The grey brown mushrooms have yellowish decurrent gills and a bulbous stalk, and are found in deciduous and conifer woodlands.

The species was initially described as Agaricus clavipes by South African mycologist Christiaan Hendrik Persoon in 1801,[2] its specific epithet derived from the Latin terms clava "club", and pes "foot".

[3] It was transferred to Clitocybe by German naturalist Paul Kummer in 1871 and was even designated, improperly, the type species by Howard E. Bigelow in 1965.

[6] English mycologist P. D. Orton described a Clitocybe squamulosoides in 1960, which he held to be a slender relative with large spores, though the differences are inconsistent and there are intermediate forms.

[10] It is watery with a slightly sweet smell that has been likened to bitter almond,[3] orange blossom,[9] cinnamon,[10] or even grape bubble gum.

[8] It resembles the clouded agaric (Clitocybe nebularis), but can be distinguished by its bulbous stem, deeply decurrent gills,[12] and overall darker colour.

[13] It is found in conifer and deciduous forests,[3] particularly under beech,[8] the fruit bodies appearing from August to November in northern Europe.

[15] Club foots collected from Stinchfield Woods, northwest of Dexter, Michigan, in 1974, 1976 and 1977 caused an Antabuse-like syndrome.

Alcohol was consumed around seven hours after the mushrooms were eaten in each case, resulting in flushing of the face, throbbing of the head and neck and puffy hands around five to ten minutes afterwards.

[18] Experiments with club foot extract found that it inhibited the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase in mouse livers.