Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are stocky, with a double annulus (ring), and a tapering to rooting stipe (stem).

Reports from North America are unconfirmed and may refer to Catathelasma evanescens or similar species.

[1] Catathelasma imperiale was first described from Sweden in 1845 by Norwegian botanist Nicolai Lund as Agaricus imperialis, but this name is illegitimate since two earlier (and different) fungi had already been described under the same name.

The species was first legitimately described, as Armillaria imperialis, by Finnish mycologist Petter Adolf Karsten in 1879.

[5] The epithet "imperiale", meaning "imperial" refers to the (at times) imposing size of the fruit bodies.

The stipe (stem) is compact, 50–180 mm long, tapering to the base, often rooting and partly buried, pale brown with a double ring.

[1] Records from North America are uncertain, since DNA sequencing of specimens determined as "C. imperiale" have (to date) proven to belong to C. evanescens or C.

[1] Catathelasma imperiale is edible and collected for food in China, Bhutan, Ukraine, and Russia.

In the Carpathian mountains, it grows in coniferous and spruce forests at an altitude of 400 – 1000 m. In the Hutsul culinary tradition, it is often dried, powdered, and used as a spice in gravies, kulish, stews, and bakes.