The species is found in eastern North America, ranging from Ontario, Canada through the southeastern United States, where it grows primarily on tree bark in humid environments such as hardwood-cypress swamps and mesic forests.

These isidia are somewhat irregular in shape and are composed of the lichen's algal partner (photobiont) wrapped in a thin protective layer of fungal cells.

[1] Porina scabrida is found in eastern North America, ranging from Ontario, Canada south through the southeastern United States, with a distribution spanning from the Southern Coastal Plain through the Piedmont to the Appalachian Mountains.

[3] In North Carolina, it has been found in three distinct ecoregions: the Outer Banks (Tidewater),[4] the Piedmont (Wake County), and the Blue Ridge (Great Smoky Mountains).

[6] It has been found growing on various tree species, including tupelo (Nyssa), cypress (Taxodium), oak (Quercus), water hickory (Carya aquatica), red maple (Acer rubrum), white oak (Quercus alba), tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), and northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis), usually at relatively low elevations but reaching up to 435 m (1,427 ft) in Ontario.