lastdragon.org
Alan Silverside's Lichen Pages
Usnea florida (L.) Weber ex F.H. Wigg.
Fruticose, tufted, much branched, yellow-green to grey-green, black at base of main stem, the main stem just above the base with fine, transverse but not longitudinal cracking, branches not constricted at their bases, terminal branches with small tubercles but lacking soralia and isidia; apothecia common, conspicuous, ringed by radiating fine branches. Widespread but now rare in South-West England and Wales, very rare elsewhere and scarcely reaching Scotland, on branches, often in the tree canopy, and sometimes on fence posts. Easily confused with the fertile state of the closely related U. subfloridana, but differs by its lack of soredia and isidia.
Refs: James (2003), 21 (line illustrations); Smith et al. (2009), 925; Purvis et al. (1992), 626; Dobson (2005), 444-5 (photo); Jahns (1983), 188-9 (photo); Wirth (1995), 2: 942, 947 (photo); Moberg & Holmåson (1984), 107 (photo); Holien & Tønsberg (2008), 66 (photo); Thor & Arvidsson (1999), 337 (photo), 514.
On Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea), Ty Canol, Pembrokeshire, May 2009
Back to Lichens HOME PAGE
Back to Lichens INDEX OF SPECIESConditions of Use and e-mail contact
© A.J. Silverside
Uploaded May 2009, last modified June 2010
