The species is found in Asia, Europe, and North America, where it grows on the ground in deciduous or mixed woods, usually in association with pine trees.

It is closely related, and physically similar, to the more common Albatrellus ovinus, from which it may be distinguished macroscopically by differences in the color when bruised, and microscopically by the amyloid (staining bluish-black to black with Melzer's reagent) walls of the spores.

The species was first described as Scutiger subrubescens by American mycologist William Murrill in 1940, based on collections that he found growing under oak near Gainesville, Florida, in November 1938.

[6] In 1965, Zdeněk Pouzar made collections from Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), and described it as a new species (Albatrellus similis), unaware of the similarity to Murrill's Florida specimens.

[10] A. ovinus A. citrinus A. subrubescens A. tianschanicus Four Albatrellus species were included in a large-scale phylogenetic analysis of the order Russulales published in 2003.

[12] In a more recent (2010) molecular analysis by Canadian mycologist Serge Audet aimed at clarifying relationships among species formerly placed in Scutiger, A. subrubescens grouped in a clade with A. ovinus and A. citrinus.

According to Audet, these species, in addition to A. avellaneus and A. piceiphilus, are the constituents of an Albatrellus with limits defined by molecular genetics.

Other Albatrellus species were transferred to segregate genera: A. fletti and A. confluens to Albatrellopsis; A. caeruleoporus and A. yasudae to Neoalbatrellus; A. pes-caprae and A. ellisii to an amended Scutiger.

The cap surface in young specimens is smooth but soon forms appressed scale-like spots, which may transform into scales in age.

[15] The type material was noted by Murrill to taste bitter, an observation later corroborated by Pouzar with European collections.

Although they are inamyloid, some hyphae have internal masses that are colored pale bluish-gray to black, which makes them appear collectively grayish-black under the microscope.

[15] In general, A. subrubescens can be distinguished from other Albatrellus species by its white cap that becomes orange when bruised, its simple-septate hyphae, small amyloid spores, and habitat under pines.

[18] Additional differences distinguishing Albatrellopsis confluens from A. subrubescens include the presence of clamp connections in the context hyphae, and mycelium on the base of the stem.

[9] It is suspected that A. subrubescens may be mycorrhizal with two- and three-needle pines (i.e., those species that have their needles attached in bundles of two or three), although its ecological preferences are not known with certainty.

[19] In Europe, collections have been reported from Austria, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, and Ukraine.

This chemical—also found in the related species A. ovinus[26]—may contribute to the mushroom's toxicity by disturbing the body's intestinal flora.