Niebla suffnessii is a fruticose lichen that grows on rocks along the foggy Pacific Coast of North America within the Vizcaíno Desert region of Baja California.

[1] The epithet, suffnessii, is in honor of Matthew Suffness[2] who was Chief of the Natural Products Branch in the National Cancer Institute during the late 1970s to mid 1980s, and later a coordinator of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) contracts for the drug discovery groups, and who also encouraged the screening of lichens and bryophytes in the search for new anticancer drugs.

[1] Niebla suffnessii was recognized as a result of undertaking a taxonomic revision of the genus in regard to developing a lichen flora of Baja California, which began in 1986.

[1] It was first collected on the Vizcaino Peninsula on Cerro Elefante, 15 May 1986, the holotype (biology), Spjut 9567B, deposited in the United States National Herbarium (Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Natural History, Botany Department)[6] and at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Ensenada, Mexico.

At this northern location it may prove to be another species that could be recognized by the sharply raised cortical ridges.