Scoliciosporum
Crustose lichens containing a trebouxioid alga; thallus smooth, areolate, verruculose, granular or sorediate; apothecia with a thin, non-algal rim that in most species recedes with maturity; rim formed of narrowly cylindrical, branching hyphae; hymenium formed of gnarled, branching and sometimes anastomosing paraphyses often with swollen cells at the tip and in some species, a pigment cap over the apical cell; hypothecium colourless; asci broadly clavate, with a well formed tholus that reacts IKI+ blue with a paler axial mass that reaches through the height of the tholus, this sometimes with a darker blue outline; spores 8 per ascus, colourless, bacilliform to acicular, with 3-7 transverse septae, often helical and coiled together in the ascus.
References: Ekman & Tønsberg 2004; Spribille 2006.
| 1a. | Thallus sorediate, the soredia deep green or yellowish green, often sterile; to be sought …[Scoliciosporum sarothamni (Vainio) Vězda] |
| 1b. | Thallus lacking soralia, if thallus loosely granular, then the granules corticate, not at all like soredia; fertile species …2 |
| 2a. | Upper hymenium mauve-purple, K+ reddish turning violet-purple; spores 1-septate, 19-24 × 2.2-2.8 µ …Scoliciosporum violascens ined. |
| 2b. | Upper hymenium brown, olive or blue-green, K- or K+ drab colours; spores with more than one septum, size various …3 |
| 3a. | Upper hymenium with aeruginose pigments, N+ rose; apothecia black or brownish black; spores 30-40 × 2.5-3.2 µ, strongly coiled, with 3-5 septae …Scoliciosporum aeruginosum ined. |
| 3b. | Upper hymenium with brown or olive-brown pigments, N-; apothecia brown, red-brown or black; spores various …4 |
| 4a. | Spores with 5-9 septae, 28-35 × (2.5‑) 3-4 µ; apothecia medium brown; to be sought in rainforests …[Scoliciosporum troxanophilum Björk ined.] |
| 4b. | Spores with 3-7 septae, length various, but rarely more than 3 µ wide; apothecia blackish, red-brown or orange-brown …5 |
| 5a. | Apothecia blackish, distinctly rimmed and flattish when young, later dome-shaped, up to 0.3 mm wide; spores with (3‑) 5-7 septae, 14-20 × 1-3 µ; to be sought …[Scoliciosporum perpusillum (P. James) Vězda] |
| 5b. | Apothecia red-brown or rarely blackish brown, dome-shaped and rimless from early in development, 0.2-0.5 mm wide; spores with 3-5 (‑7) septae, (15‑) 20-40 × 1.5-3 µ …Scoliciosporum umbrinum |
Scoliciosporum aeruginosum Björk ined.
Thallus patchy, granular, waxy, medium to dark olive green; apothecia 0.2-0.4 mm wide, black, glossy, rimless; hymenium 35-45 µ high, pigmented medium to dark blue-green in upper portions, the pigments N+ rose; spores 30-40 × 2.5-3.2 µ, S-shaped, 3- to 5-septate.
Reactions: Spot tests all negative.
Contents: Unknown.
Habitat: On twigs in humid forest. Lower elevations.
Similar Species: Scoliciosporum perpusillum appears similar macroscopically, but has brownish, N- pigments in the upper hymenium. Another undescribed Scoliciosporum in coastal habitats also has blue-green, N+ rose pigments, but these are streaky throughout the hymenium, and the apothecia are larger and matte.
Specimens: Björk 15170.
Local Status: Unknown.
Notes: Known only from humid forest regions of inland BC and Idaho.
Scoliciosporum umbrinum (Ach.) Arnold
Thallus patchy, granular, deep green or brownish green; apothecia 0.2-0.7 mm wide (0.2-0.5 in our material), medium to dark orangish brown, rimless, appearing translucent; upper hymenium pale or light orangish brown; hypothecium pale yellowish or colourless; spores (15‑) 20-40 × 1.5-3 µ, S-shaped, tightly coiled together in the asci, with 3-7 septae.
Reactions: Spot tests all negative.
Contents: No known lichen substances.
Habitat: On bark of twigs and over evergreen leaves, especially in dusty habitats, as along gravel roads, in dry to wet forests. Lower elevations.
Similar Species: Scoliciosporum perpusillum has darker, smaller apothecia and grows mostly in boreal forests; it may eventually be found in the study area.
Specimens: Björk 15199.
Local Status: Occasional.
Notes: Typical S. umbrinum has larger, normally darker apothecia and a larger average spore length and grows mostly on rock. The variety S. u. var. corticola (Anzi) Clauzade & Roux accounts for epiphytic material with medium brown apothecia and a thin thallus, but our material may be distinct and in need of a new name.
Scoliciosporum violascens Björk ined.
Thallus areolate, or mostly smooth or verruculose, pale greyish green; apothecia 0.15-0.4 mm wide, solitary or clustered, brownish black, with a very poorly developed rim; hymenium 35-40 µ high, pigmented mauve purple in upper portions, the pigments K+ darker and redder turning violet-purple; spores bacilliform, more or less straight, 1- or 2-septate, 19-24 × 2.2-2.8 µ.
Reactions: Spot tests all negative.
Contents: Unknown.
Habitat: On rain-sheltered twig of Thuja in swamps. Lower elevations.
Similar Species: “Bacidia” beckhausii and Micarea globulosella are similar, but have green-gray pigments in the upper hymenium, the pigment reacting K+ mauve, not turning violet-purple. Scoliciosporum violascens has a more or less Bacidia-type ascus in which the axial mass eventually pierces the entire height of the tholus, making this species unlikely to belong in Scoliciosporum, but no other genus seems close.
Specimens: Björk 15138.
Local Status: Rare.
Notes: Known only from a single collection in the study area.