Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bungartz, F., (eds.) 2002. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 1.

Primary thallus: squamulose, evanescent or occasionally persistent; squamules: very small (0.5-2 x 0.5-1 mm), undivided to somewhat laciniate, forming flat crusts podetia: often abundant, 5-15 (22) mm tall, 0.5-1.5 mm thick, pale gray, usually unbranched or with some apical branchlets, in part flattened surface: longitudinally grooved and cracked, almost continuously areolate-corticate and verruculose, esorediate, often slightly squamulose at the base Apothecia: constantly present, 1-3 mm wide, dark brown to pale ochraceous ascospores: oblong, 7-13 x 2-2.5 micro meter Pycnidia: common, on primary squamules, ampullaceous to ovoid, constricted at base, with hyaline gelatin conidia: 7-8 x 1 micro meter Spot tests: K- or K+ dingy brown, C-, KC-, P+ red, UV- Secondary metabolite: fumarprotocetraric acid. Habitat and ecology: on bare soil banks; collected at 1700 m World distribution: Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America Sonoran distribution: only known from the Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon) region of western Chihuahua. Notes: This species can be recognized by its constantly fertile, small and slender, continuously corticate podetia and its tiny primary squamules. It is common in the eastern United States, but largely absent from the West. The Chihuahua record is an extension of its range to the Mexican mountains in the south.