Aspicilia californica

Aspicilia californica
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Ascomycetes
Order: Pertusariales
Family: Megasporaceae
Genus: Aspicilia
Species: A. californica
Binomial name
Aspicilia californica
Rosentreter

Aspicilia californica (shrubby sunken disk lichen) is a small white to white mottled gray or gray-green foliose lichen, with stringy, terete, branch-like lobes.[1]:223-224[2] It is endemic to central and southern California, that grows on organic debris, moss, and rock in chaparral habitats.[1]:223-224[2] It attaches to the substrate at several points along the branch-like lobes.[2] It may form areoles when growing on more solid substrates.[2] Apothecia are rare.[1]:223-224[2] Lichen spot tests on the cortex and medulla are K+ red, KC-, C-, + orange, and I-.[1]:223-224 The olive brown Aspicilia filiformis is another fruticose species in this mostly crustose genus, occurring in Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Washington and Montana, with one known location also in California.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-19500-2
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Aspicilia californica, Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 3, Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bugartz, F., (eds.) 2001,