Cetraria aculeata is a dark brown to black fruticose soil lichen from the family Parmeliaceae. The species was first described by German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel Edler von Schreber in 1771 under the name of Lichen aculeatus. Later on Erik Acharius, the "father of lichenology" gave it a name of Cornicularia aculeata, which lately has been changed to Coelocaulon aculeatum. Finally the taxonomic revision of Ingvar Kärnefelt and colleagues assigned the species to the genus Cetraria.