Key to Group I
Epiphytic crustose lichens with soredia, isidia, or schizidia
Synopsis
| 1a. | Coralloid isidia present, these white, often over 1 mm long; rare, growing on trunks in rainforests …Loxosporopsis |
| 1b. | Coralloid isidia lacking or, if short isidia present, then these not particularly coralloid nor approaching 1 mm long; habitat various …2 |
| 2a. | Schizidia present (disc-like flakes of the upper surface); thallus pale blue-green, forming large patches over mosses on or near the ground …Icmadophila |
| 2b. | Schizidia absent; habitat various, but if growing over mosses, then yellowish or olive green, not pale blue-green …3 |
| 3b. | Thallus formed of granules, isidia, areoles or soredia, not producing distinct squamules …9 |
| 9b. | Thallus producing soredia, otherwise various as to presence of granules, areoles or other corticate portions …15 |
| 15b. | Soredia K- or K+ yellow or orange, or slowly reddish …16 |
| 16b. | Soredia other colours, sometimes yellow-green, but not pure yellow or, if mustard yellow, then the outer soredia turning brown …18 |
| 18b. | Soredia of duller colours, not deep grass-green or deep yellowish green, always with some degree of creamy, brown or grey tone …22 |
| 32a. | Soredia KC+ purple; thallus usually very expansive; soralia often in concentric rings …Pertusaria amara |
| 32b. | Soredia KC- or KC+ yellow-orange; thallus size various; soralia never in concentric rings …33 |
| 33b. | Never growing over mosses …35 |
| 35a. | Soredia K+ distinctly clear yellow, orange or yellow turning red …36 (Biatora flavopunctata, Brigantiaea praetermissa, Cliostomum, Haematomma ochroleucum, Lecanora farinaria, Lecanora impudens, Mycoblastus alpinus, Pertusaria pupillaris, Phlyctis argena, Ramboldia cinnabarina, Rinodina stictica, Xylographa vitiligo) |
| 35b. | Soredia K- or + dingy colours …48 |
| 48a. | Soredia bicoloured, the outermost brown and the inner, sheltered soredia bright mustard yellow; common and widespread …Japewia subaurifera |
| 48b. | Soredia not brown and yellow …49 |
| 49a. | Soredia white, in perfectly round soralia that are all the same size, rimmed by corticate material, the rim topped by a very thin line of purplish pigment; on bark of shrubs, rarely conifers, within the winter snowpack, mostly at upper forested elevations …Caloplaca sorocarpa |
| 49b. | Soredia of various colours, not in perfectly round, rimmed soralia with a thin line of purple pigment; habitat various …50 |
| 50b. | Soredia PD- or + pale yellow …54 |
| 54a. | Soredia as seen in LM with a cortex of subspherical or bent-cylindrical cells conglutinated together, the cell walls often containing grey-brown pigments; spongy medulla absent …55 (Caloplaca, Placynthiella) |
| 54b. | Soredia (LM) enveloped in loosely conglutinated hyphae that usually lack pigments in the walls; spongy medulla present …56 |
Key to Group I
| 1a. | Coralloid, white, corticate isidia present, these often over 1 mm long; rare, growing on conifer trunks in rainforests …Loxosporopsis |
| 1b. | Coralloid isidia lacking or, if short isidia present, then these neither particularly coralloid nor approaching 1 mm long; habitat various …2 |
| 2a. | Schizidia present (disc-like flakes of the upper surface); thallus pale blue-green, forming large patches over mosses on or near the ground …Icmadophila |
| 2b. | Schizidia absent; habitat various, but if growing over mosses, then yellowish or olive green, not pale blue-green …3 |
| 3a. | Thallus formed of squamules that bear soredia along the edges, sometimes disintegrating into sorediate masses …4 |
| 4a. | Thallus brilliant yellow …5 |
| 5a. | Thallus formed mostly of squamules, the squamules sometimes branching …Candelaria |
| 5b. | Thallus formed mostly of soredia with a few minute squamules, these never branching …Candelariella sp. 1 |
| 4b. | Thallus green, brown or grey …6 |
| 6a. | Squamules clam shell shaped, attached only at the base, usually producing soredia along their entire edges …7 |
| 7a. | Squamules pale blue-green, with distinct growth rings; usually growing over mosses …Normandina |
