Aspicilia cinerea

Aspicilia cinerea
Aspicilia cinerea

Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Pertusariales
Family: Megasporaceae
Genus: Aspicilia
Species:
A. cinerea
Binomial name
Aspicilia cinerea
(L.) Körb. (1855)
Synonyms
  • Lichen cinereus L. (1767)

Aspicilia cinerea (cinder lichen) is a gray to almost white, 1.5–15 cm (0.59–5.91 in) wide, crustose areolate lichen with large apothecia that mostly grows on rock in the mountains.[2][3]: 224  It grows in variable forms, from having a continuous surface to being areolate.[3]: 224  It grows in Eurasia, and North America on siliceous rock, schist or igneous rock in habitats exposed to sunlight, also rarely on calciferous rock.[2] It is common in Arizona, and rare in California and Baja California at elevations of 1,700 to 3,300 metres (5,600 to 10,800 ft).[2]

Flat to almost convex areoles are angular to irregular, and 0.2–2 mm in diameter.[2] They are contiguous but clearly separated by well defined cracks.[2] It usually lacks a prothallus.[2] It may be rimose toward the outer edges.[2] Each areole has 1–10, round to angular or irregular, 0.1–1.6 mm apothecia that may be confluent when numerous.[2] Apothecia have usually black concave discs, with exciple margins of thallus tissue.[2] Asci are club shaped (clavate), with 8 ellipsoid ascospores.[2]

Lichen spot tests on the cortex and medulla are K+ red, KC−, P+ yellow[3]: 224  or P+ orange,[2] with the medulla sometimes testing K+ yellow and P+ orange.[3]: 224  Secondary metabolites include norstictic acid and often connorstictic acid in traces, and more rarely hyposalazinic acid.[2]

The photobiont is a chlorococcoid.[2]

References

  1. ^ NatureServe. "Aspicilia cinerea". NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 13 July 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 3., Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bugartz, F., (eds.) 2001, [1]
  3. ^ a b c d Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-19500-2