The specific epithet chioneus means "snow", referring to its white color.

The upper surface is initially white before aging to yellowish or grayish, and has a texture ranging from smooth to tomentose.

The undersurface features white to cream-colored, round to angular pores measuring 3–4 per millimeter.

The skeletal hyphae, in contrast, are thick-walled, rarely branched, and measure 2–4.5 μm in diameter.

The species has a circumpolar distribution, in temperate boreal pine forests, including Asia, Europe, and North America.