Thallus fruticose, subpendulous to pendulous, rarely straggling and ± decumbent, spreading, to 15 cm long. Branches fine, filiform, sparingly divided to richly branched, becoming complex-entangled towards apices, primary branches 2-3 mm wide and 2-5 cm long, secondary branches 0.2 mm wide and 1-10 cm long. Surfaces smooth, waxy, with transverse black cracks and often alternate black and yellow banding, basal branches pale yellow, secondary branchlets consistently blackened or with black and yellow banding. Medulla lax. Chondroid axis 1/3 to ½ of diam. of branch. Soredia absent. Apothecia rare, lateral, geniculate, disc buff to blue-black, margin furnished with 10-30 ray-like branchlets, thalline exciple smooth to wrinkled. Chemistry: Cortex K-; medulla K+ yellow-red, C-, KC+ red, Pd+ yellow. Norstictic, ± protocetraric, salazinic and usnic acids. In addition, two other chemodemes are known from New Zealand population, one containing psoromic, conpsoromic and usnic acids, the other with squamatic, hypothamnolic (UV+) and usnic acids.