In 1796 Christian Hendrik Persoon described "Boletus erythropus", deriving its specific name from the Greek "ερυθρος" ("red") and "πους" ("foot"), referring to its red-coloured stalk. During the next 200 years or so, this name was used extensively for the species which is the subject of this article, and which (as well as a red stalk) has red pores. Recently it was discovered however that Persoon's mushroom had orange pores, and was a different species (actually thought to be "Suillellus queletii"). So the use of this name for the red-pored mushroom was invalid.