Foliose Lichen Photos

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Foliose Lichens

Left side of branch is covered with Flavoparmelia caperata, a common foliose lichen that grows on limbs of shrubs in the coastal sage scrub and chaparral of San Diego County. The thallus is covered with mealy particles (soredia) produced by laminal soralia. This species typically lacks apothecia. The right side of branch contains Platismatia glauca, another foliose lichen typically found in forested areas of the higher mountains.

Flavoparmelia caperata, a common foliose lichen that grows on limbs of shrubs in the coastal sage scrub and chaparral of San Diego County. The thallus is covered with mealy particles (soredia) produced by laminal soralia. This species typically lacks apothecia. It is one of the species that keys out under "Hale yellow" in Lichens of California by Mason Hale. Also in the photo is the greenish-yellow foliose lichen Candelaria concolor.

Candelaria concolor, a common foliose lichen that grows on limbs of shrubs in the coastal sage scrub and chaparral of San Diego County. Although it superficially resembles a crustose lichen, it has short rhizines on its lower surface.

Left: Lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria), an interesting foliose lichen native to the Coast Ranges of northern California and Oregon. The raised areas on the thallus superficially resemble the saclike alveoli of a lung, hence the name "lungwort" (wort is an old English word for plant). In the days when the "Doctrine of Signatures" was practiced, lungwort was considered to be a beneficial treatment for disorders of the lung because of its superficial resemblance this vital pumonary organ. In fact, this species was actually used to treat tuberculosis during the Middle Ages. Right: The beautiful fruticose lichen Teloschistes chrysophthalmus. This species occurs in the Coast Ranges of central California and ocassionaly in the chaparral of interior San Diego County. It is common on some of the California Channel Islands. Because it is sensive to air pollution, it has disappeared from much of its original range in southern California. This same unfortunate fate has happened to many other species of lichens that were reported from San Diego County in the early 1900s.

Two foliose bark lichens in the moist Douglas fir forests of the Pacific northwest: Lobaria pulmonaria (left) and Pseudocyphelleria anthraspis (right). The thallus of Pulmonaria (also known as lungwort) turns bright green when it is wet. The thallus of Pseudocypheleria contains numerous white pores called pseudocyphellae.

Left: Rock tripe (Umbilicaria phaea) on a granite boulder near Lake Isabella in the southern Sierra Nevada of California. Right: Microscopic view of the concentrically fissued apothecia of U. phaea. Rock tripes have a single attachment stalk (umbilicus) on the underside and can be removed from the rock surface rather easily compared with other foliose lichens. A number of species of rock tripes occur throughout the mountains of North America, and they have been collected and used for survival food by native Americans and early explorers in this region. The rock tripes are boiled into a mucilaginous mass and eaten in a thick soup. There are used for food by several North American Indian tribes, Eskimos and Laplanders. Rock tripes are also added to salads or deep fried, and are considered a delicacy in Japan.

Lichen-covered boulder along the shore of Flathead Lake in Montana. The pale gray, umbilicate lichen is rock tripe (Umbilicaria americana). This species is similar to the arctic-alpine species U. vellaea. The yellow-flowered succulent growing out of the crevice is Sedum lanceolatum (Crassulaceae).

Xanthoria polycarpa, an orange foliose lichen on the bark of a black oak (Quercus kelloggii). Unlike the orange, crustose Caloplaca, this is truly a foliose lichen with sparse rhizines on the lower surfaces of the thallus lobes. The apothecia are similar to those of Caloplaca.

Melanelia glabra. A common olive-green (greenish-brown) foliose lichen on the bark of canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis). Melanelia (M. subolivacea?) is common on the trunks of white firs (Abies concolor) on Palomar Mountain. The smaller whitish-gray foliose lichen with delicate dissected lobes is a species of Physcia (possibly P. biziana or Physcia stellaris). It is very common on the bark of oaks and conifers.

Physcia albinia. A foliose, rosette-forming rock lichen with delicate dissected lobes. The thallus is whitish-gray compared with the yellowish-green Xanthoparmelia. This species appears to be fairly common on Palomar Mountain in San Diego County.

Parmotrema stuppeum. A foliose bark lichen on oaks of the Central Californa Coast Ranges. The grayish-tan thallus appears ruffled with ciliate margins.

Peltigera leucophlebia, a foliose soil lichen found in moist, shady areas. The lower surface has dark, raised "veins." Peltigera canina has rhizines on the lower surface that resemble teeth, hence the specific epithet of "canina."

Gray frosted rosette lichen (Physcia biziana) & orange sunburst lichen
(Xanthoria) on bark at the south rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona.

Santa Rosa Basalt from the Santa Rosa Plateau of Riverside County. The lower rock is covered with the foliose lichen Xanthoparmelia conspersa. See next image.

Xanthoparmelia conspersa growing on Santa Rosa Basalt. The upper surface of the thallus is roughened by numerous spherical isidia. Isidia (photo inset) are pimplelike protuberances containing both algae and fungi that readily disperse to new locations. The lower surface and rhizines are black.

See soralia, soredia and isidia.

Orange chocolate chip lichen (Solorina crocea) from the Brooks Range of Alaska. The brown apothecial disks are immersed in the thallus like chocolate chips (see bottom left of photo).

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