Niebla limicola
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| Niebla limicola | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Lecanorales |
| Family: | Ramalinaceae |
| Genus: | Niebla |
| Species: | N. limicola |
| Binomial name | |
| Niebla limicola Spjut & Follmann (1996) | |
Niebla limicola is a fruticose lichen that grows on barren mud flats and on sand among salt scrub along the Pacific Coast of the Vizcaíno Desert, of Baja California from San Vicente Canyon to Scammon’s Lagoon (Guerrero Negro).[1] The epithet, limicola is in reference to the thallus growing on barren (alkali) soil.
Niebla limicola is distinguished by a hemispherical thallus lying loose on soil without a central holdfast (terricolous), divided into variously shaped branches, partly narrow in length and prismatic in cross section, and partly flattened and dilated from which short acicular bifurcating branchlets arise, the thallus up to 10 cm high and 15 cm across.[1] The species (N. limicola) also recognized by containing salazinic acid (without triterpenes), and by a relatively thin cortex, (0-)45–75 μm thick, appearing to erode on dilated parts of branches; the thinner cortex evidently related to the contorted appearance of the branches in addition to the medulla being partly hollow (fistulose).[1] The species (N. limicola) is most similar to Niebla flabellata, which differs by its thallus growing on rocks attached to a holdfast at base, and by the irregular lacerations of the thallus branches, instead of the regular bifurcations of acicular branches that develop in N. limicola.[1] Niebla arenaria, which is also similar in the terricolous habit and by the bifurcate branchlets, differs by the mostly linear[2] shape of the branches.