Northwest Lichenologists

Umbilicaria havaasii

  • 29 Jan 2021 3:08 PM
    Message # 10047308

    Hello all!


    Working on confirming an Umbilicaria specimen for the Evergreen herbarium. This specimen was collected in Opal Creek on a rocky outcrop at about 1500m.


    It is presumably Umbilicaria havaasii but a second opinion would be greatly appreciated.


    Thanks for your time.


    Best,

    Stephen

    11 files
  • 30 Jan 2021 11:05 AM
    Reply # 10048707 on 10047308

    I am no Umbilicaria expert, but what I see is those sugary crystals on the upper surface and a lower surface without rhizines or any thalloconidia. The edges are not very lacerate at all. The apothecia have a central sterile button (although they are small and not fully developed). That puts me in group 3  and goes to U krascheninnikovii, which is now U polaris in N America.


    Let's see what others say!

    Daphne

  • 30 Jan 2021 4:07 PM
    Reply # 10049347 on 10047308
    Bruce McCune (Administrator)

    I would lean toward U. havaasii, but am not sure. Sometimes the black thalloconidia are missing on an individual, but if you look around at several you can find them. U. polaris tends to have a better developed (more extensive and sharper) network of ridges on the upper surface. In situ U. havaasii is pretty distinctive, since it makes big, floppy thin thalli that come away from the substrate, while U. polaris and U. proboscidea are more like typical Umbilicaria species in tending to lie close to the rock.

  • 01 Feb 2021 9:16 AM
    Reply # 10053601 on 10047308

    Thank you both for your insight! 





     




  • 06 Feb 2021 10:56 AM
    Reply # 10066068 on 10047308

    I would tend to agree with Bruce on this. I collected it in the Olympics (Elk Mountain) and Cascade mountains for my dissertation on alpine lichens in WA. The elevation sounds right.

    U. havaasii have gyros apothecia, but when young they sometime appear to look like the sterile button in the middle.

    Bruce is right about the ridges in U. polaris, they would be much more pronounced than what I see in your photos.

    Might you have other thalli in the collection to photograph, show variation in the collection and to confirm species?

    Last modified: 06 Feb 2021 11:00 AM | Katherine Glew
  • 07 Feb 2021 11:23 AM
    Reply # 10067732 on 10047308

    Unfortunately, this is the only specimen of this species in the Evergreen collection that I know of and I didn't collect it.


    I tried keying it out using Goward's Lichens of British Columbia - pt 1, and ran into some issues there as well. 


    I wanted to ask if anyone has any good reference photos of thalloconidia or any suggestions on where to find them online. I tried finding some myself with little success. 


    Thank you for your guidance on this everyone!

© Northwest Lichenologists

NWL Privacy Policy

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software