Vermilacinia zebrina is a fruticose lichen that grows on bark of trees and shrubs, occasionally on rocks, in the fog regions along the Pacific Coast of North America, from Puget Sound in northern Washington[1] to near El Rosario in Baja California.

[2] The epithet, zebrina, is in reference to the black transverse bands on the thallus branches; however, the species is interpreted to include thalli without black bands.

[2] Vermilacinia zebrina is classified in the subgenus Cylindricaria in which it is distinguished from related species by thallus divided into narrow cylindrical branches arising from a holdfast; branches are 1.0–4 cm long, 0.3–1 mm wide, shortly bifurcate near apex, and have soralia often larger than the diameter of the branch.

[2] Vermilacinia zebrina was described in 1996 by Richard Spjut;,[2] although it appears to have been informally recognized without name by Phillip Rundel, Peter Bowler and Thomas Mulroy in 1972; they stated that “at least two morphologically distinct sorediate Desmazierias have been included within D. cephalota.”[3] Desmazieria is an older illegitimate name (according to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature) that was replaced by Niebla.

[4] Vermilacinia was segregated from Niebla based on difference in the cortex, medulla, and chemistry.