It was first described by Swedish lichenologist Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work Species Plantarum.

[3] German botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow transferred it to the genus Cladonia in 1787.

[4] The lichen has apothecia and bright red pycnidia atop of yellowish to grey-green podetia that are 1–2 cm (0.4–0.8 in) high.

The base of the thallus comprises rounded squamules (scales) with a yellow to orange-brown undersurface.

[5] The lichen has a circumpolar distribution in the Northern Hemisphere, which extends south to the Himalayas.