The genus was circumscribed in 1920 by mycologists Curtis Gates Lloyd and Camille Torrend, with L. sacer as the type species.

They have a cap that is coloured white to brown, with a central supporting stipe.

[2] Lignosus is similar in morphology to Microporus, but the fungi in this latter genus grow on wood and do not arise from a sclerotium.

[2] The genome of the species L. rhinocerus, the sclerotium of which is used as a traditional medicine in Southeast Asia, was published in 2014.

Its genome is enriched with genes involved in the biosynthesis of sesquiterpenoid compounds.