The Parmeliaceae is a large and diverse family of Lecanoromycetes. With over 2700 species in 71 genera, it is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. The most speciose genera in the family are the well-known groups: Xanthoparmelia, Usnea, Parmotrema, and Hypotrachyna.
Charles Christian Plitt was a botanist and lichenologist. Species of lichens that have been named in Charles Plitt's honor are: Pyrenula plittii R.C.Harris, Xanthoparmelia plittii (Gyelnk) Hale, and Pertusaria plittiana Erichsen.
Hypogymnia is a genus of foliose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae. They are commonly known as tube lichens, bone lichens, or pillow lichens. Most species lack rhizines that are otherwise common in members of the Parmeliaceae, and have swollen lobes that are usually hollow. Other common characteristics are relatively small spores and the presence of physodic acid and related lichen products. The lichens usually grow on the bark and wood of coniferous trees.
Bulbothrix is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Parmeliaceae. This genus is synonymous with Bulbothricella V.Marcano, S.Mohali & A.Morales. Bulbothrix was circumscribed by lichenologist Mason E. Hale in 1974 with Bulbothrix semilunata as the type species.
Xanthoparmelia is a genus of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. Xanthoparmelia is synonymous with Almbornia, Neofuscelia, Chondropsis, Namakwa, Paraparmelia, and Xanthomaculina. This genus of lichen is commonly found in the United States, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Ecuador.
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.
Xanthoparmelia mougeotii is a species of foliose lichen belonging to the family Parmeliaceae.
Xanthoparmelia conspersa, commonly known as the peppered rock-shield, is a foliose lichen and the type species of genus Xanthoparmelia. It is widely distributed in temperate zones, and has been recorded from Japan, Europe, Africa, North America, and South America.
Xanthoparmelia scabrosa, jocularly known as sexy footpath lichen or sexy pavement lichen, is a foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It tolerates a very wide range of substrata, predominantly rock but also tree bark, roofing tiles, glass, and in wetter areas bitumen paths and roads.
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.
Robert "Bob" Shaw Egan is a botanist and lichenologist, specializing in the family Parmeliaceae. He was the president of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society from 1999 to 2001.
Pertusaria guineabissauensis is a species of crustose lichen in the family Pertusariaceae. It was described as a new species in 2019 by Graciela Paz-Bermúdez, Alan Archer, and John Elix. It grows on tree bark, producing a thick greenish-grey thallus with a dull, wrinkled surface. The lichen is characterised by the presence of wart-shaped (verruciform) ascomata, asci that contain eight ascospores arranged in a single row (uniseriate) and the presence of the secondary chemicals stictic and hypostictic acids. The specific epithet refers to Guinea-Bissau, where the lichen was discovered, and its only known locality.
Punctelia graminicola is a species of foliose (leafy) lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It grows on rocks, and, less frequently, on bark in North America, South America, and East Africa. It has a blue-grey thallus measuring up to about 15 cm (6 in), covered with tiny pores called pseudocyphellae. Sometimes the lichen forms small lobes that project out from the surface. Fruiting bodies are uncommon in this species; if present, they resemble small cups with a brown internal disc measuring 3–10 mm (0.1–0.4 in) in diameter. A lookalike species, Punctelia hypoleucites, is not readily distinguishable from Punctelia graminicola by appearance or habitat alone; these species can only be reliably differentiated by examining the length of their conidia.
Lobaria macaronesica is a species of foliose lichen in the family Peltigeraceae. Found in Macaronesia, it was formally described as a new species in 2010 by Carolina Cornejo and Christoph Scheidegger. The type specimen was collected on Madeira (Portugal), south of the Ribeira da Janela, at an elevation of 1,225 m (4,019 ft).
Salazinic acid is a depsidone with a lactone ring. It is found in some lichens, and is especially prevalent in Parmotrema and Bulbothrix, where its presence or absence is often used to help classify species in those genera.
Xanthoparmelia montanensis is a lichen which belongs to the Xanthoparmelia genus. It is also known as the Montana Rock-shield Lichen.
Xanthoparmelia wyomingica is a foliose lichen that belongs to the genus Xanthoparmelia.
Phlyctis sirindhorniae is a little-known species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Phlyctidaceae. It shares some similarities with Phlyctis agelaea but can be distinguished by its smaller ascospores, larger apothecia, and a higher number of ascospores per ascus. It is only known to exist in a specific location in northeastern Thailand.
Lethariella cashmeriana is a species of fruticose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It was formally described as a new species in 1976 by Hildur Krog. The species epithet cashmeriana refers to Jammu-Kashmir, where the type specimen was collected. The lichen is one of three species of Lethariella that is used as a purported health-promoting tea in Yunnan, China. It contains atranorin, canarione, gyrophoric acid, and norstictic acid (minor) as lichen products.
Connorstictic acid is an organic compound in the structural class of chemicals known as depsidones. It occurs as a secondary metabolite in many lichen species in several genera.
