Niebla flagelliforma is a fruticose lichen that grows on rocks along the foggy Pacific Coast of Baja California mostly in the Northern Vizcaíno Desert.

[1] Niebla flagelliforma is frequent in wind-sheltered areas inland from the coast on the northern peninsula of Baja California, generally south of Campo Nuevo, but also occurs around Bahía de San Quintín and nearby Isla San Martín.

[1][3] Niebla flagelliforma was recognized as distinct from Niebla homalea, 1 May 1985, following a sample of N. homalea collected 29 April 1985 on Punta Banda in Baja California; N. flagelliforma was collected by Richard Spjut and Richard Marin (S & M 9058A) near Rosarito along Baja Mexico Highway 1, 33 km south of junction with road to Bahía de los Angeles, on rocks of north-facing slopes in the understory of dense brush.

[1] A sample of 110 grams was submitted to the National Cancer Institute, Natural Products Branch for their natural product screening program in search of new compounds to treat HIV and cancer; the sample was accessioned as WBA-122, and identified as “Niebla sp.

(undscribed) rock ‘ceruchis’ type.”[4] and cited in Spjut's 1996 revision of the genus under N. flagelliforma.