Parmasto placed the genera Botryobasidium (together with the anamorphic genus Oidium) and Uthatobasidium within the subfamily, noting that they shared certain "primitive" characters linking them to the Ceratobasidiaceae and Tulasnellaceae.

A standard 1995 reference work included within the Botryobasidiaceae the corticioid genera Botryobasidium, Botryodontia, Botryohypochnus (considered a synonym of Botryobasidium), Candelabrochaete, Suillosporium, and Waitea, based mainly on similarities in their basidiocarp micromorphology.

[2] Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has confirmed the Botryobasidiaceae as a separate family, but restricted to the genus Botryobasidium, including its anamorphs and Botryohypochnus.

[3][4] Genera previously included within the Botryobasidiaceae have now been placed in the Corticiales (Waitea), Hymenochaetales (Botryodontia), and Polyporales (Candelabrochaete).

[5] Species are assumed to be wood- and litter-rotting saprotrophs and are typically found on the undersides of fallen, rotting branches in woodland leaf litter.