| Macroscopic characters | shape | Imbricate; petaloid or flabelliform |
| size | Up to 40 cm wide |
| texture | Fleshly to fleshly-tough |
| pileus | Pale lavender-gray at first; becoming darker and eventually dull dark brown; finely tomentose to glabrous; smooth or radiately rugose |
| stipe | Much branched from thick base; cream colored; 10 cm or more in diameter at base |
| context | Ivory white; up to 2 mm thick |
| pore surface | Ivory white; with thin lacerate dissepiments |
| pores | Angular; 2-4 per mm |
| tube layer(s) | Decurrent on stipe; distinct from context; pale tan on older specimens |
| Microscopic characters | hyphal system | Dimitic: skeletal hyphae hyaline; slightly thick-walled; aseptate; rarely branched; 2.2-5 um wide |
| clamp connections | Present on generative hyphae |
| sterile elements | N/A |
| basidiospores | Ovoid to ellipsoid; hyaline; smooth; 6-7 x 4-4.5 um |
| Habitat characters | substrate/host | Fruiting on the ground from roots at the base of living hardwoods and conifers. Particularly common on oaks. Also may be found on dead trees and stumps. |
| seasonality | Annual |
| type of decay | White rot and butt rot of living trees |
| range | Throughout the eastern, midwestern, and southeastern U.S., rare in the Pacific Northwest. |
| Notes | Odor pleasant, nutlike |
| References | Gilbertson & Ryvarden, 1986. Grand & Vernia, 2007; Overholts, 1953 |
