A foliose species with a shiny, brown to olive-brown lobes that are adpressed, short and often widening at the apices which are rounded and only slightly notched. It is usually fertile with large, red-brown discs surrounded by characteristically thick, warted margins.
In Scotland, Melanohalea exasparata is more common in upland where it is found on fairly well-lit but sheltered, twigs and branches of acid-barked, deciduous trees. BLS distribution map
scottishlichens.co.uk 