Thallus crustose-leprose, diffuse (rarely delimited) forming scattered granules in places but chiefly converging to produce a fairly thin ± continuous non-areolate (rarely fortuitously areolate) crust, bright yellow, often with either a slightly orange or a greenish tinge, or rarely greenish-yellow, surface composed entirely of a mass of pulverulent, minutely convex to spherical granules, 0.01-0.1(-0.2) mm diam., cortex absent, thallus unstratified, uniformly yellow throughout, thalline margin absent, prothallus not apparent. Apothecia rare, minute, to 0.5 mm diam., scattered to ± clustered, superficial, orbicular, rarely angular-distorted, disc plane to subconvex, light orange often yellow-pruinose, margins poorly developed to 0.01 mm thick, entire, bright yellow, concolorous with thallus, often occluded in mature fruits, Paraphyses 1-1.5 µm thick, colourless, septate, rather few between asci, these being erect and branched but richly anastomosing above, not swollen apically. Asci clavate, small, 25-33 × 10-13 µm, two walled, the inner extending to form a nipple which may indicate the ascus is of arrested-bitunicate type. Ascospores narrowly obovoid to narrowly ellipsoid, straight or curved, mostly 3-septate (9-)13-14 × 3 µm. Chemistry: Thallus C-, K and KC- or + orange often darkening to red and finally black, Pd-, or + orange. Three chemodemes are present in the species. (i): Calycin, (ii): Pinastric acid. (iii): Calycin and pinastric acid.