NC, Smokies, 20060707
CabinCove, rocks around house and pond, mostly lichens.
Sassafras albidum []
The one hanging over the stairs is in full fruit. Fruits are classic laurel-type balls-in-cups.
Phleum pratense pratense []
At edge of field above and to left of pond.
| | GEN | | peren? (old tough dry partly rotted lvs at base), erect, one stem |
| | LF | | flat, midv r bel, 9mm wide, well-spaced, prow tip, min ant scaber ab and marg, lig 3mm memb entire rounded to trunc, sheath 100% open, nodes and sheath glab, no aurs |
| | INFL | | spike, 60x8-9mm, oblong |
| | STAM | | 3, 1.9mm, purp, conspic excl at maturity |
| | SPKLT | | sess, spread 60-70deg, whorled all around rachis, 1 fl, 4x1.5mm, v lat comp (comp top to bottom in context of infl)| gls | | 5mm incl 1mm awn, 3 veins, sev long (to 1mm) clear spreading bristles on keel, v lat comp, ant scaber also on keel, green in middle ab half but rest scar white, abruptly trunc at base of awn |
| lem | | 1.8mm, v thin, scar w 5 greenish veins, erose tip where veins are sl extended beyond end of connective material |
|
Yay! I got the perennial thing right for a change!
Rock Lichens
Rock garden, by cabin.
| | GEN | | crust lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | dispersed areolate to rimose-areolate, lemon yell, areoles min (0.1-0.2mm?), no lower cortex, K+ red |
| | APO | | many, lecanorine, tiny (to 0.2mm), flat, med orange disk, marg raised sl oranger than thallus and even, barely superficial |
| | SPORE | | 10x5um, ellip, colorless, 2 cell, polarilocular, 8 per ascus, septum nearly half the length of spore |
| | PARA | | unbr?, tips stain wine-red in K+ |
With less than a third of the species covered, there is no way to be confident of the species, esp when the one it keys to isn't described in detail.
In field leading to Jason's Path.
| | GEN | | crust lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | squamulose-like, v appress, black cortex bel, dk brownish olive ab, even color, K-, C- |
| | MED | | white, v scanty, K-?, C-? |
| | APO | | perithecia, superficial, minute balls, black w conspic pit opening, algae inside cavity? |
| | SPORE | | muriform, colorless, 2 (or 4?) per ascus, 32x12um or so, oblong, 16-20 cells or so mostly in 2 rows |
| | PARA | | v thin, br'd above, brownish |
Best I can do comes close but is off in a few microscopic aspects:
Endocarpon pusillum is supposed to have brown spores, no paraphyses, and immersed perithecia. Also maybe supposed to have pale underside. But other possibilities like
Staurothele and
Diploschistes are way off (it has a lower cortex!)
Brodo lists
only one squamulose species with perithecia and muriform spores. Ah, just noted in the "Classification" appendix of
Brodo that while
Loculoascomycetes lack true paraphyses, they
do have pseudoparaphyses (called periphyses in
Staurothele)
what's the difference??
I note that this lichen is almost invariably growing on the Verrucaria nigrescens described below.
Flavoparmelia baltimorensis [] [voucher]
Rock garden. Same as Xanthoparmelia conspersa (see below)...
| | MED | | white, C-, K+ faint yell, KC+ fleeting but conspic pink |
Missing isidia, but clearly right species.
Rock garden, by cabin.
| | GEN | | crust lichehn, on rock |
| | THAL | | white-grey, rimose, v cracked |
| | APO | | black, immersed, 0.2-0.3mm |
| | SPORE | | 12x4um or so, 1 cell, colorless, oblong, 4+ per ascus |
Photo is spot on, and other close options in key fail. Good enough for me. Just wish I had a few more spores.
Under powerlines on Jason's Path.
| | GEN | | leprose crust lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | leprose, coarsely granular in thick piles, no visible hypothallus, soredia green, some black granules mixed in, K- (darkens when wet), C-, KC- |
In field leading to Jason's Path.
| | GEN | | crust lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | grey-white, min rimose-cracked, K-, C-, KC- |
| | APO | | 0.6mm, black, v thin rim to rimless, convex, rough-shiny, epihymenium pale brown (and faint C+ pink), hymenium 50um, hypothecia large and black, exciple black by v thin and hard to distinguish from hypothecium |
| | SPORE | | 8 per ascus, colorless, ellip-oblong, 1 cell, 10x4um or so |
| | PARA | | tips tangled together inextricably, otherwise v thin and unbr? |
Oh hell, how can you tell these things apart? Keys to this in
Brodo (via
Lecidea key), and I can't come up with convincing alternatives. The genus description is entirely plausible
thought it was lecideine but could easily be wrong, I guess.
