It is found in eastern Asia, North America, and Europe, where it grows on mossy rocks and tree trunks.

The type specimen was collected in Gaudineer Knob, a mountain summit in eastern West Virginia.

[4] Cetrelia chicitae has a foliose (leafy) thallus, greenish-gray to pale brownish-gray in colour, comprising broad, undulating lobes measuring 5–20 mm (0.2–0.8 in) in diameter.

The thallus surface features white soredia, powdery to coarsely granular in form, that lie on the lobe margins.

The thallus undersurface is black to brown, sometimes with blotches of ivory colour at the margins.