Northwest Lichenologists - Brown discs on Evernia?

21 Nov 2022 11:07 PM

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Message # 12998135

Anonymous member

Hi all!

I was looking at an Evernia prunastri at my house in Bellevue WA and noticed some brown discs on it, not more than maybe 0.75mm across. There's numerous whitish strands (hyphae?) around the discs onto the underlying lichen. Maybe a lichenicolous fungi? Or something else? Does anyone know if there's any chance of identifying what these are? (Preferably without a compound scope, if possible!) I checked some online resources for lichenicolous fungi on Evernia and didn't see anything that looked right. I'm not familiar at all with lichenicolous fungi, though.

One of the discs (seen in the 3rd and 4th pictures) looks kinda messed up-- might not be the same as the discs or might be damaged version.

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23 Nov 2022 1:21 PM

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Reply # 13000230 on 12998135

Anonymous member (Administrator)

Interesting. I would guess that this is a parasite. Apothecia on Evernia should have a thalline margin. There is a beautiful species in far east Russia in which you can see these. If you scroll down a ways on this page you will see it.

http://ukhtoma.ru/expedit23_yakutia3.htm

Perhaps Mike Haldeman could help you with the parasite.

23 Nov 2022 11:08 PM

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Reply # 13000627 on 12998135

Anonymous member

Thanks Bruce! That fertile Evernia species is definitely beautiful.

I'll reach out to Mike Haldeman about it and report back if he has any insights.

23 Dec 2022 1:22 PM

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Reply # 13034437 on 12998135

Anonymous member

I had a similar question about brown growths on Evernia prunastri around where I live in the northern Sierras. Its grows abundantly on Quercus douglasii in the creek canyons. Most individuals I find have none of these, but every now and then I come across this (which I was thinking were apothecia originally, but don't look like the few pictures of prunastri apothocia that I can find online):

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26 Dec 2022 12:34 AM

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Reply # 13035278 on 12998135

Anonymous member

For my find, we weren't able to figure anything out, but we suspect it's not fungal-- attached photo is a section.

Alder, those look cool! They look like Unguiculariopsis lettaui to me, which I found using this site: https://lichens.twinferntech.net/lfdb/lookup.cgi

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28 Dec 2022 4:09 PM

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Reply # 13037481 on 12998135

Anonymous member

Thanks, Justin. Sorry you haven't come to the end of your search yet. Are you still trying to figure it out?

But thank you for the suggestion on this one - it's great to know of that website and I think you are absolutely on the right track. Really appreciate the feedback!!