The small mushroom is a distinctive all-blue colour, while the gills have a slight reddish tint from the spores.

This species was one of six native fungi featured in a set of fungal stamps issued in New Zealand in 2002.

[5] In a 2018 poll, E. hochstetteri was ranked first by Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research for its pick as New Zealand's national fungus.

[6] The Māori name for the mushroom is werewere-kōkako, because its colour is similar to the blue wattle of the kōkako bird.

[7] The species was first described as Cortinarius hochstetteri in 1866 by the Austrian mycologist Erwin Reichardt, before being given its current binomial in 1962 by Greta Stevenson.

[8] A similar mushroom is found in Australia and mycologists differ as to whether it is E. hochstetteri, E. virescens or a separate species.