[2] It was first described in 1822 by the German-American mycologist Lewis David de Schweinitz and classified as Boletus betula.

[3] It has been reclassified many times over the years and is still sometimes referred to by the 2004 classification Heimioporus betula as given to it by the Austrian mycologist Egon Horak.

[4][5] In 2020 it was reclassified as Aureoboletus betula by the mycologists Michael Kuo and Beatriz Ortiz-Santana.

This bolete has a stem that is deeply, coarsely reticulate and, when the mushroom is in the "button" stage, often as wide as, or even wider than, the cap.

Distinctly textured with deep ridges with a slightly swollen and rooting base.