A lichen is a hybrid colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among filaments of multiple fungi species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualistic relationship. Lichens are the lifeform that first brought the term symbiosis under biological context.
Basidiolichens are lichenized members of the Basidiomycota that form a much smaller group of lichens than the far more common ascolichens in the Ascomycota. In arctic, alpine, and temperate forests, the most common basidiolichens are in the agaric genus Lichenomphalia and the clavarioid genus Multiclavula. Several lichenized genera occur in tropical regions, the most common being the foliose Dictyonema. Previously basidiolichens had been classified in their own subclass, Basidiolichenes. Molecular based phylogeny does not support classification of the genera together.
Omphalotus nidiformis, or ghost fungus, is a gilled basidiomycete mushroom most notable for its bioluminescent properties. It is known to be found primarily in southern Australia and Tasmania, but was reported from India in 2012 and 2018. The fan or funnel shaped fruit bodies are up to 30 cm (12 in) across, with cream-coloured caps overlain with shades of orange, brown, purple, or bluish-black. The white or cream gills run down the length of the stipe, which is up to 8 cm (3 in) long and tapers in thickness to the base. The fungus is both saprotrophic and parasitic, and its fruit bodies are generally found growing in overlapping clusters on a wide variety of dead or dying trees.
Verrucariaceae is a family of lichens and a few non-lichenised fungi in the order Verrucariales. The lichens have a wide variety of thallus forms, from crustose (crust-like) to foliose (bushy) and squamulose (scaly). Most of them grow on land, some in freshwater and a few in the sea. Many are free-living but there are some species that are parasites on other lichens, while one marine species always lives together with a leafy green alga.
Boletellus obscurecoccineus, known as the rhubarb bolete, is a species of fungus in the family Boletaceae, found in Australia, New Guinea, Java, Borneo, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. It is a distinctive and colourful bolete of the forest floor.
Sarcogyne is a genus of crustose lichens in the family Acarosporaceae. It was circumscribed by German botanist Julius von Flotow in 1850. A proposal has been put forth in 2021 to assign Sarcogyne clavus as the type species of the genus, "as it represents the original concept of Sarcogyne as having melanized lecideine apothecia without algae in the margin".
Stromatella bermudana is a saxicolous (rock-dwelling) crustose lichen. It is the only species in Stromatella, a monotypic fungal genus in the family Lichinaceae.
Mycena acicula, commonly known as the orange bonnet, or the coral spring Mycena, is a species of fungus in the family Mycenaceae. It is found in Asia, the Caribbean, North America and Europe. The fruit bodies, or mushrooms, of the fungus grow on dead twigs and other woody debris of forest floors, especially along streams and other wet places. They have small orange-red caps, up to 1 cm (0.4 in) in diameter, held by slender yellowish stems up to 6 cm (2.4 in) long. The gills are pale yellow with a whitish edge. Several other Mycena species look similar, but may be distinguished by differences in size and/or microscopic characteristics. M. acicula is considered inedible because of its small size.
Mycena nargan, commonly known as the Nargan's bonnet, is a species of fungus in the family Mycenaceae, and the sole member of the section Nargan in the genus Mycena. Reported as a new species in 1995, it is known predominantly from Southern Australia. The saprobic fungus produces mushrooms that grow on well-decayed wood, often on the underside of wood lying in litter. The dark chestnut-coloured caps are covered with white, easily removed scales, and reach diameters of up to 2 cm (0.8 in) wide. The pale, slender stems are up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long and have white scales at the base. On the underside of the cap, the cream-coloured gills are widely spaced and bluntly attached to the stem. The edibility of the mushroom is unknown.
Volvariella surrecta, commonly known as the piggyback rosegill, is an agaric fungus in the family Pluteaceae. Although rare, the species is widely distributed, having been reported from Asia, North America, Northern Africa, Europe, and New Zealand. The fungus grows as a parasite on the fruit bodies of other gilled mushrooms, usually Clitocybe nebularis. V. surrecta mushrooms have white or greyish silky-hairy caps up to 8 cm (3.1 in) in diameter, and white gills that turns pink in maturity. The stipe, also white, is up to 9 cm (3.5 in) long, and has a sack-like volva at its base.