Rock garden.
| | GEN | | foliose lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | flat to wavy, even pale grey (or v fine inconspic white maculae), black marg and long black rarely br'd cilia, black bel w black to dk brown naked zone near marg, no isidia or soredia present, lobes to 6mm wide, K+ yell |
| | MED | | white, K+ orangish yell (stictic acid) |
Again, missing fruiting structures. Going by chemistry and trying all three types:
P. crinitum or
P. chinense. Wait! I see a soralia on one tip.
Pertusaria hypothamnolica? [] [voucher]
In field leading to Jason's Path.
| | GEN | | crust lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | grey-white, rimose, continuous, v cracked, black distinct hypothallus at marg, patches of powdery soredia from breakdown of pustules that are low or even w surface, K-, C- or faint pink, KC- bright red (may only be medulla?) |
Brodo keys it to
Dirina but it isn't. Next closest is
Pertusaria (
P. amara specifically, which it also isn't). If I go with bark instead of rock, I get
Ochrolechia or
Trapeliopsis. The latter has a v verrucose thallus. Main difference between my two best options:
P. hypothamnolica is KC+ pink turning violet,
O. are C+ pink and KC+ red. I'm having a very hard time getting naked C to react. But I'm having equal trouble finding spores.
Phaeophyscia adiastola [] [voucher]
In field on way to Jason's Path.
| | GEN | | foliose lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | flat rosette, lobes about 0.5mm wide, med grey w brownish tinge, shiny, even color (but distinctly browner in center), smooth, flat, soralia borne sporadically on marg, few actual cilia but many sharp short grey to black tipped black rhiz protruding, black bel w d rhiz, rhiz mostly unbr?, K-, C-, KC- |
Relative to the sample of
P. pusillum, this is fairly clear.
Phaeophyscia hirtella? [] [voucher]
In field leading to Jason's Path.
| | GEN | | foliose lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | flat rosette, lobes about 0.5-1mm wide, flat to sl convex, fairly even med grey to sl brownish, few black pycnidia, tiny colorless bristles near lobe tips (looking like pruina in some cases), black w white-tipped black short rhiz bel, K-, C-, KC- |
Keys to
P. cernohorskyi but mentions
P. hirtella as being same w/o soredia. Could be either.
Phaeophyscia pusilloides [] [voucher]
Under powerlines on Jason's Path.
| | GEN | | foliose lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | flat rosette, lobes about 1mm wide, med grey w some brownish tinge, somewhat shiny, even color, smooth, flat to sl raised margs, soralia borne on or under tips in big green granular soralia, few actual cilia but tons of sharp short white-tipped black rhiz protruding, black bel w d rhiz, rhiz mostly unbr?, K-, C-, KC- |
Odd to find it growing on rock, and I thought rocks around here were all siliceous, but it is definitely not
P. adiastola which would be the only other choice.
Under powerlines on Jason's Path.
| | GEN | | foliose lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | flat rosette, pale grey, lobes < 0.8mm wide, lobes convex, bumpy, not v even color, strongly overlapping but radiating, no soredia or isidia or pycnidia, pale to white bel w d short pale rhiz, v close att, K+ yell, C- |
| | APO | | lecanorine disks, raised and constrict, smooth even thinnish marg, black to v dk red-brown disk w conspic white pruina, to 1mm wide, flat to sl convex |
Close match, but stresses rarity of pruina, lobes wider than mine, undersurface browner, and not sure my "uneven color" is due to maculae. Close enough.
Another specimen is the same (esp chemically) but is verruculose to min warty over much of its thallus and apothecial margins (but not all), and has no pruina.
Porpidia albocaerulescens [] [voucher]
Under powerlines on Jason's Path, but really all over.
| | GEN | | crust lichen, on rock, all K and C negative |
| | THAL | | thin, creamy white, rimose, continuous, thin white prothallus ar marg |
| | APO | | scattered all over, beautiful, lecideine disks, superficial, flat, to 0.8mm, black rim, black disk made grey w conspic d white pruina| hymenium | | 100um+, colorless |
epihymenium brown to black in mass, hypothecium v dk brown, exciple black outside to med brown inside |
| | SPORE | | | found one maybe | | 25x10um, colorless, blobby oblong, 1 cell |
|
| | PARA | | v thin, not expanded at tips, br'd |
Even without the goddamned spores, it still keys out to this species. The K+ reaction really had me stumped, until I noticed that a few spots where thallus is a bit thicker
do turn K+ yell (a little slowly). The one spore-like thing I found is approx the right size, I guess. But given any size, I'm sure I could find
something blobby that was about the right size! Arg. I hate this lichen. Circumstantially, yes, it is exceedingly common, and it matches the photo in
Brodo very well. I'm ready to punt this lump of rock and call it a day.
