Small to medium sized, fleshy mushrooms with a tough, cartilaginous stem. Saprobic on soil. Gills adnexed to free; spores white, smooth, nonamyloid.

Poorly understood taxonomically, at least seven species have been reported from New Zealand, only those listed below have descriptions or images available from NZFungi.

Pileus regular, usually thin, margin incurved when young; gills adnexed, thin, soft; stem with a cartilaginous cortex, fistulose, often rooting, central; spores white.

Most closely allied to Marasmius, which, however, differs in the dry, coriaceous, tough substance of the entire plant and in resuming its shape when moistened after being dried. Tricholoma, differs in having the stem fibrous outside, and not cartilaginous and polished. Mycena differs in the margin of the pileus being straight, and not incurved in the young stage.

On the ground.