Originally the family encompassed all species of fungi that produced basidiocarps (fruit bodies) having a hymenium (spore-bearing surface) consisting of slender, downward-hanging tapering extensions referred to as "spines" or "teeth",[2] whether they were related or not.

In the strict, modern sense, the Hydnaceae are limited to the genus Hydnum and related genera, with basidiocarps having a toothed or poroid hymenium.

Hydnum repandum (the hedgehog fungus) is an edible species, commercially collected in some countries and often marketed under the French name pied de mouton.

The family was originally described in 1826 by French botanist François Fulgis Chevallier to accommodate all the larger fungi with a toothed or spiny hymenium.

Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has confirmed Donk's placement of the Hydnaceae as a family within the Cantharellales.