It has a pale buff or greyish-white cap, yellow pores and a stout stipe, and stains intensely blue when handled or cut.

[2] In 2014, the bolete was transferred to the new genus Caloboletus by Italian mycologist Alfredo Vizzini, based on phylogenetic data.

The flesh is pale yellow, somewhat paler whitish to straw-coloured in the cap, instantly turning dark blue when cut.

It forms ectomycorrhizal associations with a wide range of broad-leaved trees, including oaks (Quercus), beech (Fagus), hornbeam (Carpinus), chestnut (Castanea) and lime (Tilia).

[2] A 2012 study on mushroom poisoning in Switzerland by Katharina M. Schenk-Jaeger and colleagues, found Caloboletus radicans to have caused severe gastrointestinal symptoms to those who had consumed it, including recurrent vomiting and bloody diarrhoea.