#collema

Collema leptaleum

Crumpled bat's wing lichen, black jelly lichen

OooOooOoo Happy Halloween! I have picked a super spooky lichen to share with y'all on this most auspicious holiday! This crustose-subfoliose cyanolichen grows in thick, wrinkled clumps on the bark and twigs of trees in humid habitats. It has an unstratified thallus, meaning it lacks distinct internal layers and is instead a jumbled collection of fungal hyphae and cyanobacteria mixed together, allowing the thallus to more freely absorb water and swell or shrink as needed.

When dry, it is thin, brown to black, and wrinkled, and when moist, is thick, nodulous, gelatinous, and dark brown to olive green in color. It comes in 2 distinct varieties: C. leptaleum var. biliosum, which is sterile (non-apothecial producing) and has globular isidia, and C. lepataleum var. leptaleum which produces lots of reddish-brown apothecia. Inside the apothecia, the spores are described as "vermiform," or "worm-like," which is also kinda spooky! C. leptaleum has a wide, scattered distribution, and has been found in isolated populations in North and South America, Australia, Asia, Africa, and in only 1 location in Europe! Some pictures of it really do look like little black bats clinging to the side of tree, and I cannot imagine the loop that would throw me for. Either way, what a win. I freakin love bats, and I freakin love lichens.

images: source

Collema sp

Cascais/Portugal (27/02/2024)

A TOUGH ONE, here me out thats a lot of clustered apothecia, much of which is so codenced that it hides a good portion of it's thallus; however, its still got a section exposed of foliose lobed thallus. If the apothecia were more dense and risen like a warty rugose black crust, more rounded and more or less hiding the entire thallus, it would be Collema conglomeratum(SPORE HUDDLE LICHEN). Collema conglomeratum is often found on humid hillsides on old weathered white oak bark associated with good air quality. Its considered mostly arborial or 99% of the time tree dwelling. Still I didnt know that till looking that up. Very niche specific. The lichen above is on its standard substrate, frequently wet calcareous rock ( under a shelf on a limestone shelf of a waterfall )more specifcally the location of tunnel falls, clifty falls sp. Madison, IN for records sake.

Collema nigrescens

Button Jelly Lichen, Bat’s Wing Lichen

Collema flaccidum

Flaking tarpaper lichen

Does anyone else remember that period where like, emo and goth fashion included big, flouncy, ruffly skirts? That's what C. flaccidum reminds me of. Very Amy Lee. This foliose cyanolichen grows in rounded patches up to 6 cm in diameter. It has large, membranous lobes that are covered in flattened, scale-like isidia (thalloid outgrowths that are made to detach and grow a new lichen somewhere else). It is black-brown in color, matte when dry but shiny and gelatinous when wet. It only rarely produces apothecia. C. flaccidum grows alongside mosses on humid rocks and bark in fragmented habitats world wide.

images: source | source

Collema furfuraceum

Effervescent tarpaper lichen

"saw a lichen today…. effervescent"

This foliose cyanolichen grows in 5-10 cm rosettes of thin, membranous lobes. It appears black when dry, and greenish-brown to olive when moist. Unlike many other cyanolichens, it doesn't swell significantly when hydrated. The upper surface is ridged or pustulous, with isidia growing along the ridges, and the lower surface has white hapters (root-like structures for attaching to the substrate). It only occasionally produces apothecia, which have a brown discs and isidiate margins. C. furfuraceum can be found on deciduous tree bark and mossy rocks in mild-humid, oceanic regions.

images: source | source

 So this was a barren biofilm hot spot that I kinda poked around at for a bit while enjoying KY glade cress in-situ two weekends ago. I still would like to one day get these fully ID’d  at some point but all of these are very unique and strange, constantly overlooked species due to the obscurity of them.

 Photo is biofilm soup...

Collema spp. (black jelly crust lichen group) is mixed with Nostoc spp. (not N. commune so I have no clue really what it is? Any algal biofilm experts out there wanna point me into the id directions ) 

Astrella tenella 

 I am pretty sure this may be a delicate starwort, like a real one( not one of the variants of some hemispheric liverwort) , they don’t usually grow in large colonies and most of the pictures of them that get reported are false unless they have the small form and the dried bodies. The thallus is often partially dried to the point that it looks near dead or like little dots attached to decayed segments on the ground. With that said, I talked to two of my friends that are pretty adept/mastered at identification and they said they can’t truly validate any delicate starworts without their reproductive organs present. So I still don’t know for sure but maybe someone will help on INAT eventually. The delicate starwort is rather rare, weather that be due to exposed shallow slow seeps with large karsty sheets to keep competition low being a rare thing or that they get over looked all the time due to being small as heck, it’s unclear. There are like 11 out of 15 posts on I nat that are legitimate and truly fit  *research grade*  id and the rest are misidentified or mis-verified according to my friends. So who knows, this could just be one of the other cryptid and understudied Astrella spp.

Ok so im gonna bring this up since i thought it was there to add a cool fact and or refresher habitat point. Tipularia discolor is associated with well decayed wood specifically with a late stage white rot inorder for protocorm developememt to start. (Buzzardroost, adams co, edge of ap, tnc, Ohio)

Ok, more jelly lichen! ^

Another species with a look a like or 3. Good thing this family is ok for the vast majority.

Though, some are even different genus. First off I dont think that this looks like a tattered moss eating jelly or leptogium or scytinium but its worth mentioning them since a few sources do. As for Collema, this in theory should be Collema flaccidum, only isidiate with smooth lobed thallus seems right. Ive seen Collema subflaccidum on trees and it is not super common imo in the upper ilp but its the most common Collema in the smokies, known for arboreal habits and is smooth and lacks isidia, often called smooth folded jellyskin lichen.

Below are two ilp examples, one C. subflaccidum from sandstone at rrg from creation falls area, the other is from wilderness trail in adams county.

The other lichens look too pelt like and intricate in my opinion but are also mentioned ( Collema pulcellum var. Leucopepum (apothecia be bumpy and pruinose with cool undulate grooves that look like it should be isidiate but isnt and has a large mostly appressed thallus with smooth patches) and C. furfuraceum (literally the same look but has isidiate bumpy ridges and has long conspicuous ridges intead of those dot like bumps.))