Parmelia is a genus of medium to large foliose (leafy) lichens. It has a global distribution, extending from the Arctic to the Antarctic continent but concentrated in temperate regions. There are about 40 species in Parmelia. In recent decades, the once large genus Parmelia has been divided into a number of smaller genera according to thallus morphology and phylogenetic relatedness.
Cetraria is a genus of fruticose lichens that associate with green algae as photobionts. Most species are found at high latitudes, occurring on sand or heath. Species have a characteristic "strap-like" form, with spiny lobe edges.
Irwin Murray Brodo is an emeritus scientist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is an authority on the identification and biology of lichens.
Pseudephebe is a genus of fruticose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae. It contains three species that grow on rocks.
Ahtiana is a fungal genus in the family Parmeliaceae. A monotypic genus, it contains the single species Ahtiana sphaerosporella, the mountain candlewax lichen, found in western North America. The species was originally classified as Parmelia sphaerosporella by Johannes Müller Argoviensis in 1891, before Trevor Goward established the new genus Ahtiana in 1985, naming it after Finnish lichenologist Teuvo Ahti. This foliose lichen is characterised by its pale yellowish-green thallus, spherical spores, laminal apothecia, and the presence of usnic and caperatic acids. It primarily grows on the bark of whitebark pine in subalpine and montane regions, though it occasionally colonises other conifers outside its preferred host's range.
Melanohalea is a genus of foliose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae. It contains 30 mostly Northern Hemisphere species that grow on bark or on wood. The genus is characterised by the presence of pseudocyphellae, usually on warts or on the tips of isidia, a non-pored epicortex and a medulla containing depsidones or lacking secondary metabolites. Melanohalea was circumscribed in 2004 as a segregate of the morphologically similar genus Melanelia, which was created in 1978 for certain brown Parmelia species. The methods used to estimate the evolutionary history of Melanohalea suggest that its diversification primarily occurred during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs.
Cetrelia is a genus of leafy lichens in the large family Parmeliaceae. They are commonly known as sea-storm lichens, alluding to the wavy appearance of their lobes. The name of the genus, circumscribed in 1968 by the husband and wife lichenologists William and Chicita Culberson, alludes to the former placement of these species in the genera Cetraria and Parmelia.
Gowardia is a genus of medium-sized, greyish hair lichens in the family Parmeliaceae. It is a circumpolar genus, mainly restricted to arctic-alpine habitats in northern Canada, Europe, and Russia.
Bryoria is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Parmeliaceae. Many members of this genus are known as horsehair lichens. The genus has a widespread distribution, especially in boreal and cool temperate areas.
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.
Bryoria hengduanensis is a species of lichen of the genus Bryoria. It was described as new to science in 2003 by lichenologists Li-Song Wang and Hiroshi Harada. It is found in the Hengduan Mountains of southern China, where it grows on twigs and branches in coniferous forests at elevations of 3,000–4,000 metres (9,800–13,100 ft). The Hengduan Mountains is a region of high Bryoria biodiversity, as 24 species are known from this area.
Bryoria implexa is a species of horsehair lichen in the family Parmeliaceae.
Bryoria kockiana is a species of horsehair lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It is found in North America, where it grows from the branches of conifer trees.
Japewiella dollypartoniana is a species of crustose lichen in the family Lecanoraceae. It is widely distributed in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America, and has also been reported from Ontario, Canada. The lichen grows on tree branches and sapling and shrub stems at middle to high elevations.
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.
Gowardia nigricans, commonly known as the gray hair lichen or gray witch's hair, is a species of fruticose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae.
Ramalina americana, commonly known as the sinewed ramalina, is a pale green fruticose lichen that is found across the Northern US Midwest, extending into Southern Canada and the Eastern Seaboard. It is characterized morphologically by the presence of pseudocyphellae, straight spores, and its unique chemical diversity.
Sulcaria isidiifera, commonly known as the splitting yarn lichen, is a rare species of pendent (hanging) fruticose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It has a dull yellowish-white to light brown and reddish-brown thallus and is typically 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) long. It is only known to occur in the Los Osos Oaks State Natural Reserve, in the Central Coast of California region, where it grows on a variety of shrubs.
Ramboldia gowardiana is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Ramboldiaceae. First discovered in 2003 in Montana, United States, it typically appears as a grayish or greenish crust on tree bark, particularly on conifers like pines and firs. The lichen is characterised by its small, bright red to orange-red reproductive structures (apothecia) visible on its surface. R. gowardiana is found in dry, temperate forests from Alaska to California, often at elevations between 300 and 1,400 meters. Initially classified in a different genus, it was reclassified as Ramboldia in 2008 based on genetic studies. This lichen is part of the biodiversity of the Pacific Northwest region of North America.
Cladocetraria is a fungal genus in the family Parmeliaceae. It contains the single species Cladocetraria minuscula, a fruticose (shrubby) lichen. The genus was established in 2023 based on morphological and molecular studies that distinguished it from related genera. It is characterised by its small size, growing only 2–3 centimetres tall, with distinctive hollow, tube-like structures that branch in a fork-like pattern and have inward-curling tips covered in a white powdery coating. The lichen produces several chemical compounds, including usnic acid, which gives it its yellowish-green colour.
