| Frullania asagrayana | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Frullania tamarisci | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Marchantiophyta |
| Class: | Jungermanniopsida |
| Order: | Porellales |
| Family: | Frullaniaceae |
| Genus: | Frullania |
| Species: | F. asagrayana |
| Binomial name | |
| Frullania asagrayana | |
Frullania asagrayana is a reddish-brown species of liverwort in the family Frullaniaceae that grows in eastern North America.
Frullania asagrayana was first described in 1842 by Camille Montagne, a French bryologist and mycologist, and named after the American botanist Asa Gray. [1] It remained a species under that name until 1966, when Japanese bryologist Shinji Hattori combined F. asagrayana and three other species of Frullania and made them all subspecies of Frullania tamarisci. [1] These four species looked similar, but lived in different parts of the world. They were F. tamarisci from Europe, F. asagrayana from eastern North America, F. nisquallensis from the northern Pacific coast of North America and Siberia, and F. moniliata from India and Southeast Asia. Frullania asagrayana was then called Frullania tamarisci ssp. asagrayana until 1987, when an international research team at Southern Illinois University used a variety of morphological, chemical, and genetic markers to determine that the four subspecies of Frullania tamarisci were in fact separate species. [1]
Frullania asagrayana is reddish-brown in colour, and grows closely attached to its substrate. [2] It has leaves that are divided into two lobes, with the lower lobe being a smaller, sac-shaped structure attached to the base of the upper lobe by a narrow constriction. This structure can fill with water, and may serve as a mechanism for prolonged water storage. [2]
The endangered lichen Erioderma pedicellatum , which is a symbiosis between an ascomycete fungus and a cyanobacterium, seems to only be able to grow in association with Frullania asagrayana. [3] It has been suggested that the water sacs of F. asagrayana may host the cyanobacterium Scytonema , and that the symbiosis between this cyanobacterium and the germinating fungal spores of Erioderma pedicellatum can only begin within these water sacs, where the fungal hyphae assimilate a cyanobacterium, and needs to develop for 5 to 10 years before it reaches a visible size. [3] F. asagrayana may also benefit from the nitrogen that is being fixed by the cyanolichen growing within it. [3] Frullania tamarisci, a closely related species that is found in the United Kingdom is often found with apothecia of the ascomycete fungi Filicupula suboperculata growing on it. [4]
Frullania asagrayana has a conservation status of "sensitive" in Ontario, Canada, [5] and it may be essential for the growth of the lichen Erioderma pedicellatum , which is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. [6]
Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The defining feature of this fungal group is the "ascus", a microscopic sexual structure in which nonmotile spores, called ascospores, are formed. However, some species of the Ascomycota are asexual, meaning that they do not have a sexual cycle and thus do not form asci or ascospores. Familiar examples of sac fungi include morels, truffles, brewer's yeast and baker's yeast, dead man's fingers, and cup fungi. The fungal symbionts in the majority of lichens such as Cladonia belong to the Ascomycota.
A lichen is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship. Lichens have properties different from those of their component organisms. They come in many colors, sizes, and forms and are sometimes plant-like, but lichens are not plants. They may have tiny, leafless branches (fruticose); flat leaf-like structures (foliose); crust-like, adhering tightly to a surface (substrate) like a thick coat of paint (crustose); a powder-like appearance (leprose); or other growth forms.
The Marchantiophyta are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information.
Erioderma pedicellatum is a medium-sized, foliose lichen in the family Pannariaceae, commonly called the boreal felt lichen. It grows on trees in damp boreal forests along the Atlantic coast in Canada, as well as in southcentral Alaska and in the Kamchatka Peninsula. It is currently one of the most endangered lichens in the world, and is the only lichen on the IUCN Red List.
Ptilidium californicum, the Pacific fuzzwort, is a rare liverwort of the western United States.
Frullania nisquallensis, commonly known as hanging millipede liverwort, is a reddish-brown species of liverwort in the family Frullaniaceae. It is found in western Washington and British Columbia, including Vancouver Island. The plant grows in mats, sometimes in mats that hang from tree branches, or growing close to the substrate. The leaves are small and flat, with the lower leaves being slightly smaller than those growing farther up the stem.
Haplomitriopsida is a newly recognized class of liverworts comprising fifteen species in three genera. Recent cladistic analyses of nuclear, mitochondrial, and plastid gene sequences place this monophyletic group as the basal sister group to all other liverworts. The group thus provides a unique insight into the early evolution of liverworts in particular and of land plants in general.
The Arthoniales is the second largest orders of mainly crustose lichens, but fruticose lichens are present as well. The order contains around 1500 species, while the largest order with lichenized fungi, the Lecanorales, contains more than 14000 species.
