| Common greenshield lichen | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Lecanorales |
| Family: | Parmeliaceae |
| Genus: | Flavoparmelia |
| Species: | F. caperata |
| Binomial name | |
| Flavoparmelia caperata | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
Flavoparmelia caperata, the common greenshield lichen, is a foliose lichen that grows on the bark of trees, and occasionally on rock.
Flavoparmelia caperata is a medium to large foliose lichen that has a very distinctive pale yellow green upper cortex when dry. The rounded lobes, measuring 3–8 mm (0.1–0.3 in) wide, usually have patches of granular soredia arising from pustules. The lobes of the thallus may be smooth, but quite often have a wrinkled appearance especially in older specimens. The lower surface is black except for a brown margin; rhizoids attached to the lower surface are black and unbranched.
The very similar Flavoparmelia baltimorensis grows mainly on rock and has globose, pustular outgrowths (somewhat similar to isidia) on the upper surface of the lobes, but does not produce granular soredia.
Physcia stellaris is a species of lichen. It is pale grey, but darker in the centre, and lacks isidia, lobules, soredia and pruina.It tests positive K+ yellow upper cortex with a 10% potassium hydroxide solution. In North America, it is known colloquially as the fringed rosette lichen.
Flavoparmelia baltimorensis, the rock greenshield lichen, is a medium to large foliose lichen with a yellow green upper thallus surface when dry; its lobes are rounded without pseudocyphellae; and the upper surface is covered with globose, pustule-like growths resembling isidia. The lower surface is black with a narrow brown zone at the margins.
Parmelia sulcata is a foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It is very tolerant of pollution and has a cosmopolitan distribution, making it one of the most common lichens. It harbours a unicellular Trebouxia green algal symbiont.
Flavoparmelia is a genus of foliose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae. Because of their appearance, they are commonly known as greenshield lichens. The widely distributed genus contains 32 species. It was circumscribed by American lichenologist Mason Hale in 1986 to contain 17 former Pseudoparmelia species with broad lobes, usnic acid in the cortex, and isolichenan in the cell walls.
Psiloparmelia is a genus of lichen belonging to the family Parmeliaceae. It contains 13 Southern Hemisphere species, most of which are found growing on rocks at high elevations in South America. There are several characteristic features of the genus that are used to distinguish it from the morphologically similar genera, such as Arctoparmelia, Flavoparmelia, and Xanthoparmelia. These include a dark, velvety lower thallus surface that usually lacks rhizines, a negative test for lichenan, and a high concentration of usnic acid and atranorin in the cortex.
Esslingeriana is a fungal genus in the family Parmeliaceae. The genus is monotypic, containing the single foliose lichen species Esslingeriana idahoensis, commonly known as the tinted rag lichen. It is found in northwestern North America.
A foliose lichen is a lichen with flat, leaf-like lobes, which are generally not firmly bonded to the substrate on which it grows. It is one of the three most common growth forms of lichens. It typically has distinct upper and lower surfaces, each of which is usually covered with a cortex; some, however, lack a lower cortex. The photobiont layer lies just below the upper cortex. Where present, the lower cortex is usually dark, but occasionally white. Foliose lichens are attached to their substrate either by hyphae extending from the cortex or medulla, or by root-like structures called rhizines. The latter, which are found only in foliose lichens, come in a variety of shapes, the specifics of which can aid in species identification. Some foliose lichens attach only at a single stout peg called a holdfast, typically located near the lichen's centre. Lichens with this structure are called "umbilicate". In general, medium to large epiphytic foliose lichens are moderately sensitive to air pollution, while smaller or ground-dwelling foliose lichens are more tolerant. The term "foliose" derives from the Latin word foliosus, meaning "leafy".
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.
