Herbarium specimens of V. laevigata, which usually develop a whitish mold-like appearance when stored in the herbarium for a long time, had been known for years as Niebla homalea[3] The distinction of the species was clarified from further study of their chemistry and morphology; Vermilacinia does not develop chondroid strands within the medulla, while Niebla does not have (-)-16 α-hydroxykaurane.

[4] For a short time, during 1987–1994, Vermilacinia laevigata was proposed by another name, indicated in a manuscript distributed to lichenologists in California, Maryland, and Germany, and in annotation labels of numerous specimens by Richard Spjut.

[1] He had chosen a name for the species in honor of Mason E. Hale, Jr.[1] His first encounter with the species was near Cerro Solo in northern Baja California (Spjut 9047C, 1 May 1985, US[5]), while collecting a sample of Niebla eburnea as part of systematic collection of lichens for screening by the National Cancer Institute in search of new drugs to treat HIV.

[1] In 2004, Peter Bowler and Janet Marsh transferred it back to Niebla[2] R. Heber Hower, Jr. in his revision of North American Ramalina,[7] Section Ellipsosporae, stated that: “There are but two really distinctive characters—one made use of by Tuckerman, the chondroid axial filaments (almost of generic importance) of ceruchis and homalea—the other that of spore form.” But Howe did not apply the chondroid character in his key, or mention it in his descriptions, nor did he recognize what is now Vermilacinia laevigata; instead, he separated the two by whether the branches (“laciniae”) were terete (= Vermilacinia) or compressed-angulate (= Niebla).

Spjut[4] was the first to apply both cortical and chemical characters that clearly led to recognition of two genera as was suggested by Howe and also by Hildur Krog and Haavard Østhagen in 1980[9] who stated: “We consider that the anatomical traits characteristic of Steiner's Corticatae,[10] perhaps linked with chemical traits as suggested by Follmann (1976a)[11] show greater promise as a basis for a taxonomic subdivision.” "Vermilacinia Subgenus Vermilacinia".