TYPE. UNITED STATES. GEORGIA, Stone Mountain, H.W. Ravenel s.n. (BM BM001096889, M M-0012913, MSC 98363, S L5197, isotypes); NORTH CAROLINA, [Forsyth County] Salem, L.D. v. Schweinitz s.n. (PH PH00007545, probable isolectotype).

Description. Lichenized fungus.

Thallus weakly dimorphic to fruticose. Primary thallus squamulose, soon disappearing. Podetia yellowish green to yellowish, smooth, inflated, subdichotomously branched, 20-100 mm tall x 3-10 mm diam, apices obtuse and dentate. Cortex subcontinuous or scattered areolate, photobiont Asterchloris glomerata alga. Inner medulla (stereome) of podetial consists of flat cords coalescing into a near continuous layer. Ascomata biatorine apothecia, rare, small, 0.3-0.5 mm diam., solitary or clustered on branch tips; disk flat to convex, pale to brownish.  

Chemistry. Cortex UV-, K-, KC+ yellow, C-, PD-; medulla UV+ blue-white, K-, KC-, C-, PD-; usnic and squamatic acids.

Substrate and Habitat. Over granitic rock in open areas, less frequently on soil.

Distribution. Eastern North America; in North Carolina throughout.

Literature

Brodo, I.M., S. D. Sharnoff & S. Sharnoff. (2001) Lichens of North America. Yale University Press, New Haven & London. 795 pp.

Fink, B. (1935) The Lichen Flora of the United States. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.

Pino-Bodas, R. & S. Stenroos. (2021) Global Biodiversity Patterns of the Photobionts Associated with the Genus Cladonia (Lecanorales, Ascomycota). Microbial Ecology 82: 173–187

Tuckerman, E. (1858) Supplement to an enumeration of North American lichens; Part first, containing brief diagnoses of new species. The American Journal of Science and Arts 25: 422-430 (original description).