Caloplaca saxicola is a small bright orange crustose lichen that grows on rock all over the world. It is commonly called rock firedot lichen, jewel lichen or rock jewel lichen.
Caloplaca is a lichen genus comprising a number of distinct species. Members of the genus are commonly called firedot lichen, jewel lichen. gold lichens, "orange lichens", but they are not always orange, as in the case of C. albovariegata. The distribution of this lichen genus is worldwide, extending from Antarctica to the high Arctic. It includes a portion of northern North America and the Russian High Arctic. There are about thirty species of Caloplaca in the flora of the British Isles. An example species in this genus is Caloplaca saxicola, a lichen with worldwide distribution including the Antarctic continent, Europe and northern North America including the northern reaches of the Canadian boreal forests.
Caloplaca obamae is a species of crustose lichen in the fungus genus Caloplaca. It is the first species to be named in honor of United States President Barack Obama. C. obamae was discovered in 2007 by Kerry Knudsen on Santa Rosa Island in California and published in March 2009. Knudsen stated that he chose to honor Obama for "his support of science and scientific education" and wrote the manuscript for publication of the species in the time between Obama's election and his inauguration.
Caloplaca marina, the orange sea lichen, is a crustose, placodioid lichen. It has wide distribution, and can be found near the shore on rocks or walls. Calos in Greek means nice, placa in Greek is shield. Caloplaca therefore means ‘beautiful patches’.
Lichens of the Sierra Nevada have been little studied. A lichen is a composite organism consisting of a fungus and a photosynthetic partner growing together in a symbiotic relationship.
Lichens are grouped by common lichen growth forms. There are a wide range of growth forms (morphology). These groupings may not be consistent with lichen taxonomy, since lichens with similar growth forms are not necessarily related by ancestry. Groups based on growth may overlap and have borderline cases. A species usually has the same overall growth form wherever it is found, but not always.
Caloplaca durietzii, or Durietz's orange lichen, a smooth surfaced yellowish orange crustose areolate lichen with elongated lobes that grows on wood or bark in southwestern North America. It is commonly seen growing on old junipers in Joshua Tree National Monument in the Mojave Desert. It is in the Caloplaca fungus genus of the Teloschistaceae family.
Caloplaca nashii is an orange crustose lichen found on calcareous rocks in northern Mexico, southern California, and Baja California. It is the most common of many members of the genus Caloplaca found on rocks in Joshua Tree National Park. It may sometimes be slightly endolithic. It does not have elongated lobes like some other crustose lichens. It has no prothallus. It is in the Caloplaca fungus genus of the Teloschistaceae family.
Adolf Hugo Magnusson was a Swedish naturalist who specialized in lichenology. He was a school teacher in Gothenburg from 1909 to 1948, but spent his spare time on the study of lichens. He described about 900 new taxa, specializing in the genera Lecidea, Lecanora, Caloplaca, and Acarospora.
Teuvo ("Ted") Tapio Ahti is a Finnish botanist and lichenologist. He has had a long career at the University of Helsinki that started in 1963, and then following his retirement in 1997, at the Botanical Museum of the Finnish Museum of Natural History. Known as a specialist of the lichen family Cladoniaceae, Ahti has published more than 280 scientific publications. A Festschrift was dedicated to him in 1994, and in 2000 he was awarded the prestigious Acharius Medal for lifetime contributions to lichenology.
Caloplaca vainioi is a species of crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It is based on the name Placodium brebissonii var. microspora, collected by Friedrich Welwitsch in Angola and described by Edvard August Vainio in 1901. In 1979, lichenologists Josef Hafellner and Josef Poelt renamed this taxon to Caloplaca vainioi. Thorsten Lumbsch and colleagues indicated that this species is the same as Caloplaca cateileoides, and proposed placing the two in synonymy. However, Clifford Wetmore questioned the synonymy of these species, noting that their lichen spot tests and hymenium colour were different, and suggested that "further collections and study are necessary".
Thomas Hawkes Nash III is an American lichenologist. His research is about the biology and ecology of lichens, and the effects of air pollution on plants and lichens. He is known as an authority on the family Parmeliaceae. During his long career at the Arizona State University, he helped develop the lichen herbarium into a world-class collection with over 100,000 specimens representing more than 5000 species. In 2010, the year of his retirement, he was awarded the Acharius Medal for lifetime achievements in lichenology, and the following year had a Festschrift published in his honor.
Candelariella antennaria, or the pussytoes eggyolk lichen, is a lichen commonly distributed in North America, and has been observed in South America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. It is characterized by its gray thallus and bright yellow apothecia, as well as its very small size.
Igneoplaca is a genus in the subfamily Xanthorioideae of the family Teloschistaceae. It contains a single species, the crustose lichen Igneoplaca ignea.
Ikaeria is a genus of two species of crustose lichens in the family Teloschistaceae. Both species grow on twig bark of shrubs and trees. It was circumscribed in 2017 by lichenologists Sergey Kondratyuk, Dalip Kumar Upreti, and Jae-Seoun Hur, with Ikaeria aurantiellina assigned as the type species. This lichen was previously placed in the genus Caloplaca, but molecular phylogenetic analysis showed that it belonged in a lineage that was genetically distinct from that genus. Ikaeria serusiauxii was added to the genus in 2020.
Caloplaca allanii is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling) and crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. Found in New Zealand, it was formally described as a new species by Alexander Zahlbruckner. The type specimen was collected by Lucy Cranwell on Anawhata Beach in 1932; she sent a dried specimen to Zahlbruckner for identification. The specific epithet allanii honours New Zealand botanist Harry Allan.
Microsphaeropsis caloplacae is a species of lichenicolous (lichen-eating) fungus in the family Didymosphaeriaceae. It is only known to occur in a single locality along the Kızılırmak River in Turkey, where it grows parasitically on the crustose lichen Caloplaca persica.
