Schaereria corticola Muhr & Tønsberg

Thallus light brownish grey or grey-brown, warty and areolate and with smooth patches, areoles up to 0.2 mm wide, producing soralia; soredia olive-brown, darker brown where exposed to air; soredia with a cortex, 20-25  µ wide; apothecia rare, 0.15-0.3 mm wide, matte jet black, with a prominent and mostly persistent rim and a flat to low-convex disc that is usually sunken below the rim; rim non-algal, dark green at the edge, dark brown within; hymenium colourless, 80-110  µ high, the gel poorly formed; upper hymenium dark bluish green, K- or K+ somewhat greener, sometimes greyish purple turning K+ blue-green; hypothecium colourless to light brown; paraphyses mostly unbranched, coherent only in the upper hymenium; asci cylindrical, thin-walled throughout except a very thin, crescent-shaped tholus, IKI+ light to medium blue, sometimes darker blue in the thin tholus; broadly elliptical to spherical or compressed into rounded triangles, the walls 1-2  µ thick, 13-16 × 9-12  µ, lacking a gelatinous perispore.

Reactions: C+ red, KC+ red.

Contents: Gyrophoric acid, lecanoric acid,

Habitat: Bark of conifer and Betula papyrifera trunks, rarely in Populus tremuloides dripzones. Lower elevations.

Similar Species: See notes under Rinodina disjuncta and R. griseosoralifera. Japewia subaurifera also has brown soredia, but is C-, and brushing the soralia reveals brilliant yellow soredia below.

Specimens: Goward 01-216; Tønsberg 14308.

Local Status: Occasional.

References: Tønsberg 1992.

Schaereria dolodes (Nyl. ex Hasse) Schmull & Spribille

Thallus verrucose, bullate or areolate or sometimes subsquamulose, chocolate brown or olive-grown; apothecia jet black, (0.5‑) 0.7-1 (‑1.2) mm wide, the rim prominent and persistent, the disc remaining concave or flat; rim interior of densely packed elliptical cells arrayed fan-like as seen in cross section, pigmented throughout with blue-gray, brown and/or bluish green pigments, if blue or green then K+ greener or turquoise; hymenium 50-80  µ high, colourless or pale blue-green, except darkly pigmented in upper portions, where dark blue-green, olive-green or purple, K+ green or turquoise; hypothecium medium to dark brown or orangish brown; spores mostly 6-8  µ wide, globose or compressed into rounded triangles, the walls 0.75-1 (‑1.25)  µ thick, lacking a gelatinous perispore.

Reactions: All spot tests negative.

Contents: No lichen known substances in the thallus.

Habitat: On conifer bark, less often wood, in warm, dry forest, lower to middle elevations.

Similar Species: Schaereria parasemella has smaller apothecia and larger spores.

Local Status: Rare.

Schaereria parasemella (Nyl.) Lumbsch

Thallus brown to olive-brown, warty and areolate, the areoles 0.05-0.2 mm wide, lacking soredia; apothecia individually scattered, or a few clustered, rarely crowded, 0.15-0.35 mm wide, matte jet-black, the rim coloured like the disc, thick, prominent and persistent, the disc flat and usually sunken below the rim; rim non-algal, dark brown throughout or with additional dark blue green pigments along the edge, formed of tightly packed hyphae with broadly elliptical cells; hymenium 90-115  µ high, colourless, the gel weakly formed; upper hymenium dark bluish green, K- or K+ greener, rarely K+ violet-purple; hypothecium medium to dark brown or red-brown; paraphyses weakly coherent except at the tips; asci cylindrical, thin-walled throughout except a very thin, crescent-shaped tholus, IKI+ light to medium blue, sometimes darker blue in the thin tholus; spores 1-celled, spherical to broadly elliptical, the walls about 1  µ thick but also with a gelatinous perispore 2-3  µ thick, 11-15  µ wide.

Reactions: Thallus C- or C+ red (flash).

Contents: Gyrophoric acid, and sometimes also with 5-O-methylhiascic acid.

Habitat: Bark of conifers, Betula and Alnus, sometimes in Populus tremuloides dripzones, lower to middle elevations.

Similar Species: Buellia species may appear similar macroscopically, but are easily separated by the 2-celled grey-brown pigmented spores; Pycnora elachista has flatter apothecia and a whitish thallus, and its apothecia are broadly clavate and have a thick tholus. Lopadium disciforme has larger apothecia and broad asci with a single muriform spore.

Specimens: Björk 11588, 12227.

Local Status: Occasional.

Notes: This species was long known only as a rare terricole in Northern Europe and Alaska, but it turns out to be a common epiphyte in inland BC, and the inland northwestern U.S. There are no apparent morphological or chemical distinctions between terricolous and epiphytic specimens.