[1] Found in western North America, it is characterized by its whitish, smooth thallus and asexual reproduction through soredia.

This lichen species is primarily found in western intermontane North America, from southern British Columbia to Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.

The species belongs to the genus Platismatia, which consists of about a dozen foliose lichens primarily found at temperate latitudes, mostly on trees.

Ancestral state reconstruction suggests that P. wheeleri, a sorediate species, likely evolved from an isidiate ancestor.

[2] The lower surface is brown to black with a reticulum of narrow raised ridges, dull to shiny at tips, and corticate.