of great taxonomic significance.