It has been placed on the national Red Lists of threatened fungi in 17 different European countries and is one of 33 species proposed for international conservation under the Bern Convention.

[3] Austrian naturalist Franz Xaver von Wulfen gave it the name Clavaria elveloides in 1781, reporting that it appeared in the fir tree forests around Klagenfurt in August and was common around Hüttenberg.

[8] British botanist Samuel Frederick Gray used Persoon's name, transferring the violet chanterelle to the genus Gomphus in 1821.

[9] Here he recognized M. clavatus as the same species as Clavaria truncata described by Casimir Christoph Schmidel in 1796, calling the taxon Gomphus truncatus.

[14][15] Fries revised his classification in his 1838 book Epicrisis Systematis Mycologici seu Synopsis Hymenomycetum, placing it in a series—Deformes—in the genus Craterellus.

[17] Jacques Emile Doassans and Narcisse Théophile Patouillard placed it in the genus Neurophyllum (also spelt Nevrophyllum) in 1886,[9][18] removing it from Cantharellus on account of its orange spores.

[19] In 1891, German botanist Otto Kuntze published Revisio generum plantarum, his response to what he perceived as poor method in existing nomenclatural practice.

[20] Alexander H. Smith treated Gomphus as a section within Cantharellus in his 1947 review of chanterelles in western North America, as he felt there were no consistent characteristics that distinguished the two genera.

[19] Gomphus clavatus is commonly known as pig's ears, alluding to the violet underside and yellowish cap of the fruit bodies,[26] although this vernacular name is also used for Discina perlata.

[36] Gomphus crassipes, found in Spain and North Africa, can only be reliably distinguished from G. clavatus via microscopy;[37] its basidiospores are generally longer (11–17 by 5.5–7 μm) and have a more finely wrinkled surface.

[33] Pseudocraterellus pseudoclavatus (formerly classified in Gomphus) is a lookalike species that grows under conifers in the central United States and westward,[38] also differing on microscopic characters and reaction to potassium hydroxide.

[39] Growing on the ground, Gomphus clavatus mushrooms appear singly, in clusters or clumps, or even occasionally fairy rings.

[22] The species is typically found in coniferous forests, and with a preference for moist, shady areas with deep leaf litter,[35] or rotten wood debris on the ground.

[23] European countries where the fungus has been reported include Austria,[52] the Czech Republic,[53] France,[18] Germany,[54] Greece,[52] Italy,[52] Lithuania,[55] Poland,[56] Romania,[57] Russia,[47] Sweden,[26] Switzerland,[52] and Turkey.

[58] In North America, the fungus has been found across Canada,[23] Mexico,[52] and the United States[36] (October–December on the West Coast and July–October elsewhere),[33] being abundant in the Pacific Northwest.

[49] Due to a substantial decline in sightings,[59] Gomphus clavatus became a legally protected species in Hungary on September 1, 2005.

[49] Gomphus clavatus was selected as the 1998 Pilz des Jahres ("Mushroom of the Year") by the German Mycological Society, partly to highlight its vulnerable status.

[64] G. clavatus has been used for cooking for some time; Fries included it in his 1867 book Sveriges ätliga och giftiga svampar (Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms in Sweden).

[70] In a chemical analysis of collections from the south Aegean Region of Turkey, the fungus was shown to have bioaccumulated the toxic metal cadmium to levels exceeding the maximum intake recommended by the European Union Scientific Committee on Food.