Boletellus ananas for the species is therefore "Boletus ananas" M.A. Curtis 1848, the basionym of "Boletellus ananas". "Boletellus ananas", as the type species of the genus "Boletellus", is in section "Boletellus" that Singer based on the scaly, dry cap with red-pink tones, a marginal veil that clasps the stem when immature, and longitudinally ridged spores that are greater than 16 μm long. The genus name "Boletellus" means "small boletus", while the specific epithet "ananas" alludes to the name for pineapple, referring to the pineapple-like pattern of scales on the cap surface. The mushroom is commonly known as the "pineapple bolete". The cap
Boletellus ananas including "Pinus" and "Quercus" species in southeastern North America and Central America, "Quercus humboldtii" in Colombia, various Fagaceae and Dipterocarpaceae species in Malaysia, and "Leptospermum" and "Pinus" species in New Zealand. In Guyana, the humic deposits on "Dicymbe" trunks bearing "B. ananas" are consistently permeated with abundant ectomycorrhizas. The fungus was reported as forming mycorrhizal associations with eucalypts in Australia, based on fruit body association with trees. Its North American distribution encompasses a range extending north from North Carolina to Florida, west to Texas and south to Mexico, and Central America. In 2008, it was reported for the first time