[3] He placed it in the eponymously named genus Lichen, as was the standard practice in those times, following the example of Carl Linnaeus in his influential 1753 work Species Plantarum.

[6] Variospora flavescens features a placodioid thallus, which forms large, evenly distributed, circular patches measuring 10 cm (4 in) or more in diameter.

[7] The paraphyses (sterile fungal filaments) are slender and range from straight to flexuose, without noticeable swelling at the ends.

[7] Variospora flavescens is a saxicolous lichen that grows on calcareous stone, including limestone, mortar, and cement.

In the United Kingdom, although quite common, it is not found in air-polluted areas such as industrial regions in Northern England, nor in the Scottish Lowlands.