The type specimen was collected by mycologist Paul Andries van der Bijl from South Africa, from "Durban Trunk of tree" in 1921.

[2] Ochrolechia africana has a crustose, yellowish-grey to gray thallus with a surface texture ranging from smooth to warted (verruculose or verrucose).

[4] The Chinese alpine species Ochrolechia alticola is somewhat similar in appearance to O. africana, but differs in the C+ red reaction of the apothecial margin cortex, the absence of 5-O-methylhiascic acid, as well as its habitat.

[7] Cornutispora lichenicola is a lichenicolous fungus that has been reported growing on Ochrolechia africana lichens in Bolivia.

[9] In the Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka districts of India, a new species of lichenicolous fungus, Lichenodiplis ochrolechiae, was found infesting the thallus and apothecial discs of local O. africana populations.