nuclear spindle

The order was originally proposed in 1926 by German mycologist Ernst Albert Gäumann to accommodate species within the phylum Basidiomycota having "stichic" basidia (basidia with nuclear spindles arranged longitudinally).

As originally conceived, the family accommodated species within the corticioid fungi having "chiastic" basidia (basidia with nuclear spindles arranged transversely), thought to be a primitive character linking the Vuilleminiaceae with the Tulasnellaceae and the Tremellales.

The Dutch mycologist Marinus Anton Donk first published the tribe Clavulinae in 1933 to accommodate species of clavarioid fungi in the genus Clavulina that had "stichic" basidia (basidia with nuclear spindles arranged longitudinally).

In 1933, Dutch mycologist Marinus Anton Donk radically limited the Hydnaceae (which he referred to the tribe Hydneae) to Hydnum repandum and related species that produced "stichic" basidia (basidia with nuclear spindles arranged longitudinally).

In 1903, French mycologist René Maire proposed a new classification system that emphasized the possession of "stichic" basidia (basidia with nuclear spindles arranged longitudinally), a characteristic of the Cantharellaceae that linked the family to the Hydnaceae and Clavulinaceae.