Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are ephemeral and typically form thin, web-like, white to cream, effused patches on the underside of fallen branches, logs, and leaf litter.

[2] Species had previously been referred to the genus Corticium, formerly used for most corticioid fungi with effused fruit bodies.

[3] Asexual anamorphic forms, producing chlamydospores but not basidia and basidiospores, had been treated separately and given a variety of generic names.

These were reviewed by Holubová-Jechková (1980) who considered most of these genera synonymous with Haplotrichum, the anamorphic state of Botryobasidium.

[5] Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, indicates that the genus (including Botryohypochnus) is monophyletic and forms a natural group within the Cantharellales.