Vermilacinia cephalota  Vermilacinia cephalota is a fruticose lichen usually found on trees, shrubs and wooden fences in the fog regions along the Pacific Coast of North America from southeastern Alaska to the Vizcaíno Peninsula of Baja California. "Vermilacinia cephalota" is classified in the subgenus "Cylindricaria" in which it is distinguished from related species by the thallus divided into tubular inflated or somewhat compressed fan-shaped branches that arise from a central point of attachment and produce soredia, powdery masses of green alga and white fungal cells that erupt through the cortex, which in "V. cephalota" form pincushion-like heads (capitate) called soralia (soralium singular) because of their regular shape. The cortex is relatively thin, 10–60 µm thick, and the soralia often have a bluish tint. Additionally, the cortex of a specimen of "Vermilacinia cephalota"—that is kept in a herbarium—gradually deteriorates, cracking irregularly; the hyphae and crystalline deposits within the medulla then seem to flow out through the cracks like a stuffed animal toy losing its cotton after being torn. This chemical change or efflorescence of the dried thallus eventually makes it difficult to distinguish the original shape of a soralium. This has been attributed to the diterpene (-)-16 α-hydroxykaurane that occurs in most species of "Vermilacinia", and may also be related to an unidentified compound, referred to as T3 (based on its Rf position on a thin-layer chromatography plate), and an aliphatic depside, bourgeanic acid. "Vermilacinia cephalota" has a four chemotypes, three of which can be viewed as a chemosyndrome involving (1) salazinic acid in one type, (2) norstictic acid in another type or (3) neither salazinic acid or norstictic acid present. Zeorin and (-)-16 α-hydroxykaurane are the major compounds that are always present. A fourth chemotype includes the presence or absence of the T3 compound. "Vermilacinia cephalota" was first recognized as "Ramalina ceruchis" f. "cephalota" by Edward Tuckerman in 1882 as an “inferior form” of the species that grew upon “dead wood” based upon a specimen collected by “D. Anderson” at Santa Cruz, California (type specimen shown in a revision of the genus).