Habitat and Substrate: Open to partially shaded area on sandy soil, often in pine barrens.

Rhode Island Status: Common.

Pollution Tolerance: Tolerant to acid rain (often grows on acid soils in pine woods).

Collection Site(s): Queen River, Exeter (#5003, #5004); Casimir Pulaski Memorial Park, Glocester (#5068); Chepachet Cemetery, Glocester (#5094); Headwaters of Wood River, West Greenwich (#5124); Snake Den State Park, Johnson (#5168); Pawtucket River Pine Barrens, Richmond (#5292); Tiverton Four Corners Cemetery, Tiverton (#5396); Lincoln Woods, Lincoln (#5442); Black Swamp Area, North Kingstown (#5490); Elm Grove Cemetery at Allenton, North Kingstown (#5510).

Notes: Previously reported in Rhode Island by Bennett (1888), Hebert (Flenniken 1968a), and Greene (2000). Specimens #5068, #5292, and #5490 are reddish brown in color with scattered, rounded pseudocyphellae on the surface, characteristic of Cetraria erecitorum, a more northern species, but considered here as being Cetraria arenaria.