The cap is convex to depressed and is coloured a distinctive bloody red, pink, crimson or purple.

The flesh is white with a mild taste and without scent; it quickly becomes soft and spongy and also greyish.

The crowded gills are cream coloured when young, and become yellow with age.

The amyloid, elli spores measure 8–10 by 7–10 μm are warty and are covered by an incomplete mesh.

R. paludosa is mycorrhizal and occurs in coniferous woodlands and in peat bogs of Europe and North America; preferably under pine trees, where it forms mycorrhizae.