TYPE. UNITED STATES. Alabama, St Clair County, 6 mi. E of Leeds, on outcrops near Highway 78, 20.VI.1966, Hale & McCullough 24072 (US, holotype; DUKE, SAMF, UPS, isotypes).
Description.Life form: lichenized fungus.
[Modified from Hale & McCullough 1968] Thallus foliose, whitish gray, orbicular, 2-4 cm diam.; lobes sublinear, appressed, 0.8-1.2 mm wide; upper surface shiny, smooth to cracked. Vegetative diaspores soredia in soralia; soralia sparse, capitate. Lower surface black; rhizines moderate abundant, simple, black. Photobiont trebouxioid green alga. Ascomata unknown.
Chemistry. Medulla K-, KC-, C-, P+ red (protocetraric acid).
Substrate and Habitat. Saxicolous on siliceous rock.
Distribution. Eastern North America from Alabama to West Virginia; in North Carolina found in the Blue Ridge ecoregion.
Literature
Hale, M.E., Jr & H.A. McCullough (1968) Parmelia alabamensis, a new species of lichen from Alabama. The Bryologist71: 44-45 (original description).