[1] Candelaria pacifica was formally described as a species in 2011 by Martin Westberg and Ulf Arup.

Since its discovery, many older records have been reviewed and many herbarium specimens that were previously mislabeled have been reassessed as Candelaria pacifica.

Upper cortex is yellow, with shades of lemon, orange, or green present, smooth, up to 45 μm thick.

[3][1] Often mistaken for Candelaria concolor, a differentiating aspect of C. pacifica is a lack or rare presence of rhizines.

[2] As a lichen, C. pacifica grows attached to a substrate while supporting a population of green algae in a symbiotic relationship within its thallus.

[3] Its European distribution includes France, Belgium, Luxembourg,[5] Poland,[6] Estonia,[7] Switzerland,[8] Russia,[4] Germany, the Netherlands,[9] and Scandinavian counties.