The distinctive fruit body of this species comprises blue- to purple-colored clusters of vase- or spoon-shaped caps with veiny wrinkles on the undersurface that run down the length of the stem.

The first published description of the species was written by botanist Lucien M. Underwood in 1899, based on a specimen found the previous year in the woods of Mount Desert, Maine.

[3] In 1920, specimens from a Japanese collection compiled by A. Yasuda were sent to mycologist Curtis Gates Lloyd, who believed the fungus to be a new species and named it Phyllocarbon yasudai.

Other characteristics linking the blue chanterelle with the Thelephoraceae included the dark color, the strong odor (especially in dried specimens), and the presence of thelephoric acid, a mushroom pigment common in the family.

[12] They determined that Polyozellus contains five species that are distinguished by spore size and geographic region: the small-spored P. multiplex and P. atrolazulinus and the large-spored P. mariae, P. marymargaretae, and P. purpureoniger.

Collections have been made in the United States (including Maine, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, and Alaska), Canada (Quebec and British Columbia),[5][9][21][22] China,[23] Japan, and Korea.