Polycauliona polycarpa is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), foliose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It was first formally described by German botanist Georg Franz Hoffmann in 1796, as Lobaria polycarpa. It has acquired quite an extensive synonymy in its taxonomic history. In 2013, Patrik Frödén and colleagues transferred it to the genus Polycauliona, as part of a molecular phylogenetics-based restructuring of the family Teloschistaceae. In northern North America, one vernacular name for the species is pin-cushion sunburst lichen.