Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are corticioid, thin, effused, and web-like, but the fungus is more frequently encountered in its similar but sterile anamorphic state.

Waitea circinata is best known as a plant pathogen, causing commercially significant damage (brown ring patch) to amenity turf grass.

Waitea circinata was originally described from Australia in 1962, where it was found growing on the undersides of clods of earth in a wheat field.

The new genus Waitea, named after the Waite Agricultural Research Institute in Adelaide, was created to accommodate the species.

[2] Molecular research has also shown that Waitea circinata is part of a complex of at least four genetically distinct taxa, each causing visibly different diseases.