| 7b. | Squamules pale tan to grey-brown or dark brown, lacking growth rings; usually on charred wood, never growing over moss …Hypocenomyce |
| 6b. | Squamules never clam shell shaped, attached over most of the lower surface, producing soredia only in small patches (Note: the following two species are visually very similar, grow in similar habitats, and are about equally common) …8 |
| 3b. | Thallus formed of granules, isidia, areoles or soredia, not producing distinct squamules …9 |
| 9a. | Thallus of coarse, detachable granules or isidia, soredia lacking …10 |
| 10a. | Thallus of granules having evenly distributed, prominent papillae over the surface (LM) …11 |
| 11a. | Granules pale bluish green; usually growing over mossy branches; occasional, usually in rainforests …Agonimia sp. |
| 11b. | Granules olive-brown or greenish grey; usually on mossy trunks; rare, in open well-lit forest, not in rainforests …Bacidia rubella |
| 10b. | Thallus formed of granules or isidia lacking papillae …12 |
| 12a. | Thallus K+ yellow, formed of areoles that quickly become covered in grey or grey-brown, isidia-like upgrowths that are usually taller than wide …Rinodina disjuncta |
| 12b. | Thallus K-, formed of granules that are roughly equally high as wide, colour various …13 |
| 13a. | Thallus KC+ deep yellow (usnic acid), forming conspicuous dense patches, usually on weathered wood in well-lit, dry habitats; granules with a well developed cortex, hard, usually somewhat glossy; conspicuous black pycnidia or red apothecia often present …Ophioparma rubricosa |
| 13b. | Thallus KC-, lacking usnic, forming diffuse patches on mosses over trunks or branches in humid forest; granules with a poorly developed cortex, or at least not giving a hard, glossy appearance; pycnidia lacking; apothecia absent …14 |
| 14a. | Thallus granules 50-200 µ, greyish brown to tan …[Bacidia bagliettoana] |
| 9b. | Thallus producing soredia, otherwise various as to presence of granules, areoles or other corticate portions …15 |
| 15b. | Soredia K- or K+ yellow or orange, or slowly reddish …16 |
| 16a. | Soredia brilliant pure yellow (or with some whitish or orangish spots), not turning brown …17 |
| 17a. | Soredia with a hard appearance, weakly corticate; corticate squamules often present; growing on old or decaying bark of Alnus in swamps …Candelariella sp. 1 |
| 17b. | Soredia with a soft appearance, not at all corticate; no squamules or corticate structures present; not on Alnus in swamps …Chrysothrix |
| 16b. | Soredia other colours, sometimes yellow-green, but not pure yellow or, if mustard yellow, the outer soredia turning brown …18 |
| 18a. | Soredia deep grass-green or deep yellowish green …19 |
| 19b. | Soredia deep grass-green, UV- …20 |
| 20a. | Algae micareoid (3-7 µ wide, often in small clusters, with no organelles easily seen within) …Micarea prasina |
| 20b. | Algae trebouxioid (5-15 µ or wider, rarely appearing clustered, with organelles easily seen within (1000 x LM) …21 |
| 21a. | Thallus PD+ orange-red; apothecia with a sorediate margin …Halecania |
| 21b. | Thallus PD-; apothecia lacking a sorediate margin; not yet known from the study area …[Scoliciosporum sarothamni] |
| 18b. | Soredia of duller colours, not deep grass-green or deep yellowish green, always with some degree of creamy, brown or grey tone …22 |
| 22a. | Thallus C+ pink, orange or red (Note: Placynthiella dasaea and P. icmalea are supposed to react C+ reddish (LM), but this reaction is lacking in our material) …23 |
| 23a. | Soredia C+ bright yellow-orange; soralia not mounded, the soredia flush with the thallus …Buellia |
| 23b. | Soredia C+ pink or red or, if orangish red, then the reaction fleeting; soralia mounded or not …24 |
| 24a. | Soredia white, creamy white or greenish white …25 |
| 24b. | Soredia brown, green-gray, grey, or yellow-brown …26 |
| 26a. | Thallus growing over mosses, sometimes also spreading onto adjacent bark or wood …27 |