By pond.
| | GEN | | crust lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | v thin to almost endolithic, greyish-creamy white to stained reddish or orangish, rimose continuous |
| | APO | | lecideine disks, black, to 0.8mm wide, often in sorta concentric circles, superficial, constricted bel, flat, some thin white pruina but that might be rock dust from the jack-hammering I had to do the get the damned thing off in one piece, hymenium 70-75um thick, epihymen brownish (black in mass), hypothecium dk brown, exciple v dark, rim persist and somewhat raised and even |
| | SPORE | | colorless, 8 per ascus, ellip, 12-13x5-7um, 1 cell |
| | PARA | | not ext narr, not expanded at tips, colorless, unbr? |
Seems very close, but I don't feel confident even of the genus
despite the overall appearance of the apothecial section looking the same as that of
Porpidia albocaerulescens, I swear those paraphyses look wider and distinctly unbranched.
Rock garden.
| | GEN | | foliose lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | flat to bunched up, pale to med grey, shiny, conspic white dots of pseudocyphellae turning into pustules of cyl isidia, brown marg, pale bel w d pale rhiz, lobes 4mm wide, K+ yell, C- |
| | MED | | white, K-, C+ red, KC- |
Rhizocarpon obscuratum? [] [voucher]
| | GEN | | crust lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | brown, shiny, even color, verruculose-areolate, K-, C-, KC- |
| | MED | | white, scanty, K-, C-, KC- |
| | APO | | min black disks, 0.2-0.3mm wide, marg raised, no alg in marg, flat |
| | SPORE | | 25x12um, muriform, 6+ cells, oblong, fatter near one end, colorless, how many per ascus?-- only found two total! |
| | PARA | | unbr?, brownish greenish tips, segmented near base |
Fairly confident of genus, but no way to be confident of species with such scanty coverage in
Brodo. Entirely plausible, at least.
Rock garden.
| | GEN | | foliose lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | flat to raised marg, lt grey, conspic retic white pseudocyphellae, no isidia or soredia present, lobules on marg maybe, short black mostly unbr cilia, black w d short rhiz bel, lobes to 5mm wide, K+ yell, C- |
| | MED | | white, thin, K+ yell fairly quickly to dk red-brown, C- |
I'm guessing between
R. reticulata and
R. subisidiosa based on fact that
Brodo only lists rock as possible substrate of the latter. Without apo/soredia/isidia I have no way of being sure.
Rock garden by cabin.
| | GEN | | crust lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | continuous to somewhat rimose, med olive-green, conspic sharp black prothallus at marg |
| | APO | | lecanorine disks (but becoming lecideine in some cases because of a thin black coating and the thalline portion of the rim disappearing), to 0.4mm, convex, scattered, disk v dk brown or black, marg black to pale thallus-colored, marg even and prominent, exciple black and thin, hymenium colorless, hypothecium pale greenish to brownish, epihymen brown |
| | SPORE | | 8 per ascus, greyish becoming dker brown, 2 cell, ellip, 17-20x10-13um, locules rounded inverted triangles in halves near septum (becoming round?) |
| | PARA | | v narr, unexpanded, br'd? |
Good match, and now that I understand how the lecanorine disks devolve into something very lecideine-like, I'm positive of the genus. There's no description of the species, and less than one quarter of the species are covered (!), so I won't call the species ID confident.
Verrucaria nigrescens? [] [voucher]
Rock garden, by cabin and all over.
| | GEN | | crust lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | verruculose, dk olive green, not lobed, covers vast areas solidly |
| | APO | | round black perithecia, immersed, sides hard and brittle (brickwork cellular pattern) |
| | SPORE | | 20x9um, colorless, ellip, texture inside, 1 cell, 8 per ascus |
According to
Brodo, perithecia with no paraphyses and single-celled spores means
Verrucaria, and the species it keys to is entirely plausible, but as something like only one eighth of the species even mentioned in passing, I reserve judgment on species.
Xanthoparmelia conspersa [] [voucher]
Rock garden.
| | GEN | | foliose lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | flat, closely app, even pale yell green, shiny, min wrinkled, black marg, black bel to brown at marg w lots of v short unbr black rhiz, cyl isidia all over surface sometimes br'd, lobes 2-4mm wide, K-, C-, KC+ yell |
| | MED | | white fairly thick and dense, K+ yell slowly turning orange KC-, C- |
Perfect match for
X. conspersa, but for K+ orange to yell-orange reaction in medulla (instead of yell to red). Perfect match for
X. plittii but for black underside. I feel I'm more likely to mistake dk brown for black than red for orange. Of course, it could be neither, or a hybrid? See comments on
20060724 apparently
X. conspersa can contain no norstictic acid, making it K+ deep yell instead. I have also added some fragments of apothecia from
20060724 to
voucher CC84.
Just photos
Peltigera polydactylon
Rhizocarpon "verruculose hochstetteri"
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