An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phorophytes. Epiphytes take part in nutrient cycles and add to both the diversity and biomass of the ecosystem in which they occur, like any other organism. They are an important source of food for many species. Typically, the older parts of a plant will have more epiphytes growing on them. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that they grow on other plants for physical support and do not necessarily affect the host negatively. An organism that grows on another organism that is not a plant may be called an epibiont. Epiphytes are usually found in the temperate zone or in the tropics. Epiphyte species make good houseplants due to their minimal water and soil requirements. Epiphytes provide a rich and diverse habitat for other organisms including animals, fungi, bacteria, and myxomycetes.
A lichen is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship. Lichens are important actors in nutrient cycling and act as producers which many higher trophic feeders feed on, such as reindeer, gastropods, nematodes, mites, and springtails. Lichens have properties different from those of their component organisms. They come in many colors, sizes, and forms and are sometimes plant-like, but are not plants. They may have tiny, leafless branches (fruticose); flat leaf-like structures (foliose); grow crust-like, adhering tightly to a surface (substrate) like a thick coat of paint (crustose); have a powder-like appearance (leprose); or other growth forms.
The clavarioid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota typically having erect, simple or branched basidiocarps that are formed on the ground, on decaying vegetation, or on dead wood. They are colloquially called club fungi and coral fungi.
Sesamum radiatum is a species of flowering plant in the Pedaliaceae. It is in the same genus as sesame, and is known by the English common names benniseed, black benniseed, black sesame, and vegetable sesame. It is native to west and central Africa, has been cultivated since ancient times in Africa, and is sometimes also used in tropical Asia where it has become naturalized to a small extent.
Coccocarpia delicatula is a species of foliicolous (leaf-dwelling) foliose lichen in the family Coccocarpiaceae. Known only from the Galápagos Islands and Réunion, it was described as new to science in 2011. Characterised by its rounded, foliose thallus and unique cylindrical isidia, this lichen is similar in appearance to Coccocarpia domingensis but has distinct differences in isidia shape and arrangement. Found on the bark and wood of dead twigs, Coccocarpia delicatula thrives in sunny, wind- and rain-exposed environments.
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.
Emmanuël Sérusiaux is a Belgian lichenologist. His career, spanning more than four decades, has combined both lichenology research and political aspects of nature conservation. He spent several periods working as a researcher at the National Fund for Scientific Research and the University of Liège, the latter in which he accepted a faculty position as professor and head of the Plant Taxonomy and Conservation Biology unit. Sérusiaux also served for three non-consecutive appointments as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Government of Wallonia. He retired from both his academic and political positions in 2019.
Eugeniella is a genus of mostly leaf-dwelling (foliicolous) lichens in the family Pilocarpaceae. It contains 13 species. The genus was circumscribed in 2008 by lichenologists Robert Lücking, Emmanuël Sérusiaux, and Klaus Kalb, with Eugeniella psychotriae assigned as the type species. This lichen was originally called Patellaria psychotriae by Johannes Müller Argoviensis in 1881. The seven species that were initially included in the genus had previously been placed in the genera Bacidia and Byssoloma. Several newly identified species from Australasia and Central and South America were later added. Most of the species grow on leaves, although four of the Australasian species grow on bark.
Thelenella indica is a species of foliicolous (leaf-dwelling) lichen in the family Thelenellaceae. Found in India, it was formally described as a new species in 2006 by Athokpam Pinokiyo and Krishna Pal Singh. The type specimen was collected by the first author in a tropical forest along the Assam-Linzey road in the East Sikkim district; here it was found growing on the leaves of a small Schima wallichii tree. It appears to be endemic to the Sikkim region of India.
Phylloblastia is a genus of foliicolous (leaf-dwelling) lichens in the family Verrucariaceae. The genus was circumscribed in 1921 by Finnish lichenologist Edvard August Vainio, with Phylloblastia dolichospora assigned as the type species.
The following outline provides an overview of and topical guide to lichens.
A bryophilous lichen is one that grows on a bryophyte – that is, on a moss or liverwort. Those which grow on mosses are known as muscicolous lichens, while those grow on liverworts are called hepaticolous lichens. Muscicolous derives from the Latin muscus meaning moss, while the suffix colous means "living or growing in or on". Lichens are slow-growing organisms, and so are far more likely to be overgrown by a bryophyte than to overgrow one. However, they are better able to compete if the bryophyte is sickly or decaying and they can be parasitic upon them. Some, rather than overgrowing the bryophyte, instead live among its branches. Bryophilous lichens are particularly common in heathland and arctic or alpine tundra. Because many are small and inconspicuous, they are easy to overlook.
A plasticolous lichenized fungi is a lichen which grows on plastic surfaces. This behaviour was first observed in 1994 when foliicolous lichens were found growing on plastic tape but they have since been observed growing on artificial plastic leaves, plastic signs and nylon nets.
Phylloblastia bielczykiae is a species of foliicolous (leaf-dwelling) lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. Found in Bolivia, it was formally described as a new species in 2008 by lichenologists Adam Flakus and Robert Lücking. The type specimen was collected near lake Copaiba ; there, in an isolated island of lowland Amazon rainforest along a savanna, it was found growing on the leaves of a vascular plant. It is only known from the type locality. The species epithet honours the Polish lichenologist Urszula Bielczyk.
Tenuitholiascus is a fungal genus in the monotypic family Tenuitholiascaceae, itself in the order Strigulales. The genus contains a single species, Tenuitholiascus porinoides, a foliicolous (leaf-dwelling) lichen found in China.
Robert Lücking is a German lichenologist. He earned his master's and PhD from the University of Ulm, focusing on the taxonomy, ecology, and biodiversity of foliicolous lichens. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Mason E. Hale award for his doctoral thesis, the Augustin Pyramus de Candolle prize for his monograph, and the Tuckerman Award twice for his publications in The Bryologist. Since 2015, he has been serving as the curator of lichens, fungi, and bryophytes at the Berlin Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum, and several lichen species and a genus have been named in his honour.
Aspidothelium is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Thelenellaceae. All species in the genus have a tropical distribution and are crustose with a chlorococcoid photobiont partner. Most Aspidothelium species are foliicolous (leaf-dwelling), although some corticolous (bark-dwelling) species are known, as well as a single saxicolous (rock-dwelling) member.
Asterothyrium vezdae is a species of foliicolous (leaf-dwelling) lichen in the family Gomphillaceae. It is found in Bolivia, where it grows on the leaves of vascular plants in the Amazon rainforest. The lichen is distinguished from its closest relative, Asterothyrium octomerum, by the larger number of septa in its ascospores, and its and black apothecia.
Podotara is a fungal genus in the family Pilocarpaceae. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single species Podotara pilophoriformis, an uncommon foliicolous (leaf-dwelling), crustose lichen that grows on Podocarpus totara, a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. Both the genus and the species were proposed in 1996.
