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Marin County | Plant Groups

Introduction to Marin Lichens (this page is still being developed)
This picture list introduces some prominent Marin lichens. Even if your lichen isn’t on this list, you should be able to find a similar lichen to help you categorize what you’re looking at. Much of this material is taken, with permission, from Bob Stewart’s excellent but out-of-print books on Marin Lichens. Lichen parts are named with generally recognizable words, with botanic terms in parenthesis. (Note to botanists and lichenologists) The pictures below are organized by the general impression you get as you first notice a lichen. Use the key below to quickly link to lichen pictures that match what you’re looking at:
Stringy Lichens · Flat bodies · Cylindrical, stretchy bodies	Leafy Lichens · Gray-green color · Yellow-green color · Brown color	Not leafy; smooth with hills and valleys	Stick-like Lichens	Flat Lichens · On rocks · On trees
Stringy lichens with flat bodies Hints: these lichens can look like a ball of string, or hang down many feet from a branch.
Lace Lichen Ramalina menziesii Fruticose	· Hangs from trees like Spanish Moss · Yellow-green color. · Lace-like structure · Body (thallus) is flat, not round.	Lace is flat, not round.	Look for lace structure.	Looks like Spanish Moss.
Stringy lichens with cylindrical, stretchy bodies Hints: these lichens can look like a ball of string, or hang down many feet from a branch.
Red Beard Lichen Usnea rubicunda. Fruticose	· Found on wood - trees, bushes, or fence posts. · Orange color · Body (thallus) is cylindrical · Central cord inside the cylindrical body. · If you pull gently on the central cord, it springs like a bungee cord.	<NEED CLOSEUP>	Body is round, as opposed to the flat lace lichen.	Green lichen is Old Man’s Beard. Other is Red Beard.
Old Man’s Beard Lichen Usnea cornuta Fruticose	· Found on wood - trees, bushes, or fence posts. · Yellow-green color · Body (thallus) is cylindrical · Central cord inside the cylindrical body. · If you pull gently on the central cord, it springs like a bungee cord.	Notice the central cord inside the round body.		<NEED A CONTEXT SHOT>
Bushy Beard Lichen Usnea intermedia Fruticose	· Found on wood - trees, bushes, or fence posts. · Yellow-green color · Body (thallus) is cylindrical · Central cord inside the cylindrical body. · This species has ¼” fruit cups.
Gray-green leafy lichens Hints: Learn to distinguish gray-green from yellow-green leafy lichens. Look at color underneath. Look for white spots, and for curling edges.
Parmotrema Lichen Parmotrema spp. Foliose	· Common · Found on trees, bushes and rocks. · Short hairs (Cilia) on edge of leafy surfaces may be too small to see. · Grey or green upper surface · No white structures on surface. · Underside is black with brown at the margins.	FIX PHOTO TOO YELLOW Small hairs on edge of body.	Parmotrema on a rock. Notice no white structures on top.	Parmotrema looks like grey-green lettuce on trees.
Punctelia Lichen Punctelia perreticulata Foliose	· Found on wood (trees, fenceposts, shingles). · Gray-green body (thallus), different from yellow-green in the Flavopunctelia below. · White structures on upper surface. · Underside tan throughout.	Obvious white structures on top surface. GET BETTER PHOTOS FROM SHELLY	<NEED UNDERSIDE PHOTO SHOWING SOLID TAN>	<NEED CONTEXT PHOTO>
Shield Lichen Parmelia sulcata Foliose	· Found on trees and rocks. · Gray-green body (thallus), different from yellow-green in the Flavoparmelia below. · Surface ridged with elongated white markings. · Underside is black with dense branched roots (rhizines).	Grey-green top with long white ridges.	<NEED UNDERSIDE PHOTO SHOWING BLACK COLOR AND DENSE BRANCHED ROOTS>
Puff Lichen Hypogymnia inactiva Foliose	· Found on pine trees (conifers). · Gray-green. · Body has many branches (lobes). · Body is hollow. · Underside is black.	Notice all the branches.	The body is hollow.	<NEED PHOTO SHOWING IN A CONIFER>
Platismatia Lichen Platismatia, spp. Foliose	· Found on trees. · Grey green. · Irregular frilly edges. · Fruiting structures are roughly circular, with a flat brown top. · Bottom is black, with brown and white edges.	Note frilly edges.	Fruits remind me of brown-topped toadstools.	Grey-green leafy look – look closer to see the frilly edges.
Lungwort Lichen Lobaria pulmonaria Foliose	· Occurs on trees and mosses. · Upper surface dull green, turning bright green when wet. · Large lobes on body. · Upper surface has noticeable 3-D valleys. · Lower surface light brown with fine hairs and with white raised areas.	3D surface turns bright green when wet.	Lower surface brown hairs and white raised areas.
Yellow-green leafy lichens Hints: Learn to distinguish yellow-green from gray-green leafy lichens. Look at color underneath. Look for white structures.
Green Cracked Lichen Flavopunctelia flaventior Foliose	· Found on wood (trees, fence posts, shingles). · Yellow-green body (thallus) · White structures, round to oblong in shape, on upper surface. · Underside black with brown at the margins	White structures on yellow-green body.	Underside black with brown margins.
