A characteristic microscopic feature is the distinctive crystalline substance encrusted on the hyphae in the surface of the cap.

[2] Peck collected the type specimens in red clay on the bank of a roadside ditch in Alabama.

[8] The caps of the fruit body initially have a rounded shape, but later become broadly convex and eventually flattened in age; they reach dimensions of 4.5–17.5 cm (1.8–6.9 in) wide.

Its color is roughly the same as the cap, although it tends to be slightly darker in the upper portion, where it is reticulate (covered with a net-like patterns of ridges).

The odor of the mushroom has been described variously as "not distinctive, fruity, fishy, or pungent", while the taste is indistinct to slightly bitter.

The terminal (end) cells of the trichodermium are 6.5–11.5 μm in diameter, and roughly equal in width throughout their length.

The pleurocystidia (cystidia found on the inner surface of the tubes) are 45.0–60.0 by 6.5–12.5 μm, lanceolate (lance-shaped) to narrowly fusoid-ventricose (enlarged in the middle and somewhat spindle-shaped).

[9] In the United States, the mushroom is distributed from Florida north to Rhode Island, and west to Mississippi.

It has also been collected from a montane cloud forest of Mexican Beech (Fagus grandifolia var.

[9] The varieties amarus and dubius are rare, known only from their original collection locations in Gainesville, Florida.