"Galerina" fruiting bodies are typically small, undistinguished mushrooms with a typical "little brown mushroom" morphology and a yellow-brown, light brown to cinnamon-brown spore print. The pileus is typically glabrous and often hygrophanous, and a cortina-type veil is present in young specimens of roughly half of recognized species, though it sometimes disappears as the mushroom ages in many of these species. Microscopically, they are highly variable as well, though most species have spores that are ornamented, lack a germ pore, and have a plage. Many species also have characteristic cystidia. However, there are many exceptions, and many species of "Galerina" lack one or more of these microscopic characteristics. Ecologically, all "Galerina" are saprobic, growing in habitats like rotting wood or in moss.