Wrinkled Shield Lichen Flavoparmelia caperata Foliose	· Found on and around trees and bushes. · Yellow-green body (thallus) · No white structures on upper surface · Underside black with brown at the margins	Yellow-green body with no white marks.		<NEED CONTEXT SHOT>
Brown leafy lichens Hints: Look at color and shape on both the top and bottom of the body.
Veined Lichen Peltigera canins Foliose	· Found on the soil, mosses, or the base of trees. · Flattish brown body with upturned edges. · Lower surface shows raised veins.	Flattish brown body with upturned edges.	Underside shows raised veins.	Often found holding together steep soil slopes.
Charcoal Dot Lichen Pseudocyphellaria anthrapsis Foliose	· Found on trees · Brown leafy lichen · Jelly texture, sort of like seaweed. · Tan color underside. · Also shown below under non-leafy lichens.	Dark Brown with jelly-like areas.	Looks like brown seaweed or leaves.	Underside brown.
Dog Lichen Peltigera spp.. Foliose	· Found on trees, rock, moss or ground. · Dark body (thallus) with light brown tips (apothecia). · Body 3-dimensional, with hills and valleys. · Underside white with roots (rhizines)
Lichen is not leafy – it has a smooth surface with hills and valleys Hint: If your lichen is leafy, look at the sections above, which include lichens with smooth surfaces.
Charcoal Dot Lichen Pseudocyphellaria anthraspis · Foliose	· Found on trees and rocks. · Brown upper surface with bumps · Small orange or brown fruiting structures on upper surface. · Tan lower surface with white bare spots · Also shown above under Brown Leafy lichens.	Orange fruiting structure on upper surface.	Tan lower surface with white bare spots.	<NEED CONTEXT SHOT>
Rock Tripe Umbilicaria spp. Foliose	· Found only on rocks. · Flat brown lichen attached by a central cord. · Dark fruiting structures	Note umbilical cord dent in middle left.	<NEED UNDERSIDE PHOTO SHOWING UMBILICAL ATTACHMENT>	<NEED CONTEXT PHOTO>
Stick-like lichens These lichens all have rising stick-like structures, with distinctive tops.
Many-Forked Lichen Cladonia furcata Fruticose	· Found on wood or ground, often holding steep banks together. · Greenish-grey scale-like body (thallus) with noticeable stalks (podetia) rising out of it. · Stalks are hollow, often with a cup or red tip at the end.	Many-forked lichen divides several times	This is pretty easy to spot as you walk by.	Many-forked lichen holds up a steep bank.
British Soldier Lichen Cladonia cristatella Fruticose	· Found on wood or ground, often holding steep banks together. · Greenish-grey scale-like body (thallus) with noticeable stalks (podetia) rising out of it. · Stalks are hollow, often with a cup or red tip at the end.	British Soldier has red tips at the end of its stalks.		<NEED CONTEXT SHOT>
Matchstick Lichen Cladonia macilenta Fruticose	· Found on wood or ground, often holding steep banks together. · Greenish-grey scale-like body (thallus) with noticeable stalks (podetia) rising out of it. · Stalks are hollow, often with a cup or red tip at the end.			<NEED CONTEXT SHOT>
Flat lichens on rocks These lichens are not really flat, but they give that impression when you see them from a distance. Their parts are generally under ¼”.
Map Lichen Rhizocarpum geographicum Crustose	· Adheres tightly to rock (crustose). · Flat green patches bordered by black spores. · Looks like a map.	These lichens adhere tightly to the rock.	Yellow-green and grey-blue areas are separated by black.	You can see why this is called a map lichen.
Stone Lichen Xanthoparmelia spp. Foliose	· Found on rocks or soil · Grey-green or yellow-green. · Often forms a circular pattern. · Fruit structures (apothecia) are black and cup-like.	Leafy branches are narrow.	Fruit structures are black cups.	Overall effect looks like blue-green circles on the rock.
Orange Lichen Caloplaca spp. Crustose	· Found on Rocks · Generally Orange	<NEED PHOTOS>
Flat lichens on trees These lichens are not really flat, but they give that impression when you see them from a distance. Their parts are generally under ¼”.
Pertusaria Pertusaria spp. Crustose	· Found on trees · White or light grey · Lots of circular bumps · No leafy structures	You can see circular bumps if you look closely.	Lichen adheres directly to tree.	Looks like a white patch.
Redwood Cladonia Cladonia spp. Foliose	· Found on Redwood trees · Tinges bark green · Tiny leafy structures and fruits obvious only on close examination.	You can see tiny leafy structures if you look closely.	However, the general impression is a green wash.	Groves of redwood trees often appear covered in it.
Many-Fruited Lichen Xanthoria polycarpa · Foliose	· Found on oaks and buckeye · Fruit is cup shaped disks with orange centers. · Body (thallus) has narrow leaf-like structures and can be grey or orange.	Close up of orange fruiting structure. <GREY COLOR IS MISLEADING – REPLACE>	<NEED ANOTHER SHOT> <ARE THESE STRUCTURES UNDER ¼”?>	Typically found as yellowish growths on Buckeye, as here.

