TYPE. JAMAICA. 1906, Boergesen s.n. (TUR-V513, lectotype designated in Truong et al. 2013)
Description.Life form: lichenized fungus.
Thallus pendulous, ~100-150 mm, soft; primary branches cylindric, ~0.4-0.6(-0.7) mm diam., dichotomously branched, segmented with thin annulations, most abundant on the trunk and basal branches. Vegetative diaspores soredia in soralia; soralia punctiform, arising from the cortex, with short isidiomorphs. Fibrils few, scattered to abundantly distributed in a fishbone pattern along branches, 2-4 mm long. Cortex surface matte, relatively smooth; in section moderately thick to thick; medulla thin and compact, central axis thick.
Chemistry. K-; protocetraric acid
Substrate and Habitat. Corticolous on branches in relatively open sites within primary or secondary forests.
Distribution. Neotropical to North America (eastern and Pacific), western Europe and Canary Islands; in North Carolina found in the Blue Ridge and Piedmont ecoregions.
Literature
Clerc, P. (1997) Notes on the genus Usnea Dill. ex Adanson. Lichenologist29(3): 209-215.
Herrera-Campos, M.A., P. Clerc & T.H. Nash, III (1998) Pendulous species of Usnea from the temperate forests in Mexico. The Bryologist 101(2): 303-329 (description as U. hesperina).
Truong, C., J.M. Rodridguez, J.M. & P. Clerc. (2013) Pendulous Usnea species (Parmeliaceae, lichenized Ascomycota) in tropical South America and the Galapagos. The Lichenologist45(4): 505-542.
Vainio, E.A. (1915) Additamenta ad lichenographiam Antillarum illustrandum. Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae6(7): 1-226 (original description).