Vermilacinia acicularis is a fruticose lichen that occurs in the Channel Islands of California.

Lichen substances are primarily of the following three terpenes that are characteristic of the subgenus Vermilacinia: an unknown referred to as "T3", (-)-16 α-hydroxykaurane, and zeorin.

It has alternatively been treated in the genus Niebla under a broader species concept, N. ceruchoides, without explanation.

[2] Niebla differs from Vermilacinia by the cortex differentiated into two layers,[3] by the development of chondroid strands in the medulla,[4] and by the absence of the diterpene (-)-16 α-hydroxykaurane and the triterpene zeorin.

[4] Vermilacinia ceruchoides differs from V. acicularis by the absence of isidia, and by the branches arising from a less defined basal area that become shortly bifurcate near apex.