These fungi are often drab-colored, difficult to identify, and all members are considered inedible or worthless (for eating) and so they are often overlooked.

[2] The genus name Psathyrella is a diminutive form of Psathyra, derived from the Greek word ψαθυρος, psathuros 'friable'.

In order to identify the species it may be necessary to take into account the presence and nature of any veil remnants on cap (which may only be visible on very young fruiting bodies), the colour of young fruiting bodies, which is often more vivid than with older ones, whether the cap is hygrophanous (it can well be a translucent brown or ochre colour in a humid state but a pure opaque white on drying out), and the spore size and the presence and nature of cheilocystidia, pleurocystidia and caulocystidia, distinctive sterile cells on the gill face, gill edge and stipe respectively.

All Psathyrella species are unusually fragile, and both the cap and stem break with very little effort.

Unlike most agarics, the caps of Psathyrella species easily break into triangular shaped pieces.