Rock tripe is the common name for various lichens of the genus Umbilicaria that grow on rocks. They are widely distributed, including on bare rock in Antarctica, and throughout northern parts of North America such as New England and the Rocky Mountains. They are edible when properly prepared; soaking extensively and boiling with changes of water removes the bitterness and purgative properties. They have been used as a famine food in extreme cases when other food sources were unavailable, as by early American northern explorers.
Ethnolichenology is the study of the relationship between lichens and people. Lichens have and are being used for many different purposes by human cultures across the world. The most common human use of lichens is for dye, but they have also been used for medicine, food and other purposes.
Cladonia portentosa, also known as reindeer lichen or the cream cup lichen, is a light-coloured, fruticose, cup lichen in the family Cladoniaceae.
Umbilicaria vellea is a species of lichen in the genus Umbilicaria. It is sometimes called navel lichen. It is found in North America and Europe in alpine and arctic habitats. It is similar to the species Umbilicaria americana, which has a more southern distribution.
Peltigera leucophlebia is a lichenized fungus in the family Peltigeraceae. It is commonly called ruffled freckled pelt. This and other species in the genus contain a green algae in the genus Coccomyxa and also cyanobacteria in the genus Nostoc as symbionts.
Cladonia fimbriata or the trumpet cup lichen is a species cup lichen belonging to the family Cladoniaceae.
Lobaria scrobiculata, commonly known as the textured lungwort, is a large foliose, epiphytic lichen in the family Peltigeraceae.
Lecidea atrobrunnea is a crustose lichen in the Lecideaceae family, found in mountains of the continental western United States and Alaska. With other lichen communities, it forms dark vertical drip-like stripings along drainage tracks in the rock faces, resulting in Native Americans giving the name "Face of a Young Woman Stained with Tears" to Half Dome. This combined lichen community appears black from a distance, but brown up close.
A corticolous lichen is a lichen that grows on bark. This is contrasted with lignicolous lichen, which grows on wood that has had the bark stripped from it, and saxicolous lichen, which grows on rock.
Lecanora muralis(Protoparmeliopsis muralis) is a waxy looking, pale yellowish green crustose lichen that usually grows in rosettes radiating from a center (placodioid) filled with disc-like yellowish-tan fruiting bodies (apothecia). It grows all over the world. It is extremely variable in its characteristics as a single taxon, and may represent a complex of species. The fruiting body parts have rims of tissue similar to that of the main nonfruiting body (thallus), which is called being lecanorine. It is paler and greener than L. mellea, and more yellow than L. sierrae. In California, it may be the most common member of the Lecanora genus found growing on rocks (saxicolous).
Umbilicaria phaea is a brown, umbilicate foliose lichen that grows up to 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter, sometimes in colonies covering large patches of desert rocks. One variety that grows in northern California is brilliant red. It is (monophyllous) with a single 1 – 5 cm flattish leaf-like cap on top of an anchoring stem (umbilicate). The leaflike top is smooth with some lobes, roughly circular, thin, and brittle. The lower surface is light gray to light brown. It has up to 2.5 mm black circular to slightly polygonal spots that are the fruiting bodies (apothecia), slightly sunken into the main nonfruiting body part (thallus). It grows on siliceous boulders in very dry climates of western North and South America, where it is usually the most common member of its genus.
Lecanora polytropa, commonly known as the granite-speck rim lichen, is a species of saxicolous lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. A small, inconspicuous species that grows in the cracks of rock surfaces, it has a cosmopolitan distribution and has been recorded on all continents, including Antarctica.
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.
Umbilicaria deusta, commonly known as peppered rock tripe, is a widely distributed species of saxicolous lichen in the family Umbilicariaceae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work Species Plantarum as Lichen polyphyllus. German botanist Johann Christian Gottlob Baumgarten transferred it to the genus Umbilicaria in 1790. The lichen has a dark brown to nearly black thallus that typically measures 1–5 cm (0.4–2.0 in) in diameter. The upper surface is covered with tiny black dots that are granular isidia; the lower surface is the same colour as the upper surface, and is either smooth or covereds with dimples. It grows on exposed boulders and rocky outcrops.
Umbilicaria hyperborea, commonly known as blistered rock tripe, is a species of foliose lichen in the family Umbilicariaceae. It is widely distributed in arctic and alpine regions.
Cladonia deformis, also known as the lesser sulphur cup or the lesser sulphur cup lichen, is a light-coloured, fruticose, cup lichen belonging to the family Cladoniaceae. This lichen was first described as Lichen deformis by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, and transferred to the genus Cladonia in 1796 by Georg Franz Hoffmann.
Cladonia coniocraea, commonly known as the common powderhorn or the powderhorn cup lichen, is a species of fruticose, cup lichen in the family Cladoniaceae. It was first described by Heinrich Gustav Flörke in 1821 under the name Cenomyce coniocraea, until Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel reclassified it under the genus Cladonia in 1827.
Cladonia macilenta or the lipstick cup lichen is a species of cup lichen in the family Cladoniaceae.
Cladonia sulphurina is a species of cup lichen belonging to the family Cladoniaceae.
Umbilicaria virginis, commonly known as the blushing rock tripe, is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling) umbilicate lichen in the family Umbilicariaceae. It occurs in polar and alpine regions.
