 The species was first recognized as a variety of "Ramalina combeoides" by R. Heber Howe in 1913; William Nylander had described the species in 1870.Phillip Rundel and Peter Bowler elevated it to species status in 1978 when they renamed species in the illegitimate genus "Desmazieria".to "Niebla" The species was transferred to "Vermilacinia" when described in 1995, distinguished by its cortical morphology, lack of chondroid strands in the medulla, and by its lichen metabolites, notably (-)-16 α-hydroxykaurane.