Thallus very thin and slightly buried in the substratum, finely grainy to warty in places, pale greyish, greyish a little greenish or bluish in patches. Apothecia numerous, scattered throughout the thallus, globose, 0.1-0.3 mm in diameter, neither pruinose nor shiny, brown-black to dark chestnut brown, at the top of a stipe more or less twisted by 0.5- 1.5 mm, not pruinose, blackish. Spores globose, smooth, 3-5 µm in diameter. Photobiont: green alga; Dictyochloropsis. Thallus; C-, K-, KC-, P +/- yellow. Ligniculous species growing on dead wood, especially conifers but also deciduous trees.