Morphology: Cap 2-6 cm wide. Initially convex, at maturity broadly convex to almost flat. Surface dry, covered with dense, often fibrillose and adherent purple to orange scales that dissolve with age. Dark red to reddish brown, fading to pinkish red or yellowish red on drying and finally yellow, sometimes fading to blue-green.

Rim is evenly curled to curved when young, but soon straightens and is adorned with fibrillose remnants. Flesh thick, reddish to purple, turning yellowish on drying.

Lamellae: Attached to coiled at base, to slightly sloping, dense to subsessile, broad, initially yellow then rusty orange, with serrated edges.

Stems: 30-80 mm long and 3-10 mm thick, uniformly enlarged to downward when solitary and narrower when in clusters, and often curved at the base. Yellowish or rust colored when old. Stem base sometimes bluishly bruised.

Habit, habitat, and distribution: Common from June to November from on woody debris and wood chips in nurseries and landscaping. Widespread in the United States (Texas, Florida, New York, Tennessee, Michigan, and New Mexico) and occurs primarily on conifers, less commonly on cottonwoods and other hardwoods.