Found in North America, it was first described formally by Alexander H. Smith and Lexemuel Ray Hesler in 1969.

[2] The fruit bodies have an obtuse to convex cap that ranges from 3–7 cm (1.2–2.8 in) in diameter, sometimes developing a slight umbo.

The pleurocystidia (cystidia on the gill face) are somewhat fuse-shaped or swollen, measure 60–85 by 9–18 μm, and have a long neck.

[4] The species was originally collected by Smith in Cave Junction, Oregon, at an altitude of 1,295 feet (395 m) in December 1937.

Smith and Hesler formally published a description in their 1969 monograph of North American Pholiota species.