The genus was circumscribed by the German botanist Fuckel in 1870, who originally included the two species Pseudoplectania nigrella and P. fulgens.

[3] Saccardo added the species Pseudoplectania melania and P. stygia, the latter of which is thought to be synonymous with P. nigrella.

[4] Phylogenetic analysis based on the DNA sequences of ribosomal RNA suggests that Pseudoplectania groups in a clade together with Galiella, Plectania, Urnula, Sarcosoma, and Donadinia, and that it is most closely related to the latter genus.

The fruit bodies of Plectania fungi grow either in groups or scattered apart, with stems or without (sessile), and are large and fleshy.

The spore-bearing cells, the asci, range in shape from cylindrical to club-shaped, and they are eight-spored.