It is commonly referred to as the iodine bolete, because its fruit bodies tend to emit an iodine-like odour when cut, more detectable in the stem base or overripe specimens.

[2] The Latin epithet impolitum (meaning "rough"), likely refers to the cap of the species, which is initially felty and covered in a finely filamentous coating when viewed under a magnifying glass.

The colour ranges from light tan, pale brown, chestnut-brown, grey, ochraceous-brown, greyish-brown or olivaceous-brown and the cap of young fruit bodies is initially covered in a velvety, finely filamentous silvery-grey coating that disappears in age.

The flesh is thick, soft, pale yellow to whitish, usually remaining the same colour when cut, or rarely becoming faintly pinkish-brown above the tubes and at the stem base.

[1] Hemileccinum impolitum is ecologically versatile, forming ectomycorrhizal associations with several species of oak (Quercus), but occasionally also with beech (Fagus) and chestnut (Castanea).

[15][16] Molecular phylogenetic testing has so far verified its presence in Estonia, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus and Sardinia.