The fruit body (mushroom) has a brownish cap with lighter coloured margins, measuring up to 3.5 cm (1.4 in) wide.

Although the whitish stem does not form a true ring, it retains remnants of the partial veil that covers and protects the gills of young fruit bodies.

The cap is initially conical to bell shaped, but as the mushroom grows, it expands to become convex with a prominent umbo, and attains a diameter of 15–55 mm (0.6–2.2 in).

[2] The cheilocystidia (cystidia on the gill edge) have dimensions of 18–26 by 6–9 μm, and a shape ranging from ventricose-rostrate (broad in the middle and tapering to a beaklike neck) to mucronate (ending abruptly in a short sharp point).

The hypodermium (the tissue layer under the cap cuticle) is filamentous, comprising 4–6 μm diameter cells with pale brown walls.

The subhymenium (the tissue layer under the hymenium) is poorly developed, containing 2–4 μm diameter cells with pale brown walls.

[4] The reported collection locations have been on both the North and South Islands, including the Bay of Plenty, Westland District, Central Otago, and Dunedin,[2] although Stamets suggests that it is more widely distributed.

Fruit bodies grow scattered or in groups on the fallen, rotting wood of southern beeches (genus Nothofagus), and are often encountered near lakes and picnic grounds [3]