The genus name was first proposed in 1923 by Danish physician Jeppe Ørskov in an attempt to classify what at the time was considered "ray fungi" based on morphology.

[1] Members of this genus are found throughout natural soil and sediment environments, as well as in association with roots of plants of various species.

[2] The genus is well known for its ability to produce a variety of medically relevant products.

Various species are sources of aminoglycoside antibiotics with spellings that end with -micin, such as gentamicin,[3] mutamicin,[4] netilmicin, retymicin, sisomicin,[5][6] verdamicin, calicheamicin, and the recently found turbinmicin.

[7] Potent new antifungal drugs discovered in the microbiome of marine animals, unlike most other aminoglycoside names that end with -mycin (e.g. neomycin and streptomycin and are produced by Streptomyces spp.).