TYPE. UNITED STATES. “firs and other trees, on the mountains of Northern New England, fertile.” (Tuckerman 1848).
Description.Life form: lichenized fungus.
[Modified from Brodo et al. (2001)] Thallus fruticose, erect, growing from a single point; yet foliose, branches flattened with distinct upper and lower surfaces. Branches in regular dichotomies, mostly < 1 mm diam., almost round in cross section near tips, flattening in older parts. Upper surface whitish, sometimes slightly pruinose at lobe tips; lower surface whitish to patchy gray, blackening at base. Vegetative diaspores absent. Photobiont chlorococcoid (Trebouxia?) alga. Ascomata lecanorine apothecia, rare; disk brown. Asci 8-spored; ascospores simple, hyaline.
Chemistry. Cortex K+ yellow, KC-, PD- or PD+ pale yellow; medulla K-, KC+ red, C+ pink to red, PD-; atronorin and lecanoric acid detected by TLC.
Substrate and Habitat. Corticolous on twigs and bark of conifers in high elevation Appalachian forests.
Distribution. Eastern North America; in North Carolina found in the Blue Ridge ecoregion.
Literature
Brodo, I.M., S. Duran Sharnoff & S. Sharnoff. (2001) Lichens of North America. Yale University Press, New Haven & London. 795 pp.
Tuckerman, E. (1848) A synopsis of the lichenes of New England, the other Northern states, and British America. George Nichols, Cambridge (original description as Evernia furfuracea var. cladonia).