Chrysothrix granulosa, the coastal gold dust lichen, is a brilliant yellow, powdery (leprose) lichen that grows in irregular patches mostly on bark (sometimes wood and rock) in shaded dry areas of coastal western North America and western South America.

[1] It can be found in coastal areas of California[1] near Santa Barbara County,[2] and coastal areas of the Sonoran Desert, mostly islands off Baja California.

[2] The mostly structureless body (thallus) forms powdery cushions of lichen granules (soredia) over a fluffy middle layer (medulla).

[1] The upper medulla is yellow fading to yellow-white in the lower part.

[1] Fruiting bodies (apothecia are absent in populations in California and the Sonoran Desert, and elsewhere have a constricted base with 0.2 to 1 mm diameter brownish orange flat to convex discs.