Species in the family have a widespread distribution, ranging from the Arctic, (Rhizomarasmius), to the tropics, e.g. Gloiocephala, and from marine sites (Mycaureola) and fresh waters (Gloiocephala) to semiarid forests (Xerula).

The basidiospores generally have ellipsoidal, spindle-like (fusiform), cylindrical, or tear-drop (lacrimiform) shapes; they are thin-walled, hyaline, and do not react with Melzer's reagent.

[1] The family also contains corticioid fungi (in genus Cylindrobasidium) and a secotioid species (Guyanagaster necrorhiza).

Corner in 1970[3] and revised in 1985 by Jacques Berthier[4] but neither author anticipated the application to a molecularly defined group of agarics first identified by Moncalvo and others in 2002.

[5] Molecular studies placed Physalacria, formerly the sole genus in this family, together with the agaric genera Flammulina and Xerula and Armillaria.