Lobaria pulmonaria is a large epiphytic lichen consisting of an ascomycete fungus and a green algal partner living together in a symbiotic relationship with a cyanobacterium—a symbiosis involving members of three kingdoms of organisms. Commonly known by various names like tree lungwort, lung lichen, lung moss, lungwort lichen, oak lungs or oak lungwort, it is sensitive to air pollution and is also harmed by habitat loss and changes in forestry practices. Its population has declined across Europe and L. pulmonaria is considered endangered in many lowland areas. The species has a history of use in herbal medicines, and recent research has corroborated some medicinal properties of lichen extracts.
The Physciaceae are a family of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. Many members of this family are known as shadow lichens. A 2016 estimate placed 19 genera and 601 species in the family.
Erioderma is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Pannariaceae. They are commonly called mouse ears or felt lichens, and are small, pale brown to olive-brown foliose cyanolichens with a fuzzy upper surface that have the cyanobacteria Scytonema as their photobiont. Most species are found in the tropics of Central and South America, although three species are found in coastal regions of North America where they generally grow on mossy branches in humid sites. All North American species are rare, and two of them, Erioderma mollissimum and Erioderma pedicellatum, are listed as endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Erioderma pedicellatum is also listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Species of Erioderma can resemble Pannaria, Leioderma, or small Peltigera, but their fuzzy upper surface and lack of veins on their lower surface distinguishes them from these lichens.
Cryptothecia rubrocincta is a species of lichen in the fungal family Arthoniaceae. The species is distributed in subtropical and tropical locations throughout the southeastern United States, as well as Central and South America, and has been collected infrequently in a few locales in Africa. The body of the lichen forms continuous, circular crust-like patches on dead wood, readily recognizable by the prominent red pigment. The older, central region is covered with red, spherical to cylindrical granules. Moving outwards from the center, zones of color may be distinguished, the first gray-green, the second white, and finally a bright red cottony rim. The red and green colors of this unmistakable woodland lichen give the appearance of a Christmas wreath, suggestive of its common North American name, the Christmas wreath lichen. The red pigment, called chiodectonic acid, is one of several chemicals the lichen produces to help tolerate inhospitable growing conditions.
Pleurozia is the only genus of liverworts in the family Pleuroziaceae, which is now classified in its own order Pleuroziales, but was previously included in a broader circumscription of the Jungermanniales. The genus includes twelve species, and as a whole is both physically distinctive and widely distributed.
Dictyonema is a genus of mainly tropical basidiolichens in the family Hygrophoraceae.
Lobaria scrobiculata, commonly known as the textured lungwort, is a large foliose, epiphytic lichen.
Crustose lichens form a crust that strongly adheres to the substrate, making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichens consists of a cortex layer, an algal layer, and a medulla. The upper cortex layer is differentiated and is usually pigmented. The algal layer lies beneath the cortex. The medulla fastens the lichen to the substrate and is made up of fungal hyphae. The surface of crustose lichens is characterized by branching cracks that periodically close in response to climatic variations such as alternate wetting and drying regimes.
Lichen anatomy and physiology is very different from the anatomy and physiology of the fungus and/or algae and/or cyanobacteria that make up the lichen when growing apart from the lichen, either naturally, or in culture. The fungal partner is called the mycobiont. The photosynthetic partner, algae or cyanobacteria, is called the photobiont. The body of a lichens that does not contain reproductive parts of the fungus is called the thallus. The thallus is different from those of either the fungus or alga growing separately. The fungus surrounds the algal cells, often enclosing them within complex fungal tissues unique to lichen associations. In many species the fungus penetrates the algal cell wall, forming penetration pegs or haustoria similar to those produced by pathogenic fungi. Lichens are capable of surviving extremely low levels of water content (poikilohydric). However, the re-configuration of membranes following a period of dehydration requires several minutes at least.
Usnea trichodea, commonly known as bony beard lichen, is a pale straw-colored fruticose lichen with a pendant growth form. It grows on trees and is native to eastern North America.
Vulpicida pinastri is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. The lichen has a greenish-yellow thallus and dorsiventral lobes. It grows on conifers and Betula in North America and Eurasia. It is the only sorediate species in the genus and is distinguished by the bright-yellow marginal soralia. The lichen, originally described by Italian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1772, was transferred to the newly circumscribed genus Vulpicida by Jan-Eric Mattson and Ming-Jou Lai in 1993.
Punctelia rudecta, commonly known as the rough speckled shield or the speckleback lichen, is a North American species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. This species can be readily identified by the light color of the thallus underside, the relatively large lobes at the edges of the thallus, and the tiny white pores present on the top of the thallus that are characteristic of the genus Punctelia. The lichen is quite abundant and widespread in the eastern and southeastern United States, although it also occurs in Canada and northern Mexico, but is less common in these regions. The lichen usually grows on bark, and less commonly on shaded rocks. There are several lookalike Punctelia species; these can often be distinguished from P. rudecta by differences in distribution or in the nature of the reproductive structures present on the thallus.