Tricholoma vaccinum, commonly known as the russet scaly tricholoma, the scaly knight, or the fuzztop, is a fungus of the agaric genus Tricholoma. It produces medium-sized fruit bodies (mushrooms) that have a distinctive hairy reddish-brown cap with a shaggy margin when young. The cap, which can reach a diameter of up to 6.5 cm (2.6 in) wide, breaks up into flattened scales in maturity. It has cream-buff to pinkish gills with brown spots. Its fibrous, hollow stipe is white above and reddish brown below, and measures 4 to 7.5 cm long. Although young fruit bodies have a partial veil, it does not leave a ring on the stipe.
Lichens are symbiotic organisms made up of multiple species: a fungus, one or more photobionts and sometimes a yeast. They are regularly grouped by their external appearance – a characteristic known as their growth form. This form, which is based on the appearance of vegetative part of the lichen, varies depending on the species and the environmental conditions it faces. Those who study lichens (lichenologists) have described a dozen of these forms: areolate, byssoid, calicioid, cladoniform, crustose, filamentous, foliose, fruticose, gelatinous, leprose, placoidioid and squamulose. Traditionally, crustose (flat), foliose (leafy) and fruticose (shrubby) are considered to be the three main forms. In addition to these more formalised, traditional growth types, there are a handful of informal types named for their resemblance to the lichens of specific genera. These include alectorioid, catapyrenioid, cetrarioid, hypogymnioid, parmelioid and usneoid.
Lichen morphology describes the external appearance and structures of a lichen. These can vary considerably from species to species. Lichen growth forms are used to group lichens by "vegetative" thallus types, and forms of "non-vegetative" reproductive parts. Some lichen thalli have the aspect of leaves ; others cover the substrate like a crust, others such as the genus Ramalina adopt shrubby forms, and there are gelatinous lichens such as the genus Collema.
Lichenomphalia chromacea is a species of basidiolichen in the family Hygrophoraceae. It is found in southern Australia. The yellow-orange fruiting bodies of the species are mushroom-like, with a cap width of typically less than 4 cm. The thallus of the lichen is a greenish, granular layer of fungal hyphae and algae on the soil around the base of the stipe.
Mastodia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Verrucariaceae. It has six species.
Racoleus is a genus of two species of lichen-forming fungi of uncertain familial placement in the order Capnodiales. Both species of Racoleus are filamentous lichens with Trentepohlia as the photobiont partner. The lichens form thalli in the form of felt-like, blackish-brown cushions that grow under shaded conditions on siliceous rocks.
Lichenomphalia velutina is a species of basidiolichen in the family Hygrophoraceae. It was first formally described in 1886 by the French mycologist Lucien Quélet, who classified it in the genus Omphalia. It was transferred to its current genus, Lichenomphalia, in 2002. Known primarily as having a European and North American distribution, the fungus was recorded from China for the first time in 2018. Chinese collections occur at elevations greater than 3,000 m (9,800 ft), while those in Europe tend to be at elevations under 1,500 m (4,900 ft). Lichenomphalia velutina also occurs in Greenland. It grows on soil and on moss.
Multiclavula mucida is a globally distributed species of basidiolichen belonging to the family Hydnaceae. Since its initial classification by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon in 1797, the species has been described under various synonyms and associated with multiple genera. Persoon described its fruiting bodies as gregarious, varying from simple to branching structures, predominantly whitish in colour with yellow to brownish tips. He also noted its frequent appearance in autumn on decaying, moist wood, often covered with a greenish crust necessary for its growth.
Normandina pulchella, commonly known as the elf-ear lichen or blue heart, is a species of squamulose lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. This cosmopolitan species is widely distributed across both hemispheres, where it thrives in moist microhabitats. It favours moss-covered deciduous trees and rocks, often colonising over mosses and bryophytes. It occasionally grows on bare bark and on other lichens. Distinctive features of N. pulchella include its bluish-green squamules (scales) with sharply raised margins, non-reactivity to standard chemical spot tests, and growth in humid habitats. Initially, Nannochloris normandinae, a green alga, was thought to be its photobiont. However, recent studies have revised this understanding, now suggesting Diplosphaera as the algal partner.
Cyanoporina is a fungal genus in the division Ascomycota. The relationship of this taxon to other taxa within the division is unknown, and it has not yet been placed with certainty into any class, order, or family. The genus is monospecific, containing the single species Cyanoporina granulosa, a crustose lichen found in West Java, Indonesia.
