 "Wynnea americana" was first described in 1905 by American mycologist Roland Thaxter.Thaxter found several clusters of fruit bodies in Burbank, Tennessee in 1888, and believed the fungus to be "Wynnea macrotis", one of the first identified species of genus "Wynnea".An 1896 visit to the same location as well as Cranberry, North Carolina yielded further specimens.