Class of ascomycetes producing dark, club- or tongue-shaped fruit bodies (earth tongues) in grassland, moss and forest soil. Separated from Leotiomycetes as a class of its own on multigene phylogenetic evidence; many species are indicators of old, unimproved grassland.

Characteristics: Stalked, clavate to spathulate, usually black to dark brown ascomata; asci with amyloid apical ring; long, multiseptate, often brown ascospores.