Niebla turgida is a fruticose lichen that grows on rocks in the fog zone along the Pacific Coast of Baja California in the Northern Vizcaíno Desert[1] The epithet, turgida is in reference to the swollen branches of the thallus.

Niebla turgida is distinguished by a yellow green bushy thallus to 6 cm high and 15 cm across, divided into tubular swollen branches; the primary branches, which are often round in cross section near base, are loosely connected to a yellowish pigmented holdfast, blackened slightly above base, curve upwards or spread widely and become entangled, mostly narrow in length and prismatic to partially flattened above in cross section, variously fringed along the branch margins, often long tapered to the tip.

[1] Similar species are Niebla podetiaforma, distinguished by the smaller thallus with less prominent cortical ridges, and Niebla juncosa that differs by longitudinal cortical ridges that define the branch margins.

The species (N. turgida) is a common lichen on boulders of slopes and mesas north of Puerto Catarina.

[5] A taxonomic treatment for the broad concept of Niebla homalea and the genus has many inconsistencies, however.