An introduced species, it is found commonly under pine, but also under eucalyptus, birch and native beech. When in the button stage, the universal veil is quite yellow soon fadeing to white as it develops.

Cap: 50-250 mm diameter, rounded at first to convex with age, bright red to orange-red when fresh, often fading to orange, yellow-orange, or pale apricot with age or heavy rain. Surface smooth, viscid when wet. Universal-veil remnants form white to yellowish warts, typically pyramidal; these may wash off in rain, leaving a nearly smooth cap. Margin non-striate or faintly striate in age.
Gills: White to cream, free, crowded, edges roughened. Short gills present.
Stipe: 80-200 mm tall, 10-25 mm thick, white, sometimes slightly yellowish near the base. tapering to a bulbous base; Surface finely fibrillose.
Ring: persistent, white, membranous, often with striate upper surface.
Base: distinctly bulbous, with concentric rings or patches of volval material.
Volva: Not a saccate cup; instead appears as concentric, friable rings or patches on the bulb
Flesh: White, firm, unchanging. Odour mild or indistinct.