Hi all,
I thought I would share my Phaeorrhiza sareptana exploration. I have been finding it quite a bit in our MT steppe. In the Biotic Soil Crust book, it is in the brown sqaumule key, and P. nimbosa is mentioned being similar but often yellowish. Well, most all our specimens have been yellowish to greenish ochre, so I looked at the possibility of P. nimbosa. It was K+ violet though, so it was still P. sareptana. Not that this is a great indication, but I couldn’t find one photo that looked like ours on the web, even though the other characteristics fit P. sareptana. In looking, I did find that in the lichenportal site squamules were described as: “brown or paler to ocher or yellow-green in shade.” Aha! Photos are in the gallery, just for fun.
Cheers!