The species is tropical to sub-tropical and is mainly known as a plant pathogen, the causative agent of "kole-roga" or black rot of coffee and various blights of citrus and other trees.

The fungus responsible for kole-roga of coffee was sent from India to Mordecai Cubitt Cooke at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew who named it Pellicularia koleroga in 1876.

Cooke, however, described only hyphae and some small warted spores, later presumed to be from a contaminating mould.

[3] Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has, however, now placed Ceratobasidium species (excepting the type) in synonymy with Rhizoctonia.

[3] Rhizoctonia noxia has only been collected as a plant pathogen on living stems and leaves of commercial crops (including coffee, citrus, and persimmon) on which it causes a web blight.