Imshaugia aleurites
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Imshaugia aleurites | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Lecanorales |
| Family: | Parmeliaceae |
| Genus: | Imshaugia |
| Species: | I. aleurites |
| Binomial name | |
| Imshaugia aleurites (Ach.) S.L.F.Mey. (1985) | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
|
List
| |
Imshaugia aleurites, commonly known as the salted starburst lichen, is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae.[3] It has a wide distribution in Europe and North America, and has also been recorded in China.
The lichen was first formally described by Swedish lichenologist Erik Acharius in his 1798 work Lichenographiae Sueciae Prodromus; he called it Lichen aleurites,[4] as it was customary at the time, following the practice of Carl Linnaeus' influential work Species Plantarum, to place all lichens in the eponymously named genus Lichen. In 1985, Susan Meyer transferred it to Imshaugia, and assigned it as the type species of that newly circumscribed genus.[5] In North America, it is commonly known as the salted starburst lichen.[6]
Description
The lichen has a whitish to pale gray thallus comprising lobes measuring 0.5–1.2 mm wide. The thallus is covered with cylindrical, brownish-tipped isidia, except at the tips of the lobes. The thallus undersurface is tan to whitish, and numerous short brown rhizines serves as holdfasts that attach the lichen to its substrate. Apothecia and pycnidia are rare in this species.[6]