Life habit: lichenized Thallus: crustose, continuous or ±rimose surface: quite variable, white, pale gray to cream-colored and dull or yellowish ochre to olive-green, ±waxy, uneven to slightly rugose, sometimes cracked, without soralia and isidia cortex: usually present, composed of ±periclinal hyphae medulla: white, often with crystals photobiont: primary one a Trentepohlia green alga, secondary one absent Ascomata: apothecial, lirellate, often flexuous and branched, rarely round, sometimes in stroma-like, elevated, white thallus areas (not in Sonoran species) disc: ±open, pale brown to dark gray (red only in P. haematites) and often with white pruina margin: usually with inconspicuous, narrow, dark brown, entire excipular lips and often indistinct thalline margin, rarely margin prominent or crenate exciple: mostly not carbonized, poorly developed or consisting of a narrow layer of brown to slightly carbonized hyphae; excipular lips: often poorly developed, sometimes thickened and carbonized hymenium: often inspersed, I- or I+ weakly blue or red, 50-150 µm tall paraphyses: parallel, rarely anastomosing; tips: often pale brown, chandelier-like branched asci: I-, apex thickened with ±distinct ocular chamber ("Graphis-type"), 1-8-spored (mostly 8-spored) ascospores: brown (soot-brown), transversely septate, submuriform or muriform, 15-150 x 5-50 µm, with slightly thickened spore-walls, I+ reddish brown, rarely wine-red or red-violet Conidiomata and conidia: not seen Secondary metabolites: either none detected or commonly ß-orcinol depsidones or lichexanthone or the red pigment isohypocrellin Geography: predominately tropical to subtropical with few species extending to temperate regions Substrate: mostly bark, rarely other substrates (rock, detritus or mosses). Note: Phaeographis is characterized by divergent, mostly poorly developed and rarely carbonized exciples, open brownish-gray to dark brown discs, often with a white pruina and brown ascospores that turn I+ red or red-brown. For the synonyms at the generic level see Staiger (2002), Phaeographis: from the Sonoran region