Hedwigia 71: 109 (1931).

Basionym: Umbilicaria vellea f. cinereorufescens Schaer., without data in IF (1850). In Swinscow & Krog 1988: 316 "Umbilicaria vellea gamma spadichroa e. cinereorufescens Schaer., Enum. Lich. Eur.: 25 (1850)".

Thallus: coriaceous, mono- to polyphyllous, up to 12 cm diam. Upper side brown, smooth, entire or irregularly cracked, more or less covered with a thin pruina, undulating around the umbo without sharp ridges, here and there with perforations. Medulla white. Underside jet black, trabeculate around the umbilicus, coarsely scabrous, covered with numerous short, stout, ball-tipped, black rhizinomorphs, and some branched, slender, black rhizinomorphs with blunt tips, and short, coarse, complanate, black excrescences. Thallospores multicellular, in clusters on the rhizinomorphs and on the underside of the thallus. Isidia and soredia absent. Apothecia rare, gyrose, lacking in East African material (Swinscow & Krog 1988: 316).

Photobiont: Data lacking.

Chemistry: Gyrophoric acid, C+ rose (Swinscow & Krog 1988: 317).

Ecology: Saxicolous in the alpine zone at 3500 to 4600 m, in East Africa fairly common.

Distribution Type: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Europe, North America, Greenland.

Note: "This species is mostly represented in East Africa by a monophyllous morphotype which reaches a considerable size. In herbaria it is often determined as U. vellea. However, that species, which is rare in our area, can be distinguished by the presence of numerous, slender, branched, pale brown rhizinomorphs in addition to the various black appendages" (Swinscow & Krog 1988: 317).