[2] It was circumscribed by American lichenologist Mason Hale in 1986 to contain 17 former Pseudoparmelia species with broad lobes, usnic acid in the cortex, and isolichenan in the cell walls.

There is a black lower surface with simple, unbranched rhizines, and a distinct bare zone around the margin.

Flavoparmelia originated in southern South America, and its major radiation began in the late Oligocene.

Group 3 (a cluster of Flavoparmelia species that have wider distributions, such as the subcosmopolitan F. soredians) is estimated to have originated in the Cape Region of South Africa during the late Miocene.

Long-distance dispersal can account for the current distribution of some species, while evidence for vicariance has also been shown in Parmeliaceae.