Oxneria fallax, also known as the hooded sunburst lichen, is a small yellow-orange to red-orange foliose lichen that grows on bark or rarely on rock or bone. It is found all over the world except very dry areas, with 10 species common in North America. The nonfruiting body (thallus) grows in rosettes to 3 cm in diameter. The rosettes sometimes coalesce with each other. The lobes may appear divided at the tips. It is sometimes tightly appressed to the substrate (adnate), and sometimes not. The fruiting bodies (apothecia) are lecanorine, meaning that they are disc-like with a ring or rim of tissue around the disc that is made of tissue similar to the thallus. The tips of the lobes form hood shaped soralia that produce powdery greenish yellow soredia. It prefers growing on elm or oak bark, but can also be found on rocks, bone, or other wood types. Lichen spot tests on the surface are K+ purple, C−, KC−, and P−.
Physcia caesia, known colloquially as blue-gray rosette lichen and powder-back lichen, is a species of foliose lichenized fungus. First described by Georg Franz Hoffmann in 1784, it is common across much of Europe, North America and New Zealand, and more patchily distributed in South America, Asia, Australia and Antarctica. There are 2 subspecies: P. c. caesia and P. c. ventosa, as well as a number of distinct forms and varieties. Molecular studies suggest that the species as currently defined may be polyphyletic. It is typically pale gray shading to darker gray in the center, and grows in a small rosette, usually some 2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 in) across at maturity. It only rarely has apothecia, instead reproducing most often vegetatively via soredia, which are piled in round blue-gray mounds across the thallus's upper surface. It grows most often on rock—principally calcareous, but also basaltic and siliceous—and also occurs on bone, bark and soil. It is nitrophilic and is particularly common on substrates where birds perch.
Parmotrema arnoldii, commonly known as the powdered ruffle lichen, is a widely distributed species of lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It has been recorded from Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, Macaronesia, and North and South America.
Xanthoparmelia lineola, commonly known as the tight rock-shield, is a foliose lichen species in the genus Xanthoparmelia. It is a common species with a temperate distribution. Found in North America and South Africa, it grows on rocks.
Hypogymnia physodes, commonly known as the monk's-hood lichen, is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It is a common and widespread species in boreal and temperate forests of the Northern Hemisphere. It has a grey to yellowish-green thallus that is loosely attached to its substrate and forms large irregular patches. Hollow lobes are 2–3mm wide. The outer edge turns up and is frequently covered with white powdery soredia underneath. Its lower surface is black, wrinkled and has some browning toward the lobe margins. The pycnidia are black and abundant, and their presence creates a pepper-like effect across the upper surface. Because of its abundance and its moderate sensitivity to sulphur dioxide and heavy metals, Hypogymnia physodes is often used in bioindicator and biomonitoring studies that enable the assessment of air pollution and other environmental conditions.
Punctelia reddenda is a widely distributed species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It occurs in Africa, Europe, North America, and South America, where it grows on bark and on rock.
Cetrelia chicitae is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It is found in eastern Asia, North America, and Europe, where it grows on mossy rocks and tree trunks.
Punctelia borreri is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It is a common and widely distributed species, occurring in tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions of Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America. The lichen typically grows on bark of deciduous trees, and less commonly on rock. Some European countries have reported increases in the geographic range or regional frequency of the lichen in recent decades, attributed alternatively to a reduction of atmospheric sulphur dioxide levels or an increase in temperatures resulting from climate change.
Flavoparmelia soredians is a widely distributed species of foliose lichen in the large family Parmeliaceae.
Hypogymnia krogiae, commonly known as the freckled tube lichen, is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. Found in North America, it was described as a new species in 1973 by Karl Ohlsson. The type specimen was collected near Cheat Bridge, West Virginia by Mason Hale in 1956.
Flavoparmelia virensica is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), foliose lichen found in Western Australia, newly described in 2010. This species, belonging to the large family Parmeliaceae, is similar in appearance to Flavoparmelia rutidota and F. caperatula, but can be distinguished by its spindle-shaped conidia and significant quantities of virensic acid. The lichen grows on dead and burnt wood as well as the bark of trees from the genera Allocasuarina, Acacia, and Hakea.
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