Fringed moon lichen is a folios lichen with apothecia that are rare. Its thallus is foliose, mostly flat though margins are occasionally curled. The upper surface is grey-brown to dark brown and smooth. The lobes have creunlate or round margins, up to 10mm wide, the lower surface has white cyphellae and a mat of rhizines and hyphae.
It can be distinguished from Pseudocyphellaria crocata, another rare lichen, by its dark brown isidia along the lobe margins (vs bright yellow soredia scattered across the thallus surface). It can also resemble Sticta fuliginosa, but its isidia are dark but found across the thallus surface, not just the margins.