| 27a. | Soredia in more or less spherical, mostly widely separated masses, the outer soredia often turning brown; apothecia black …Megalaria |
| 26b. | Thallus growing directly on wood or bark …28 |
| 29a. | Soredia PD+ red, weakly C+ pinkish or C-, green or grey-green, turning brown with age; rare, growing on rough bark of tree bases near ground, often spreading onto mosses …Biatora fallax |
| 29b. | Soredia PD-, C+ distinctly pink-red (flash), colour various [Note: habitat various, but if growing on rough bark near ground, then the strong C reaction should easily distinguish these from B. fallax if PD is not available] …30 |
| 30a. | Growing on rough bark or wood, never on shrubs; areoles crowded, high-convex …Trapeliopsis |
| 30b. | Growing on smooth bark, usually on shrubs; thallus thin and inconspicuous, any areoles not crowded, flat to low-convex …31 |
| 31a. | Outermost soredia brown, the less exposed soredia grey-green; mostly on Alnus, Amelanchier and Salix …Schaereria corticola |
| 32a. | Soredia KC+ purple; thallus usually very expansive; soralia often in concentric rings …Pertusaria amara |
| 32b. | Soredia KC- or KC+ yellow-orange; thallus size various; soralia never in concentric rings …33 |
| 33a. | Growing over mosses, sometimes spreading onto adjacent bark or wood …34 |
| 33b. | Never growing over mosses …35 |
| 35a. | Soredia K+ distinctly clear yellow, orange or yellow turning red …36 |
| 36a. | Soredia with a distinct yellowish tone …37 |
| 37a. | Soralia on a conspicuous areolate thallus, remaining distinct, not becoming confluent, corticate areoles remaining distinct; common on acidic bark of shrubs below the average snow pack …Biatora flavopunctata |
| 37b. | Soralia on an inconspicuous thallus, quickly growing together, the soredia completely taking over the areoles so that few or no corticate portions show; substrate various, but not known to grow below the average snow pack …38 |
| 38a. | Soredia PD+ orange; apothecia frequent, yellow-orange; growing on conifer trunks …Cliostomum |
| 38b. | Soredia PD- or PD+ faint yellow; apothecia rare, with a blackish disc; habitat various …39 |
| 36b. | Soredia sometimes creamy whitish, but lacking any distinct yellowish tone …40 |
| 40a. | Thallus fringed with a conspicuous prothallus of white hyphae; thalli large, often 5-10 cm wide or more; usually on trunks, growing on branches and twigs only in very humid habitats …41 |
| 41a. | Soredia PD+ bright yellow, usually with a pale bluish-green tone; common and widespread …Phlyctis argena |
| 41b. | Soredia PD- or + pale yellow, usually with a creamy-white tone; rare as an epiphyte, usually in waterfall sprayzones …Haematomma ochroleucum |
| 40b. | Thallus lacking any conspicuous prothallus; thallus size various, but usually not over 5 cm wide; habitat various …42 |
| 43a. | Growing on cottonwood or aspen (Populus), rarely on bark of other species in the dripzones of cottonwood or aspen; soredia pale bluish green, in concave soralia; apothecia rare, with a thalline, whitish, sorediate rim; common and widespread …Lecanora impudens |
| 43b. | Growing on bark of conifer branches, rarely in dripzones; soredia white, in convex soralia; apothecia always present, blackish and with a non-thalline rim lacking soredia …Brigantiaea praetermissa |
| 42b. | Soredia PD+ orange or red …44 |
| 44a. | Non-sorediate portions of the thallus well developed and surficial, white …45 |
| 45a. | Soredia usually pale blue-green; almost always growing below the average snow-pack; apothecia occasional, bright orange-red …Ramboldia cinnabarina |
| 45b. | Soredia white, coloured like the non-sorediate portions of the thallus; always growing above the winter snowpack; apothecia common, yellow-orange …Cliostomum cf. leprosum |
| 44b. | Non-sorediate portions of the thallus poorly developed, immersed in the substrate almost throughout …46 |
| 46a. | Growing on decaying bark or other nutrient-rich bark in humid habitats; soredia containing atranorin …Rinodina stictica |
| 46b. | Growing on fresh, acidic bark or on wood in many habitats; soredia lacking atranorin …47 |
