- The fruiting bodies in most representatives of the family are agaricoid, less often secotioid or gastrooid, usually small, painted in yellow-brown tones, in some species they turn blue when touched. The leg is central, sometimes with a ring or its remains. The hymenophore is usually lamellar, yellow-brown or red-brown. Cystides are present on the edges of the plates ( cheilocystids ), sometimes on their surfaces ( pleurocystids ).
- Basidia with 1β4 spores, usually short. Spores from buffy to rusty brown, non-amyloid , usually smooth, with a noticeable sometimes germination.
- Representatives of the family - saprotrophs , growing on decaying fallen leaves and the remains of herbaceous plants, are also found in soil and manure.
- Some species are toxic (contain amatoxins and fallotoxins ) or psychoactive (contain psilocybin ).
Anamorphs are known in some species, hyphomycete .
