Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bungartz, F., (eds.) 2004. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 2.
Thallus: goniocysts 20 - 60 µm in diam., with pointed, colorless spines, 4-15 µm long surface: pale to dark green Apothecia: sessile, rounded to irregular in outline, gray to brownish gray disc: pale gray to pale brown hymenium: hyaline; paraphyses: short and sparse, may appear to be lacking; paraphyses: branched or not, sometimes septate asci: clavate, 8-spored ascospores: hyaline, simple, ellipsoid, 18-24 x 8-11 µm, with thick and distinctly warted cell-wall Pycnidia: not known Spot tests: K-, KC-, C-, P- Secondary metabolites: none detected. Substrate and ecology: on moribund mosses or liverworts or on foliose lichens e.g., Nephroma spp. and Peltigera spp., often associated with lead/zinc-contaminated soils World distribution: Europe and North America (Arizona) Sonoran distribution: only known from one locality in the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona, where it was found on moribund Hypnum revolutum near the timberline at c. 3400-3500 m. Notes: Vezdaea rheocarpa is an inconspicuous species and easily overlooked. The apothecia are ephemeral and possibly only appearing during certain weather conditions (Poelt and Döbbeler 1975). It is easily identified in the microscope by its thick-walled and warted ascospores, its short and sparse paraphyses, and its well-developed spines on the surface of, at least, exposed goniocysts.