Species, which have the appearance of a "stalked-puffball", have a worldwide distribution, and tend to be found growing solitary or scattered on sandy soils, especially in arid regions.

[1] Fruiting bodies have the appearance of an unopened Coprinus comatus, with a stipe and a loose, brown to blackish powdery gleba at maturity.

[5] The genus was originally named Podaxis and circumscribed by Nicaise Auguste Desvaux in 1809,[6] while Elias Magnus Fries later (1829) called the taxon Podaxon.

[1] Early suggestions[1][2][8] that Podaxis was related to the genus Coprinus were later confirmed using phylogenetic analysis based on sequence data of rDNA genes.

[16] Podaxis aegyptiacus is used as a common traditional medicine in the Bamako region of Mali for wound-healing, and water extracts from the mushroom have been shown to have carbohydrates with beneficial effects on the immune system in vitro.