It was formerly classified within the now-obsolete order Lycoperdales, which, following a restructuring of fungal taxonomy brought about by molecular phylogeny, has been split; the puffballs, Calvatia spp.

Most species in the genus Calvatia are edible when young, though some are best avoided, such as Calvatia fumosa, which has a very pungent odor.

Calvatia was circumscribed by Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries in 1849.

Fries included a single species in the genus, Calvatia craniiformis, which was originally described as Bovista craniiformis by Lewis David de Schweinitz in 1832.

[5] As of February 2015[update], Index Fungorum lists 58 species of Calvatia.