The general morphological characters of Rhizopogon sporocarps are a simplex or duplex peridium surrounding a loculate gleba that lacks a columnella.

Recent micromorphological and molecular phylogenetic study has established that Rhizopogon is a member of the Boletales, closely related to Suillus.

[2] The North American monograph was produced by Alexander H. Smith in 1966[3] with second author credits given posthumously to Sanford Myron Zeller due to his contributions to the study of the genus.

Rhizopogon species are common members of the fungal communities that colonize the roots of trees during seedling establishment and persist into old growth stands.

The exoenzymatic activity also confers higher competitive advantages to host species,[22][23] mainly within the genus Pinus, by helping to break down nutrients within the soil.

[22] In the case of subgenus Amylopogon parasitized by P. andromedeae the nitrogen cost of exoenzymatic production is in part paid for by bacteria within the family Burkholderiaceae that is hosted by P. andromedeae[25] The first intentional use of Rhizopogon species in forestry occurred in the early part of the 20th century when Rhizopogon luteolus was deliberately introduced into Pinus radiata plantations in Western Australia after it was observed to improve tree growth.

Rhizopogon species have been noted as common members of the ectomycorrhizal community colonizing tree roots of pine and Douglas-fir timber plantations.

[31] Techniques for the commercial cultivation of this fungus in pine plantations have been developed and applied with successful results in Japan and New Zealand.