Clavaria (the name is derived from the Latin "clava", a club) was first introduced as a genus name by Vaillant (1727), later accepted by Micheli (1729),[2] and was one of the original genera used by Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum of 1753.

[3] It contained all species of fungi with erect, club-shaped or branched (coral-like) fruit bodies, including many that are now referred to the Ascomycota.

[9] With increasing use of the microscope in the late nineteenth century, most of the ascomycetous members of the genus were recognized as distinct and moved to other genera.

Clavaria was, however, still widely used for the majority of the basidiomycetous species until Corner published his world monograph of the clavarioid fungi in 1950, introducing the modern concept of the genus.

This concept was modified in 1978 by Petersen, who considered Clavulinopsis an artificial genus, moving the majority of species to Ramariopsis but a minority back into Clavaria.

[10] Most Clavaria species are thought to be saprotrophic, decomposing leaf litter and other organic materials on the woodland floor.

In Europe, species are more frequently found in old, unimproved grasslands (i.e., not used agriculturally) where they are presumed to be decomposers of dead grass and moss.