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Reviewed by SB and KJ. Last Updated 3/8/14 by BHS

Note to botanists and lichenologists – this page assumes common understandings and vocabulary, sacrificing more precise scientific terms in the interest of general communication. Scientific terms, when used, are put in italics, often in parenthesis after the common wording. We hope the loss of precision in wording is, to some extent, made up for by photographs showing key identification points.

Note to non-lichenologists – Here are some terms you might be interested in:

· Foliose – Lichens that have a different upper and lower surface, either in color, texture, or structures on the surface. They often look leaf-like, but these are not leaves as you would find on a tree or flower – they just look similar.

· Fruticose – Lichens that are bushy or shrubby looking.

· Crustose – Lichens that adhere completely to the surface they live on – you can’t see the bottom without destroying them.

· Thallus – The main body of a lichen. The shape and color of the thallus, top and bottom, are keys to identifying them.

· Lobes – Finger-like shapes on the outer edges of the thallus. Lobes vary a lot (e.g. pointy, frilly, rounded), and are a good identification key.

· Podetia – A flowering structure growing out of the thallus. These often help identify what kind of lichen you’re looking at.

· Rhizine – A set of structures under the Thallus that holds the lichen to what it is attached to. Rhizines do not function as roots – they don’t transfer nourishment. The shape, color, and density of rhizines is a good identification key.