 Peter Bowler and Janet Marsh included "Vermilacinia rigida", among four other species of "Vermilacinia" with a flattened branch type of morphology ("V. johncassadyi" "V. ligulata", "V. rosei", "V. varicosa"), and one with cylindrical branch type ("V. paleoderma"), under their "Niebla laevigata" (= "Vermilacinia laevigata").No explanation was provided as to why they considered all these species the same as "V. laevigata", especially since they also recognized many species with cylindrical branch types ("V. cedrosensis", "V. combeoides", "V. robusta", "V. procera"), all of which were named by Bowler and collaborators in "Niebla".This was in contrast to all Spjut’s species described to have a flattened blade morphology that were rejected by Bowler.