Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are club-shaped or narrowly cylindrical and are simple (not branched), often arising from sclerotia.

A few species are facultative plant pathogens, causing a number of commercially important crop and turfgrass diseases.

The genus was first introduced as a section of Clavaria by South African-born mycologist Christiaan Hendrik Persoon in 1801.

[5] Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, indicates that the genus is monophyletic and forms a natural group.

Fruit bodies are filiform (hair-like) to club-shaped, typically with a distinct sterile stalk and fertile head, normally white, in some species buff to pink, or with a dark reddish stem.

Most species have been described from the north temperate zone, but little research has been undertaken in the tropics or southern hemisphere, where they are either less common or (as yet) overlooked.