It is found in Northern Europe and North America, and is commonly known as the scarletina bolete, for its red pores, which are yellow when young.

[3] In 1796 Christian Hendrik Persoon described Boletus erythropus, deriving its specific name from the Greek ερυθρος ("red") and πους ("foot"),[4] referring to its red-coloured stalk.

[6][8] In 1844 Friedrich Wilhelm Gottlieb Rostkovius independently defined the red-pored species under the name Boletus luridiformis.

[9] Neoboletus luridiformis is a large solid fungus with a bay-brown hemispherical to convex cap that can grow up to 20 cm (8 in) wide, and is quite felty initially.

The fat, colourful, densely red-dotted yellow stem is 4–12 cm (1.6–4.7 in) high, and has no network pattern (reticulation).

It is also widely distributed in North America, and is especially common under spruce in its range from Northern California to Alaska.

Caution is advised as it resembles other potentially hazardous blue-staining boletes, and should thus be avoided by novice mushroom hunters.