[2][3][4] In 1768, German botanist Johann Gerhard König, a pupil of Carl Linnaeus, visited Cape Town on his way to India and made several collections of lichen species.

In a 2021 research paper, Wilk and colleagues suggest that "Teloschistes forms a genetically diverse but strongly supported clade",[9] and they prefer to use the older classification proposed by Arup et al. in 2013[10] until more data are available.

The lichen has a cosmopolitan distribution, and is most common in dry, sun-exposed areas with a temperate climate, in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

[13] In America it is known to grow on California live oak, dwarf coyote brush, Peritoma arborea, and magnolias.

[3] This species has been studied for anti-viral secondary metabolites and was found to contain parietin which exhibits virucidal effects against certain arenaviruses (Arenaviridae).