| 47a. | Soredia K+ reddish without red crystals (LM), containing fumarprotocetraric and protocetraric acids; apothecia rare, not seen in our area …Pertusaria pupillaris |
| 47b. | Soredia K+ yellow, or yellow turning red with red crystals (LM), containing stictic and/or norstictic acid; apothecia common, pink or pale brown …Xylographa vitiligo sensu lato |
| 35b. | Soredia K- or + dingy colours …48 |
| 48a. | Soredia bicoloured, the outermost brown and the inner, sheltered soredia bright mustard yellow; common and widespread …Japewia subaurifera |
| 48b. | Soredia not brown and yellow …49 |
| 49a. | Soredia white, in perfectly round soralia that are all the same size, rimmed by corticate material, the rim topped by a very thin line of purplish pigment; on bark of shrubs, rarely conifers, within the winter snowpack, mostly at upper forested elevations …Caloplaca sorocarpa |
| 49b. | Soredia of various colours, not in perfectly round, rimmed soralia with a thin line of purple pigment; habitat various …50 |
| 50a. | Soredia PD+ bright yellow, orange or red …51 |
| 51b. | Soralia up to 0.7 mm wide; non sorediate thallus conspicuous or not, but not both conspicuous and grey …52 |
| 52a. | Growing on mosses and rough, corky bark of conifers; soredia spreading irregularly over the thallus; rare …Biatora fallax |
| 52b. | Growing on smooth bark, or slightly rough bark of shrubs; soredia usually in discrete soralia …53 |
| 53a. | Soralia mostly well delimited; soredia yellowish grey or grey to grey-brown; growing on nutrient-rich, high- or low-pH bark; to be sought …[Rinodina efflorescens] |
| 53b. | Soralia poorly delimited, the soredia slopping out somewhat; soredia green-gray or yellowish green; growing on nutrient-poor, low-pH bark; occasional …Biatora efflorescens |
| 50b. | Soredia PD- or + pale yellow …54 |
| 54a. | Soredia as seen in LM with a cortex of subspherical or bent-cylindrical cells conglutinated together, the cell walls often containing grey-brown pigments; spongy medulla absent …55 |
| 55a. | Thallus black or dark brown (paler in shade forms); usually on low-pH substrates …Placynthiella |
| 55b. | Thallus olive-gray or bluish grey; growing on high-pH bark …Caloplaca |
| 54b. | Soredia (LM) enveloped in loosely conglutinated hyphae that usually lack pigments in the walls; spongy medulla present …56 |
| 56a. | Thallus UV+ bright white or blue-white …57 |
| 57a. | Thallus usually with a conspicuous dark bluish grey prothallus …58 |
| 58a. | Soralia mostly flat, well delimited; soredia and areoles brown, grey and pale green, mostly on branches and thin trunks above the winter snowpack; occasional …Lecidea pullata |
| 58b. | Soralia mounded, becoming confluent; soredia and areoles with a pearly grey colour; mostly on Betula bark, less often smooth bark of conifers, usually above the winter snowpack; common …Lecidea nylanderi |
| 57b. | Thallus lacking a conspicuous prothallus …59 |
| 59a. | Growing on charred wood or bark; soredia 50-80 µ; rare …[Hertelidea botryosa] |
| 59b. | Growing on live bark, mostly of acidic-bark shrubs, occasionally on bases of conifer trunks; soredia 20-50 µ; occasional …Myochroidea porphyrospoda |
| 56b. | Thallus UV- or + dull and barely florescent whitish …60 |
| 60a. | Thallus leprose at maturity; soredia pale blue to brownish blue, often bleaching white; mostly on conifer branches and twigs, less often on trunks …Lecidea leprarioides |
| 60b. | Thallus not leprose, some corticate material present; soredia creamy white, brown or grey, not pale blue, rarely bleaching; habitat various, but rare on branches, probably never on twigs …61 |
| 61a. | Non-sorediate thallus more or less continuous; soredia concolourous or blue-green, the outermost often turning brown; growing on nutrient-poor bark (as on living Alnus); to be sought …[Ramboldia subcinnabarina] |
| 61b. | Non-sorediate thallus mostly immersed, with a few scattered areoles; soredia grey or bluish grey; growing on nutrient-rich bark (such as on decaying Alnus); common …Rinodina griseosoralifera |