Powdered Sunshine Lichen

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NNR - Unranked

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Powdered Sunshine Lichen is an easily recognized, widespread, and very common lichen. It occurs in northern forested areas around the globe (circumboreal), including Europe, Asia, and North America. It occurs in every province in Canada. In the United States it occurs in the east from Maine to Virginia, west to Minnesota and Indiana, and in the west from Northern Washington to central California, east to North Dakota and New Mexico. It grows on the bark of conifers and birch. It is usually found no more than chest high, probably protected under snow from desiccation by winter winds.

The vegetative body (thallus) is leaf-like (foliose), divided into lobes, and usually more than 1¼″ (3 cm) in diameter. It is attached to the substrate (bark) with scattered, white, anchoring structures (rhizines). When growing on flat surfaces, the lobes are short, and they join with adjacent thalli forming a flat (adnate) rosette. When growing on thin branches, the lobes are longer and more erect.

The lobes are 1⁄16″ to 3⁄16″ (1.5 to 5.0 mm) wide and variable in form. They may be radiating or irregular, overlapping or scattered, and flat or curved up from the surface and more or less erect (ascending). They are usually ascending and rounded. The margins are wavy, more or less ascending, and scalloped (crenate), the ultimate lobes mostly short and 1⁄64″ to 1⁄16″ (0.2 to 1.5 mm) wide. The upper surface is smooth or slightly longitudinally grooved (canaliculate). It is unspotted, dull, and greenish-yellow or yellowish-green in sunny locations, grayish-green in shaded locations. The lower may be the same color as the upper surface, or pale yellow to brownish-yellow. The margins are densely covered with bright yellow reproductive granules (soredia), giving them a powdered look. This is the feature that gives the lichen its common name. The upper side of the thallus does not have soredia.

Spore-producing structures (apothecia) are very rarely produced. When present, they are 1⁄32″to ⅛″ (1.0 to 2.5 mm) in diameter and saucer-shaped, with a pale reddish-brown disc.

Trees

Foliose

Forests

Conifers and birch

Sources

4, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77, 81.

Location: Woodbury, MN

Location: Woodbury, MN