This large species is maily assosiated with coniferous trees, but can grow with deciduous trees as well.

It is characterized by the large size, the brownish-yellow colours and the very large and coarsly ornamented spores. It has a red reaction with bases on both cap and bulb flesh.

It could be confused with C. elegantissimus and C. sulfurinus (see C. sulfurinus var. fageticola) which also have very large spores. But C. elegantior lacks the greenish colours of C. sulfurinus and the reddish colours of C. elegantissimus.