Sinewed Bushy Lichen

Description

Sinewed Bushy Lichen is widespread and very common. It occurs in the eastern deciduous forests of the United States and southern Canada, and in the mountainous forests of Mexico. It is very common east of the Great Plains. There are just a handful of reports in the west and those are likely a due to transport by humans. In Minnesota it is very common in the north, scattered to absent in the south. It is found on bark of old hardwood trees, usually in full sun, mostly on twigs and branches in the upper canopy but also on the trunk. It gets moisture from the air and rain, and nutrients from debris that accumulates around it (epiphytic). It is more sensitive to air pollution than most lichens, and is absent from areas with even mild air pollution.

Ramalina americana is a species complex formerly with three forms (morphs); americana morph, asahinae morph, and sayeana morph. The americana morph, the only morph found in Canada and the United States, was previously thought to be the European species Ramalina americana. It was recognized as a separate species in 1978.

Sinewed Bushy Lichen appears as a short, shrubby (fruticose) tuft that is usually ⅜″ to 13 ⁄16″ (1 to 3 cm) wide, sometimes a little wider. The tuft is a cluster of numerous individual fruiting bodies (thalli). Each thallus is narrow, straight-sided (linear), strongly flattened, sparsely branched, and often lobed. It is yellowish-green, 1 ⁄64″ to ⅛″ (0.2 to 3 mm) wide, and strongly ridged and channeled. It is solid in cross section all the way to the base. It is neither warty nor perforated. The upper surface (cortex) has numerous minute, white, openings (pseudocyphellae) that are raised or level with the thallus surface, not depressed into it.

Yellow, disk-like, spore-producing structures (apothecia) are frequent and large. They appear at or close to the tips of the branches. They are usually flat but often contorted.

Similar Species

Ecology

Substrate

Trees

Growth Form

Fruticose

Habitat

Full sun

Hosts