Pileus: convex, umbilicate; 25 -50 mm diameter;finely fibrillose, innately striate; pinkish buff; margin sulcate.

Stipe:cylindrical, hollow; 50 - 100 × 3 - 5 mm; finely fibrillose; fawn, ochraceous buff.

Gills: adnate; moderately distant; violaceous buff; with lamellulae in two series.

Spore print: white.

Spores: subglobose; 8.5 – 11 µm, echinulate.

Notes: this Laccaria is not easy to recognize in the field and has several colour forms. The combination of the size of the spines on the spores and the shape of the cheilocystidia are needed for a firm determination. This species is also present in New Zealand.