[1] In 1968, Estonian mycologist Erast Parmasto added the corticioid genus Clavulicium to the family, noting that it had very similar basidia to those found in Clavulina.

[2] Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has confirmed the placement of Clavulina within the Cantharellales,[3] but has not yet addressed the circumscription of the family Clavulinaceae.

Species of Clavulina are ectomycorrhizal, forming mutually beneficial associations with the roots of living trees and other plants.

[9] Species of Multiclavula are lichens, their basidiocarps typically found scattered on sheets of their associated algae.

[5] Species of Membranomyces and "Sistotrema" are presumed to be wood-rotting saprotrophs, typically forming corticioid basidiocarps on the undersides of dead, attached branches or fallen wood.