TYPE. UNITED STATES. NORTH CAROLINA, [Mecklenberg County], Charlotte, Oct 1924, F.W. Gray 288 (FH barcodes 00413679, 00413680, lectotypes).

Description. Lichenized fungus.

Thallus dimorphic.  Primary thallus squamulose; squamules irregularly shaped, smooth, yellow-green above, white below; vegetative diaspores absent. Photobiont Asterochloris glomerata alga. Podetia 7-20 mm tall, usually unbranched, corticate, continuous to areolate, or covered by squamules. Ascomata biatorine apothecia, 0.2-4 mm diam., brown, often clustered atop of podetia.

Chemistry. K-, secondary metabolites unknown.

Substrate and Habitat. On soil, humus or rarely wood.

Distribution. Eastern North America; in North Carolina throughout.

Literature

Brodo, I.M., S. Duran 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.

Merrill, G.K. (1924) Some new species of American Cladoniae: With an enumeration and description of some hitherto unrecognized varieties and forms of the older species. The Bryologist 27(2): 21-25 (original description).

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