Life habit: lichenized Thallus: foliose, circular in outline or irregularly spreading, 4-30 cm wide, loosely adnate to adnate, lobate lobes: flat to convex, discrete, often loosely imbricate, elongate, mostly >4 mm wide, tips sometimes ascending, eciliate upper surface: pale tan or gray, dull or somewhat shiny, maculate or not, pseudocyphellate or not; with or without isidia; soredia absent upper cortex: scleroplectenchymatous (separate hyphae not distinguishable) with a non-pored epicortex medulla: white, with or without a condroid strand, hyphae walls containing Cetraria-type lichenan photobiont: either chlorococcoid alga (often with internal cephalodia with a cyanobacterium) or a cyanobacterium lower cortex: poorly developed prosoplectenchymatous lower surface: pale tan, tomentose, rhizinate; rhizines simple or sparingly branched, stout, apically with a squarrose tuft Ascomata: apothecial, lecanorine, laminal, sessile to substipitate; margin: initially inrolled, strongly and irregularly crenate; disc: light brown to brown, eperforate; epithecium: pale brown; hymenium and hypothecium colorless; paraphyses: simple or forked above, apices clavate, pale brown with a dark brown cap asci: cylindrical, Lecanora-type; 8-spored ascospores: acicular, colorless, straight to slightly curved, 7-septate at maturity Conidiomata: pycnidial, brown-black, immersed, punctiform conidia: simple, bacilliform, colorless Secondary metabolites: depsides, depsidones and aliphatic acids Geography: neotropics, from Brazil to central Mexico Substrate: common on rocks; less common on bark. Notes: Durietzia was initially proposed as subgenus by Dodge (1964) and is a recent segregate from Lobaria for species that have white dots (maculae and/or pseudocyphellae) on the upper surface (Yoshimura 1998a & b) but this name was previously used (Gyelnik 1940) and consequently is emended here to Lobariella. In contrast to Pseudocyphellaria, which has pseudocyphellae on the lower surface, Lobariella has pseudocyphellae on the upper surface. Lobaria in the restricted sense lacks pseudocyphellae on either surface. Occasionally species of Punctelia, a parmelioid genus with pseudocyphellae on the upper surface, may be mistaken for Lobariella, but the former genus does not have tomentum on the lower surface, usually is more narrow lobed and has simple spores.

Life habit: lichenized Thallus: foliose, irregularly circular to elongate, 10-30 cm wide but sometimes covering much larger patches of substrate, often lacunose, loosely adnate, lobate lobes: irregular, often dichotomously branched, 2-10 mm wide, elongate, lobe tips usually subtruncate to truncate, entire, crenulate or with small lobules (phyllidia), eciliate upper surface: yellowish green, medium to dark brown, shiny or very slightly pubescent, smooth, flat or wrinkled, sometimes with prominent depressions with a network of ridges; with or without soredia or isidia; cyphellae and pseudocyphellae absent; maculae absent upper cortex: paraplectenchymatous medulla: white, lax or compact photobionts: primary one a chlorococcoid green (Myrmecia or Trebouxia) or a cyanobacterium (Nostoc); secondary one (Nostoc) present in internal or external cephalodia in green algal dominant species lower cortex: paraplectenchymatous lower surface: pale brown to yellow-brown, often rugulose, tomentose, rhizinate; rhizines simple to squarrose; pseudocyphellae and cyphellae absent Apothecia: rather rare, orbicular, cup-shaped, sessile to substipitate disc: brown or dark red; hemiangiocarpous ascomata development margin: prominent with thalloid rim exciple: hyaline or light brown, 20-30 µm thick epihymenium: brown or brownish yellow hymenium: hyaline, I+ blue; hypothecium: hyaline asci: clavate, Peltigera-type, 8-spored ascospores: fusiform to accicular, colorless to pale brown, 1-7-septate Conidiomata: pycnidial, laminal, immersed, punctiform, area around ostiole black conidia: +cylindrical-elongated to bifusiform, 4-5 x 1-2 µm Spot tests: upper cortex K-, C-, KC-, P-; medulla K+ pale yellow or K-, C-, KC-, P- Secondary metabolites: upper cortex with or without usnic acid, medulla with some combination of ß-orcinol depsides or depsidones, triterpenes Geography: world-wide in arctic regions and moist forests of North and South America, Eurasia and Australasia Substrate: commonly on trees, occasionally on rocks or soil. Notes: Lobaria and Durietzia do not have pseudocyphellae or cyphellae on their lower surfaces, but Sticta has cyphellae and Pseudocyphellaria has pseudocyphellae on their lower surfaces. Durietzia has either maculae or pseudocyphellae present on its upper surface, while Lobaria does not have either on its upper surface. The present concept of the genus Lobaria is still an artificial one. The section Ricasolia has a flat thallus, while section Lobaria has a distinctly lacunose thallus. Section Lobaria includes the Lobaria retigera group (containing cyanobacteria), but not Lobarina scrobiculata (Scop.) Nyl. ex Crombie. The genus Lobarina (Vain.) Nyl. ex Cromb. has a denuded portion of lower surface of lobes composed of periclinal hyphae, while species of Lobaria has screlo- or paraplectencymatous hyphal tissue in the lower cortex.